them
in the preparation of food, is unquestionably an object of considerable
importance, and demands our attention.

The effects produced by the foreign matters which water may contain, are
more considerable, and of greater importance, than might at first be
imagined. It cannot be denied, that such waters as are _hard_, or loaded
with earthy matter, have a decided effect upon some important functions
of the human body. They increase the distressing symptoms under which
those persons labour who are afflicted with what is commonly called
gravel complaints; and many other ailments might be named, that are
always aggravated by the use of waters abounding in saline and earthy
substances.

The purity of the waters employed in some of the arts and manufactures,
is an object of not less consequence. In the process of brewing malt
liquors, soft water is preferable to hard. Every brewer knows that the
largest possible quantity of the extractive matter of the malt is
obtained in the least possible time, and at the smallest cost, by means
of soft water.

In the art of the dyer, hard water not only opposes the solution of
several dye stuffs, but it also alters the natural tints of some
delicate colours; whilst in others again it precipitates the earthy and
saline matters with which it is impregnated, into the delicate fibres of
the stuff, and thus impedes the softness and brilliancy of the dye.

The bleacher cannot use with advantage waters impregnated with earthy
salts; and a minute portion of iron imparts to the cloth a yellowish
hue.

To the manufacturer of painters' colours, water as pure as possible is
absolutely essential for the successful preparation of several delicate
pigments. Carmine, madder lake, ultramarine, and Indian yellow, cannot
be prepared without perfectly pure water.

For the steeping or raiting of flax, soft water is absolutely necessary;
in hard water the flax may be immersed for months, till its texture be
injured, and still the ligneous matter will not be decomposed, and the
fibres properly separated.

In the culinary art, the effects of water more or less pure are
likewise obvious. Good and pure water softens the fibres of animal and
vegetable matters more readily than such as is called _hard_. Every cook
knows that dry or ripe pease, and other farinaceous seeds, cannot
_readily_ be boiled soft in hard water; because the farina of the seed
is not perfectly soluble in water loaded with earthy salt