THE 
Water we Drink. 
GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF 
THE IMPURITIES TO WHICH IT 
IS LIABLE, 
ANT) THE 
BEST METHODS OF Tito/ 
GATE CITY ST0NE^Ei£T5EB^^U., 
14 East Fourteenth Street, 
NEW YORK. 
Copyright Secured, 1885, by John Phin. PRICE LIST 
OF 
FILTERS m COOLERS COMPLETE, 
FOE USE. 
No. 7, will filter 2 gallons in 24 hours $8 00 
No. 8, “ “ 4 “ “24 “ 10 00 
No. 9, “ “ 5 “ “24 “ 12 00 
No. 10, “ “ 6 “ “24 “ 16 00 
No. 11, “ “ 8 “ “24 “ 18 00 
No. 12, “ “ 10 “ “24 “ ..... 22 00 
No. 13, “ “12 “ “24 “ 24 00 
No. 14, “ “ 14 “ “24 “ 28 00 
No. 16, “ “16 “ “24 “ 32 00 
No. 18, “ “ 20 “ “24 “ 40 00 
The cut on the other side represents the method 
of filtering; the bottom being an elegant water 
cooler. 
FILTERS WITH PORCELAIN LINED COOLERS. 
No. 7, Porcelain Lined Cooler and Filter, $12 00 
No. 8, “ “ “ “ “ 14 00 
No. 9, “ “ “ “ “ 18 00 
No. 10, “ , “ “ “ “ 22 00 
No. 12, “ ’ “ “ “ “ 2.1 00 
FILTERS WITH ELEGANT OBELISK COOLERS. 
No. 8, Obelisk Cooler and Filter $22 00 
No. 9, “ “ “ 26 00 
No. 10, “ “ “ 28 00 
No. 12, “ “ “ 32 00 THE WATER WE DRINK 
AND 
HOW TO PURIFY IT. 
I®Jg3| HERE is no greater blessing than good 
Wr water; men have lived without food for 
xS Mini forty days, hut no man ever abstained from 
feJjvfcS water for more than nine days and survived, 
ir ~l Knt wi)iie good water is a source of health 
and vigor, bad water is a proliflc source ot disease and 
death, and one of the very highest authorities on hy- 
giene, Parkes, asserts that “ this much seems to be 
certain, that as precise investigations proceed, and, 
indeed, in proportion to the care of the inquiry and the 
accuracy of the chemical examination, a continually 
increasing class of cases is found to be connected with 
the use of impure water.” 
It is not our intention to act the part of the alarmist 
in this matter; our purpose is rather to enlighten the 
public, not only in regard to the dangers which lie hid 
in what ought to be a universal beverage, but in re- 
gal’d to the best methods of avoiding these dangers. 
Absolutely pure water is a myth ; it cannot be found, 
even in the laboratory of the chemist. Distilled water 
comes very near being pure, but even that is not quite 
free from foreign matter. We shall therefore speak 
of “ good ” water, rather than of pure water, for water 
may be considered good when the impurities are small 
in quantity and of kinds that are not essentially hurtful. 
The usual impurities of water are these : 4 
I. Mineral Matter.—This may exist either in sus- 
pension or solution, it is said to be “in suspension” 
when it is not dissolved, but is diffused through the 
water in very fine powder. Clay and very fine sand 
are good examples of this impurity. Some of these 
substances are very easily removed, even by paper, 
sponge and sand filters, blit in many cases, as, for ex- 
ample, the clays which defile the waters of the Missis- 
sippi, the Missouri. Rio Grande, etc., they defy all the 
filters in common use with a single exception. When 
mineral matter, as, for example, common salt, is dis- 
solved in the water, it cannot be removed by any me- 
chanical filter. A large bed of sand will remove some 
of it; but a filter of sand, to be efficient, must be so 
large as to be impracticable, and even that soon takes 
up all it can hold, after which it allows the water to 
carry through it all the salts without diminution. All 
spring and river water contains more or less matter in 
solution, but it is only when this is in excess that it be- 
comes injurious. 
THE WATER WE DRINK. 
II. Living Plants.—As a general rule it may be ac- 
cepted that living plants are purifiers, rather than de- 
lilers of water. They absorb soluble matter and fix it in 
their tissues, and they give oft' immense quantities of 
oxygen, which is one of the most powerful purifying 
agents known. Water which is so impregnated with 
sewage as to be absolutely poisonous will, after it lias 
remained in contact with a sufficient amount of living- 
plants for some time, become quite pure and whole- 
some, and the beautiful desmids and diatoms which are 
so often pictured as evidences of impurity in water, are 
really nature’s great regenerators. Of course there 
are certain marked exceptions to this. Some plants 
actually become parasitic when taken into the stom- 
achs of animals; others give off acid, and perhaps poi- 
sonous excretions. Thus, some species of duck-weed 
are said to render bitter the water in whicli they grow. 
Plants are rarely found in good spring water, or water 
from deep wells, and, in all cases, the better the water 
the fewer the plants, for the presence of either plants 
or animals in water is a sure indication that they find 
food there, and consequently that matters are present 
which may be dangerous to human health. THE WATER WE DRINK. 
III. Living Animals.—Of these the kinds that inhabit 
most river, pond, and even rain water, are almost in- 
numerable. Some are so large that they are readily 
seen with the naked eye ; others require microscopes 
of very high power to obtain even a glimpse of them. 
Very few of the so-called animalcules are of themselves 
dangerous to health, but as they are well known to be 
nature's scavengers, it is evident that wherever we 
find much animal life present in water, that water can- 
not be very good. From springs and good wells they 
are almost entirely absent, probably because they caii 
find nothing to feed on.. But. whether dangerous or 
not, such creatures are very disgusting when found in 
food or drink, and people whose tastes and habits are 
not of the very lowest order will cheerfully take con- 
siderable trouble to get rid of them. 
To the general statement that plants and animals are 
of themselves harmless, there are, however, two nota- 
ble exceptions. These are what are known as Para- 
sites or Entozoa, and Disease Germs. Entozoa are 
those animals that live in the bodies of other animals, 
not excepting man himself. The tape-worm, the tri- 
china. tlie round worm and the pin-worm are well- 
known examples of human parasites, and there are 
many others which give rise to dangerous and painful 
diseases. Even some of the common insects, which in 
their ordinary state live upon plants, become parasitic 
in man when their eggs find their way by means of 
food or drink into the human body, anil all the ablest 
authorities agree that one means by which the eggs ot 
such parasites sometimes gain access t.o the human 
system is through drinking water which has been ex- 
posed to the open air—as in streams, ponds and reser- 
voirs. 
Disease Germs.—A still more dangerous impurity in 
drinking water are the so-called " Disease Germs.” 
The best authorities hold that certain diseases, known 
as Zymotic diseases, are propagated or transmitted by 
a peculiar class ol' low organisms, which find their way 
into the system through the channels of air, food and 
water. Of these diseases Malarious Fevers, Typhoid 
Fever, Cholera, Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria are the 
most notable. Concerning these, disease germs- but 6 
THE WATER WE DRINK. 
little is known, and consequently some have denied 
their existence altogether, but the accumulation ot 
evidence has now become so great that the weight oi 
authority is entirely on the side of attributing the 
transmission of these diseases to their agency. 
IV. Dead Animal and Vegetable Matter.—This 
may exist either in solution or as solid debris. It is 
present in most kinds of water, except that from deep 
springs and wells. Even rain water contains notable 
quantities of such decaying matter, especially that 
which falls first, as this washes out of the atmosphere 
all the lighter particles of dust and filth which the 
winds have raised into the air, sometimes to very con- 
siderable heights. As the rapidity wit h which the par- 
ticles of dust tall to the ground after being raised by 
winds depends upon their size and weight, it is evident 
that dried animal and vegetable tissues, ground lo 
powder under the feet of animals and the wheels of 
vehicles, and baked in a hot sun, will be light compared 
with particles of sand and other minerals. Now, as 
these are the kinds of matter to which disease germs 
are most likely to adhere, it is evident that all surface 
water, that is to say, the water of streams, rivers and 
lakes, will contain the concentrated washings of the 
air over large areas, and during any epidemic of a Zy- 
motic disease such water must be a very effective dis- 
tributor of disease germs. 
When animal and vegetable matters putrify in water, 
a large part becomes dissolved. This is particularly 
the case with sewage and other matters of that kind, 
but such conditions also exist wherever living animals 
and vegetables are present. Wherever there is life 
there is death. Not only do individual plants and 
animals die, leaving their remains to putrefy and defile 
the water, but living organisms give off' excreta of 
various kinds and lead to the same result. 
Effects of Water.—The effects of 
impurities in water liave tieen very carefully studied 
and are tolerably well understood. 
The presence of line mineral matter in suspension, 
however clean and free it an ay be from decomposing 
animal or vegetable matter, is well known to cause 
severe diarrhoea. So thoroughly is this understood at THE WATER WE DRINK. 
7 
the south and west that during the seasons in whicli 
the rivers are loaded with fine clay and sand great care 
is taken not to drink the waters except after careful 
purification. 
The effect of sewage and of decaying animal and 
vegetable matter is too generally known to need more 
than mention. The most dangerous forms of typhoid 
fever have been traced directly to the contamination 
of drinking water by sewage, and although there is 
some dispute as to whether ordinary sewage can give 
rise to typhoid fever, or whether it requires to be con- 
taminated with the evacuations of typhoid patients, 
yet there can be no dispute about the desirability of 
excluding all such matters from drinking water. This, 
however, is not always such an easy thing to do. If 
these evacuations are deposited upon the surface of 
the ground, dried, and then mixed with soil and broken 
up by the scratching of birds and other small animals, 
there is no telling where the winds may carry them. 
All open reservoirs, lakes and streams are in this way 
liable to contamination. 
As already stated, the injurious effects of living: ani- 
mals and vegetables are rarely serious. It is only 
when these living organisms are parasitic in the human 
system, or when they are the specific agents of special 
diseases, that they are to be feared ; but it is astonish- 
ing how some organisms, that are usually quite scarce, 
multiply and render the drinking water of consider- 
able areas offensive if not dangerous. The condition 
of the water in Boston. Rochester and some other 
places, a few years ago, furnished striking examples of 
this. It has even been found that such animals as very 
small leeches, quite unnoticeable by the ordinary ob- 
server, sometimes multiply to such an extent as to 
produce serious effects. Coughs, nausea and spitting 
of blood have been caused by very small leeches taken 
into the system in drinking water, and which attached 
themselves to the pharynx and neighboring parts. 
Four hundred men in the French1 army in Algiers were 
at one time in the hospital from this cause. 
“In regard to the effect of impure water-supply in 
spreading cholera, physicians are not agreed. Tin* 
opinion of Pettenkofer is against its occurrence, but in 8 
India the evidence for cholera water-poisoning has 
now become very strong ” (Parkes). The great cholera 
outbreak of I860 and 1861 was attributed by the medi- 
cal officers directly to the defilement of the'water. 
At Exeter, England, in 1832, 1,000 deaths occurred 
from cholera. A purer supply of water was then in- 
troduced from a locality two miles higher up the river, 
above the point at which it received the sewage of the 
town. When the cholera again invaded the city in 
1849, only 44 cases occurred, and in the cholera season 
of 1854 there was hardly a case. 
The famous Broad Street pump, in London, supplied 
water to the inhabitants of one of the most fashionable 
localities of the West End. During the visitation of 
cholera in 1848-49, this pump killed 500 persons in a 
single week by disseminating cholera. The wealthy 
people of the West End went to Brompton, a fashion- 
able summer resort, about live miles up the Thames, and 
soon the cholera broke out amongst them there. The 
health officers soon discovered, on investigation, that 
these people had been in the habit of sending to the 
Broad Street pump for tea water, and had brought the 
cholera with it. A curious case was that of an old 
spinster, who had moved to Hampstead, three miles 
from the pump, but who sent her maid daily for a kettle 
of the highly-prized tea-water. She and her maid were 
the only persons who suffered from cholera at Hamp- 
stead. 
THE WATER WE DRINK. 
Methods of Detecting Impurities.—The detection 
of impurities in water is at all times an easy matter in 
the hands of the experienced chemist, but,' as it takes 
both time and money to secure his services, a few words 
to the inexperienced reader may not be out of place. 
To those who have a practical knowledge of chemistry, 
and of the use of the microscope, there are several ex- 
cellent works which give full information and instruc- 
tion in regard to the subject, but in the hands of those 
who are not familiar with the use of scientific appara- 
tus the senses are a far safer guide than any analytical 
tests. 
The amount of suspended matter present In water 
can generally be estimated pretty accurately by the 
eye, provided it is not too transparent. The consumer THE WATER WE DRINK. 
9 
should never quibble about the degree of impurity, how- 
evey. Whenever water shows the slightest signs of 
turbidity it should be Altered. 
Very minute animals and plants are not easily seen 
with the naked eye by the inexperienced. On holding 
a tumbler of impure water up to the light against a 
clear sky, the living creatures will be seen as moving 
specks by a pair of sharp eyes.* Hut where no micro- 
scope is at hand, the most effectual means is to pass a 
beam of sunlight, or the electric light, through the 
bottle or jar containing the liquid. A speck ot mat- 
ter which is actually visible only under a high mag- 
nifying power, will so reflect light as to show its pres- 
ence. In this way Tyndall tested the purity of the air 
in his tubes, and we have all seen clearly the most 
minute motes dancing in a sunbeam in air which, out 
of the beam of light, appeared perfectly pure. 
The color of the water is not always a sure test of its 
purity, though it is not a bad guide in the case of water 
in its natural condition. It has been laid down as a 
rule by most water analysts that clear water of a bright 
bluish' cast is generally pure ; water which is greenish 
generally contains vegetable matter, and water which 
is yellow or brownish is apt to be contaminated with 
animal matter, and, when taken in connection with 
other indications, these colors form no bad guide. The 
brownish waters from peaty deposits are, of course, 
contaminated largely with vegetable extractive matter, 
and in their original condition thevure generally inhab- 
ited by very offensive animals. These, however, are 
easily removed by filtration, but the peaty color is not 
so readily got rid of by mere mechanical means. For- 
tunately, however, it is not by any means noxious. 
Taste alone is not always a safe guide to an estimate 
of the purity of water. Of course, if the water has an 
offensive taste it should be at once condemned, but 
many waters that, are sparkling and pleasant are quite 
dangerous, and habit has a great deal to do with our 
likes and dislikes as regards water. But contam- 
inated water will be found to lose »very rapidly its 
* The reader must bear in mind that the fact that ah organism 
moves about in the water is not evidence that it is an animal. 
Several undoubted plants (Diatoms, Volvox Globator, etc.) move 
about freely in the water. 10 
THE WATER WE DRINK. 
pleasant character. If placed in a good-sized jar, 
which it about half fills, and kept in a warm place, 
it soon becomes offensive and shows the cloven foot 
very plainly. In tasting any water it is necessary 
that it be warm; ice-cold water of a very bad kind 
will pass as good with most people ; but a water 
must be really very good to be palatable when the 
temperature is 90 J F., and therefore this is the way 
to try it. Of course there are great differences in the 
keenness of perception of different persons in the mat- 
ter of taste. Those whose organs have been dulled 
with tobacco, candy, rum, currie and similar articles, 
cannot tell good water from bad, and hence, perhaps, 
the small credit accorded to the sense of taste by mod- 
ern writers on the subject. 
The odor of water is also a very good test of its qual- 
ity. To get the odor fully and fairly it is best to fill an 
ordinary quart glass fruit jar half full of the water, 
screw on the air-tight top, and leave the whole in a 
warm place for a few hours. On opening the jar you 
will be able to get the full benefit of the odor. It is un- 
necessary to discriminate amongst “the several 
stinks” Avhich impure water gives off. They are all 
bad, and water which, under such conditions, at the 
end of twelve or twenty-four hours has an offensive 
smell, ought to be condemned until purified. 
HOW WATER MAY BE PURIFIED. 
In attempting to purify water, we have two very dis- 
tinct classes of impurities to deal with: 1. The sub- 
stances that are dissolved in the water, and which mav 
be either mineral or organic. 2. The insoluble parti- 
cles, living and dead. These two classes require en- 
tirely different methods of treatment—that for the 
second being purely mechanical, while that for the first 
is chiefly chemical. When a sample of water contains 
an amount of soluble mineral matter which renders it 
unfit for use, there is no known method of purifying it. 
Attempts have been made, by means of large masses 
of sand, etc., to remove salt, lime, etc., from the water, 
but without success. It is true that we occasionally 
find in water certain soluble salts, which may be so 
changed, by the action of other salts, that they become 
insoluble, and may then be removed by a good me- 
chanical filter. Such is the case with carbonate of lime THE WATER WE DRINK. 
11 
held in solution by carbonic acid, and lead held in solu- 
tion in soft water. In the latter case a pinch of alum dis- 
solved in the water will throw down the lead as sulphate 
of lead, which may then be Altered out and removed. 
Soluble matter, of animal and vegetable origin, may 
be removed by proper means, but not by mechanical 
nitration. Oxygen is the great destroyer of these im- 
purities, and they may be removed by exposing the 
water to the air in thin sheets, or by allowing it to 
drop very slowly from the Alter. 'A small quantity of 
Condy’s Auid (permanganate of potassa) is also a most 
efficient destroyer of organic matter, and a small quan- 
tity of alum added to water containing such impurities 
combines with them, renders them insoluble, and en- 
ables us to Alter them out. The usual quantity of alum 
employed is about six grains to the gallon of water, but 
as it requires a previous determination of the propor- 
tion of organic matter present in the water, the use of 
these chemicals can hardly be recommended for popu- 
lar use. And, unless the water is really very impure, 
if it is slowly passed through a good mechanical Alter, 
and freely exposed to the air afterwards, there will be 
little danger in using it. 
The coarser particles of suspended matter are easily 
removed from water by any common strainer. Sponge, 
paper, cloth, sand, or even Ane wire gauze, will re- 
move a great deal of the sand, animal and vegetable 
debris, and living plants and animals that render many 
samples of river and pond water impure; but where 
such crude Alters are used, so many of the smaller par- 
ticles pass through, that the puriAcation is almost inap- 
preciable. so far as health is concerned, for with the ex- 
ception of a comparatively small number of species, it is 
not the larger plants and animalcules that are danger- 
ous, but those that are so exceedingly small that very 
few Alters can exclude them. As regards the most dan- 
gerous impurities of all—disease germs—nothing short 
of an efficient mechanical Alter w7ill serve to remove 
them. They cannot be killed by boiling under ordinary 
conditions, for the best authorities (Lex, Sanderson, 
Tyndall and others) place their death point as high as 
a temperature of 230° Fahrenheit—a temperature 
higher than that ever attained in culinary operations, 
where large proportions of water are used, such as the 
making of tea, coA'ee, ordinary soups, etc, This was 12 
well shown in the case of the maiden lady who sent for 
tea-water to the Broad Street pump, in London, as re- 
lated on a previous page. She, no doubt, used all this 
water for making tea, and boiled it well, and yet she 
was attacked by cholera under conditions which left no 
room for doubt that the water was the source from 
which she derived the disease. 
THE WATER WE DRINK. 
In the “ Manual of Practical Hygiene,” prepared and 
published for the use of medical officers of the British 
army, and which undoubtedly stands amongst the very 
highest authorities on the subject, we find the follow- 
ing list of “ the essentials of a good filter ” r 
" 1. Tliat every part of the filter shall be easily got at, 
for the purpose of cleaning, or of renewing the medium. 
“2. That the medium have a sufficiently purifying 
power, and be present in sufficient quantity. 
“ 3. That the medium yield nothing to the water that 
may favor the growth of low forms of life. 
“ 4. That the purifying power be reasonably lasting 
“5. There shall be nothing in the const ruction of the 
filter itself that shall be capable of undergoing putrefac 
tion, or yielding metallic or other impurities to the water 
“6. The filtering material shall not be liable to clog, and 
that the delivery of water shall be reasonably rapid.” 
If the distinguished author had had one of the Gate 
City Stone Filters before him, and had formulated his 
rules so as to adapt them to its qualities and peculiari- 
ties, he could not have more fully described the actual 
good points of this filter. The filtering medium con- 
sists of a very close-grained natural sandstone, which 
allows water to pass with reasonable rapidity, but 
totally excludes all solid particles, however fine. 
Moreover, the grain is so fine that these impurities 
never penetrate the filtering stone itself, but lie on the 
surface, from which they may be removed by means of 
a cheap brush and a little water. Unlike filters of 
sponge, cotton, wool, and other organic materials, this 
stone never decays or putrifies. Those who have seen 
putrid sponge filters will appreciate this point. 
This stone is cut into slices and fitted into tanks of 
various sizes and different materials—glass, crockery, 
enameled ware, etc. The prices will be found on the 
second page of this pamphlet, and an engraving of a 
favorite form on the last page. It may be seen and ex- 
amined at 14 East Fourteenth Street, New York. THE WATER WE DRINK. 
13 
DIRECTIONS FOR USING THE GATE CITY STONE 
FILTER. 
Pass the water through the stone of a new filter four 
or five times before using it. Wash the stone with 
clean water every day, or oftener if the water is 
muddy. To remove any sediment that may adhere to 
the surface of the stone, use the brush gently. Never 
use SOAP. 
Madison, Florida. 
Messrs. McBride & Co.: 
I sincerely recommend your Gate City Stone Filter. 
My family and myself have all enjoyed better health since 
using your Filter. I would not be without it. 
Mrs. M. A. Fraleigh. 
The N. C. Agricultural Experiment Station, 1 
Raleigh, N. C., Feb. 13, 1882. \ 
Messrs. McBride & Co.: 
The sample of unadulterated Atlanta water con- 
tained : Total solids in solution and suspension, 26.5 
grains per gallon, of which volatile and organic matter 
was 15 grains per gallon, the rest being silica, oxides 
of iron, alumina. 
Microscopical examination of the sediments—the 
water is teeming with organisms, chiefly algae and 
diatoms. 
Filtered through your Stone Filter, the water con- 
tains: Total solids in solution, 5 grains per gallon; 
volatile and organic matter, only a trace in the well 
dried residue ; no chlorides or suiphates. 
1 detect no organisms under the microscope in this 
water after filtration. Respectfully, 
Chas. W. Dabney, Jr. (State Chemist of N. C.) 
New York, October 6, 1882. 
We are using the Gate City Natural Stone Water 
Filter, * * * and cheerfully recommend It 
as a thorough Filter, and much more convenient than 
any we ever saw. Wallace & Sons, 
Brass and Copper Rolling Mill, 89 Chambers and 71 
Reade Sts. 14 
New York, August 22, 1882. 
Messrs. McBride & Co., Atlanta, Ga.: 
Gentlemen:—We take great pleasure in testifying to 
the efficiency of your Gate City Stone Filter. We have 
had it in use for "three months, and find it all it is rep- 
resented to be. No one, who desires pure water, 
should be without it. With the number of hands on 
our premises, we have found it of incalculable benefit, 
and feel sure that it has only to be made sufficiently 
known in order to become general in its application. 
Yours very truly, L. Strauss & Sons, 
42, 44, 46 Warren St., Importers of China. Pottery and 
Glassware, from all Countries. 
THE WATER WE DRINK. 
Messrs. McBride & Co.: Boston, Mass. 
Gentlemen:—We have studied somewhat carefully 
your Stone Filter Disc, and believe there is merit in it. 
Its simplicity is most attractive, and we have great 
confidence in its ability to do the needed work. We 
have adopted it, and, although we are geographically 
removed from the great centre of demand for the arti- 
cle, still we have no doubt but we shall sell quite a 
goodly number. Truly yours, Dover Stamping Co. 
Louisville, Ky., August 21, 1882. 
Messrs. Brinkley & Co.: 
I have two of your “ Gate City Natural Stone Water 
Filters” in use—one in the bank and the other at my 
residence. The medium through which the water 
passes causes it to be absolutely clear and pure. It is 
the best Filter I ever saw, and 1 would not be without 
it for many times its cost. Theodore Harris, 
Pres. Louisville Banking Co. 
New Orleans, La. 
The Gate City Stone Filter is beyond all question 
the simplest, best and only Perfect Filter. 
Joseph Jones, M. D., Pres. State Board of Health. 
New Orleans, La. 
The Gate City Stone Filter is the best, simplest 
and only Perfect Filter I ever saw. E. A. Burke, 
Man. Ed. Times-Democrat and Director Gen’l World’s 
Cotton Exposition. THE WATER WE DRINK. 
15 
Law Office of B. F. Rex, St. Louis, Mo. 
Messrs. McBride & Co., Atlanta, Ga.: 
I have investigated the claims of all the Alters man- 
ufactured in this country or elsewhere, and believe 
your Gate City Stone Filter to be, beyond any doubt, the 
best for family use in the world. 1 have used it in my 
own family for years ; it has done its work perfectly, 
and is as good to-day as when Arst used. Mississippi 
river water is disgusting to look at before it is Altered, 
but after passing through one of your Filters it be- 
comes clear and beautiful to the eye, and as delicious 
to the taste as the best spring water. B. F. Rex. 
Church of the Good Shepherd, Pittsburg, Pa. 
McBride & Co., Atlanta : 
I have been using the “Gate City Stone Filter” for 
four years. It is the best Filter I ever saw. 
I). C. Peabody. 
United States Legation, Bogota, S. A. 
Messrs. McBride & Co., Atlanta, Ga.: 
I have used the Gate City Stone Filter, and And it 
perfect in every respect—it never clogs or becomes 
saturated with Alth. It is indispensable, and will do 
everything you claim for it. William L. Scruggs. 
Atlanta, Ga. 
Messrs. McBride & Co.: 
We have examined your Gate City Stone Filter, and 
have made practical experiments with it, applying 
some very severe tests, and pronounce it the best and 
most convenient filter we have ever seen for water or 
other fluids. Clayton & Webb, Rectifiers. 
Messrs. McBride & Co.: Atlanta. Ga. 
We have been using your Gate City Natural Stone 
Filter at our store to Alter drinking water, and the 
water used in medical waters of the W. S. P., and And 
that it, answers the purpose admirably. We think 
every druggist should have one, as in most cases the 
Alter saves the trouble and expense of the distillation 
of water. It is superior to paper Alters for tinctures or 
elixirs, and we would not be without it. 
Lamar, Rankin & Lamar.