160
FEDERATED MALAY STATES.
From a Report published by Dr. C. W. Daniels in 1904 on Water Supplies (Institute of Medical Research Vol. 3 pt. 2) it is found that in the water supply of Kwala Lumpur derived from an impounding Reservoir of 37,710,000 gallons and a catchment area of 1,500 acres, in long continued drought the total Bacteria are from 50 to 60 per c.c. from subsidence; after heavy rains you can get. 8,800 organism per c.c., 300 to 500 per c.c. are the usual number got.
In MacConkey's medium (? Glucose), even when the smallest number of organisms were present, a reaction was obtained with 1 c.c. of water but not with 4 c.c. On all occasions in 2 c.c. Acid and gas forming organisms were present.
COLOMBO.
The Bacteriological Examination of the Town Water by the Director, Bacteriological Institute, 4th Quarter 1909, gives the following results:-
No. of Bacteria per c.c. of water (Agar plates)
Streptococci
Bacillus Coli......
**
11
B. Enteritidis Sporogenes Germs liquefying gelatine
(Gelatine).
CALCUTTA.
...288 .....320
...absent
""
11
..nil
The Report of the Health Officer for the year 1908 gives the following information:
The filtered water is examined weekly, in all the examinations B. Coli Communis were found to be present in 2 c.c. and even sometimes in 1 c.c. or less of water, but neither Cholera Vibrios nor B. Typhosus were ever detected. It has been observed that no relation could be established between the head of water, the number of days the filters had been at work and the number of colonies of bacteria found,
MADRAS.
Major Clemesha (1909) states that of the 18 towns in the Madras Presidency which are provided with a protected water supply, not one would pass at all times of the year the requirements which are usually accepted as necessary in England. Working on MacConkey's method, he classifies the Lactose fermenters isolated by what is his expe- rience of their resistance to Sunlight; roughly the more resistant they are to Sunlight, the less importance he attaches to them. As the least resistant to unfavourable influences, he gives: class I, oxytocus pernicious, Nos. 10, 39, 69, 70, 97, 98, 34, 35, and 36; and as the most resistant, class III, Nos. 73, 75, 4, 7, 8, and 108. As the standard for good filtered Lake Water he considers less than 100 colonies per c.c. on agar, no Lactose fermenters in 20 c.c. and no organisms of class I in 50 c.c. should be obtained.
SUMMARY OF THE BACTERIOLOGICAL RESULTS OBTAINED
IN THIS INVESTIGATION.
I.—The Lactose Fermenting Bacilli in Human Excretă.
Nine samples were examined from healthy adult Chinese coolies. The coolies examin- ed have a salary of from $8 to $9 (15/- to 17/-) a month which allows of a rice and vegetable diet with meat occasionally, but is not sufficient for a Europeanised diet. It is assumed that they represent the large majority of coolies working in Hongkong.
In each case a small quantity of fresh excreta was emulsified in Peptone water and then plated, without preliminary incubation, on to dried MacConkey Lactose Agar plates by means of sterile glass rods. These plates were incubated at 37° C. for 24 to 48 hours and the discrete colonies were then picked off on to Agar slopes from a segment of the plate, care being taken to avoid selection,