354
Enclosure 3.
Report of the Government Aualyst.
GOVERNMENT CIVIL HOSPITAL,
HONGKONG, 21ST APRIL, 1888. SIR-I have the honour to forward a statement of the work done in the temporary laboratory of this Hospital during the year 1887.
WATER.
During the months of February, March, and April analysis of 328 waters derived from wells or springs within the City of Victoria were made at the request of the Sanitary Board. My instructions were to simply "separate the wells into two classes viz.; those which were evidently much polluted and those which were not." Many of these waters had been examined in former years and in previous special and annual reports I have expressed my views on the danger incurred by the public in having recourse to the shallow wells in this City for a supply of water for dietetic purposes.
In judging of the extent of the pollution of these well waters some considerable care was taken to ascertain the existence or absence of nitrites the detection of which in shallow well waters being. in the opinion of most chemists, held as conclusive evidence of the presence, in the water under examina- tion, of fresh decomposing sewage.
Of the 328 waters examined 223 or 68 per cent. showed unmistakable evidence of the presence of The specimens nitrites; and 199 or 60 per cent. contained considerable quantities of free ammonia. of good well water I have analyzed in this Colony have been found to contain practically no free ammonia and certainly not even the faintest trace of nitrites.
In all cases an accurate determination was made of the amount of Chlorine present in the water and after a careful consideration of the chemical data and an inspection in many instances of the localities whence the samples were drawn, I placed 233 of the samples or 71 per cent. in the category of waters that were evidently much polluted.
I may add that the greater part of the remaining 95 samples contained Chlorine considerably in excess of the quantity found in water derived from wells that are without doubt uncontaminated; and in the last report on water analysis I submitted to the Board, a recommendation was made that when an abundant water supply was available the Government would do well to order the closing of all wells in the City of Victoria.
MILK.
During the year
nine samples of milk which had been obtained by the Nuisance Inspectors were analyzed at the request of the Sanitary Board. Of these three were returned as being adulterated. One of the specimens was estimated to contain at least 50 per cent. of added water.
Sometime ago the necessity of checking the quality of the milk supplied to the Civil Hospital was very clearly demonstrated to the Civil Medical Staff, and it was decided that once a month samples from the morning and evening milk delivered by the contractor were to be analyzed.
To enable me to form a proper estimate of the quality of the milk an analysis is made, regularly once a month, of a sample selected at the Contractor's Farm from the mixed product of the whole Dairy.
Too much weight cannot be attached to the necessity of providing the sick with milk of the best quality seeing that in many cases it forms their sole article of diet. Mr. ROGERS the Hospital Steward has been, for some months, in the habit of noting the Specific Gravity and Temperature of every delivery so that all possible precautions are now taken to prevent an inferior article being sent up to the wards for the patients' consumption.
The process adopted in every case is In all 36 samples of milk were analyzed during the year. the one devised soine years ago by Dr. JAMES BELL the Principal of the Somerset House Laboratory.
TOXICOLOGICAL.
Investigations were conducted in three cases where there was evidence pointing to the use of poisonous agents.
1. Calomel Poisoning. On the 3rd of August Dr. J. A. LOCKHEAD brought me a small quantity of a decoction of coffee which he had received from one of his patients-an officer of the Ainerican
information:---
ship Alice D. Cooper then lying in the harbour of Hongkong. The officer, at the request of Dr. LOCKHEAD, presented himself at the Government Laboratory and furnished me with the following "About 5 o'clock one morning while I was on watch-the ship being then in the China Sea within a few days sail of this port I received at the hands of a negro cabin-boy a cup of Coffee which had been prepared by the ship's Cook. I drank about a mouthful and fancying from the taste that there was something wrong I carelessly threw overboard the greater part of the beverage. I soon felt very violent pains about the region of the stomach and about five minutes after drinking the Coffee I vomited. On hearing of the occurrence the Captain gave me an emnetic and something to drink. None of the vomits were preserved, what remained of the Coffee was placed in a small bottle and handed over to the Doctor soon after our arrival in Hongkong. For several days I felt very weak and had a nasty taste in the mouth. I complained of a bad stomach. These symptoms continued untii i placed myself under Dr. LocкHEAD'S treatment after the ship came into port."
tion.
The bottle contained about half an ounce of Coffee. There was a considerable sediment of a greyish brown colour which at first could not be very easily diffused throughout the supernatant decoc- A microscopical examination of the deposit revealed the presence of a number of fat globules (milk fat) and an amorphous body which was in due course identified with Calomel, the Sub-chloride or mild chloride of mercury of the British and United States Pharmacopoeias.
A special report on the result of this analysis was forwarded to the American Consulate at the request of Colonel WITDERS, the United States Consul.
Most persons will agree with me in condemning in the strongest terms the practice-revealed in the course of my enquiry into this case-of leaving a ship's medicine chest open to persons other than the senior officers of the vessel.
2. Fish Poisoning.-On the night of the 16th of September some men were observed to put into a live fish tank in one of the City markets a substance known as
Ch'd tsai ping. The fish
were killed almost immediately. The water containing the poison was reinoved and a supply of fresh water put into the tank. The only material available for analysis was the dead fish.
The above data-derived from the depositions of the witnesses who gave evidence at the Magistracy --was obligingly placed at my disposal by Mr. H. E. WODEHOUSE, C.M.G., the senior Police Magis-
trate.
In this case two questions were referred to me by the Court for consideration and report :---
1. Can the active principle of Chá tsai ping be detected in the dead fish? 2. Are fish destroyed as above fit for human consumption?
Before giving an opinion on these two points I wrote to Mr. Chas. FORD, FL.S., the Superin- tendent of the Botanical and Afforestation Department enquiring if he could give me information con- cerning the preparation and uses of this poison, special reference being made to the possibility of more than one plant entering into its composition.
I append as an Appendix to this report, an extract from Mr. FoRD's letter and also an extract from a memorandum sent to me by Mr. J. II. STEWART LOCKHART, the Registrar-General, of whom I requested assistance in obtaining the opinion of the Chinese fish merchants as to the suitability or otherwise as an article of diet, of fish destroyed by Chá tsai ping or #Chá fu as it is sometimes termed.
It will be seen from Mr. Four's account (Appendix A) of its preparation that the seeds of Camellia oleifera, Abel, of the Natural Order Ternstremiaceae, minus the oil, are the sole consti- tuent; and the practical observations he makes as to the uses of the substance for the destruction of low forms of animal life without doubt prove that it is a poison although only a mild one. Confirma- tory evidence on this latter point will be found in Mr. LOCKHART'S memo. (Appendix B).
The only recorded description of this fish-poison accessible to me is that given by Mr. HUGH MCCALLUM in his aunual report for 1882 and in a paper by the same author in the Pharmaceutical Journal (3) Vol. XIV, p. 21. Mr. MCCALLUM refers to its use as a fish-poison, and states that its activity is doubtless due to the glucoside saponin which exists in the seeds to the extent of about 10
The seeds also contain about 44 per cent of a fixed oil. The action of saponin on man has been but little studied but Mr. WYNTER BLYTH' is of opinion that it is an undoubted poison and capable of endangering the life of man.
per cent.
The attempt made by me to discover the glucoside in one of the fishes sent to the Laboratory by the Police proved a failure.
With regard to the question as to the use as human food, of fish destroyed by Ch'ú tsai ping, I would invite attention to the following consideration :----
1. The absence of any record of such fish acting injuriously.
2. The opinion of the Chinese as to their harmless nature.
3. The fact that birds are not affected by worms similarly destroyed.
(1.) Camellia Sasanqua, Thunb. Indez Flava Sinensis p. 82.
(2.) Poisons (1884), p. 421.
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