NOTES ON THE BACTERIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION 

 OF WATER FROM THE SYDNEY SUPPLY. No. I. 



By Oscar Katz, Ph.D., M.A. 



(Plates X. and XL) 



(Introductory.) 



When, some time ago, through the generous and ever-ready 

 assistance of the Hon. William Macleay, who not only defrayed 

 the cost of the necessary working-apparatus, but also encouraged 

 me in my pursuits in every possible way, and to whom I take 

 this opportunity of tendering my best thanks, I was fortunate 

 enough to commence to do some bacteriological work in the 

 laboratory at the Linnean Hall, Sydney, I fancied that, among 

 other interesting subjects, the Sydney water, as used for drinking 

 and other purposes, might be worth a biological or more especially 

 a bacteriological examination. 



It is well-known that bacteria or Schizomycetes (fission-or cleft- 

 fungi) occur in most natural waters, and also, that these very 

 micro-organisms are possessed of very marked physiological pro- 

 perties, which manifest themselves in different ways, as processes 

 of oxidation and hydratation, of fermentation and putrefaction, 

 according to the chemical changes which they bring about in various 

 substances. Last but not least, a pretty fair number of bacteria claim 

 a more than usual interest, inasmuch as they are indubitably proved 

 to be intimately connected with the production of certain, so-called 

 infectious diseases in man, animals, and, to some extent in the 

 vegetable world, while in other such diseases the existence of the 

 real contagium in the form of a micro-organism, has not yet been 

 clearly demonstrated, but can only be inferred. 



