ABSTRACTS 103 



filling, each car is given a twenty-four hour test for gas production before 

 being shipped. 



Upon arrival at destination the car is connected by a metal hose to 

 the storage tanks in the building and the line sterilized with steam before 

 the car is emptied. The storage tanks are glass lined and are sterilized 

 when empty. 



Bottles are washed inside and out with hot water and soda solution, 

 rinsed with hot sterile water, and sterilized at 104°C. for thirty minutes. 

 When cool they are filled automatically, stoppered and sealed. Only 

 sterilized glass stoppers are used. The piping system is sterilized daily 

 with steam. 



The laboratory work consists in checking methods of operation by 

 frequent sampling of various parts of the system. Also frequent 

 inspections of the different bottling houses are made, and a score card 

 record of the visit is kept. Recording thermometers check the tempera- 

 ture of the sterilizers and these records are kept on file. 



Analytical results show a product unchanged in the course of handhng. 



Bacteria in Commerical, Bottled Waters. Maud Mason Obst. 



The official supervision of commercial, bottled waters has led to the 

 accumulation of a large amount of data concerning their bacterial 

 content. Waters from 167 sources, both foreign and American, have 

 been examined. Many contained large numbers of organisms, includ- 

 ing B. cloacae, paratyphi, mycoides, aerogenes, subtilis, aurantiacus, 

 maritinum, ovale, prodigiosus, fluorescens (liquefaciens) , fluorescens, 

 (non-liquefaciens), M. citreus, long-chain streptococci, and unidentified 

 chromogens. Occasionally, common molds were found, and from one 

 source a sporotrichum occurred in large numbers. A sample from one 

 spring gave cultures of P. italicum, and from one import sample were 

 obtained Actinomyces. B. coli were isolated from 57 per cent of the 

 domestic samples and from 49 per cent of the import samples in 10 cc. 

 quantities, from 44 per cent of the former and 28 per cent of the latter 

 in 0.1 cc. quantities, and from 9 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively, 

 in 0.001 cc. quantities. 



In certain cases, inspections of the springs have located the sources of 

 pollutions in some controllable place, as in the bottles or bottling houses 

 or in a less easily controlled place, as in the spring. When the source 

 of pollution could not be removed, the bottled product was not con- 

 sidered safe for human consumption. 



Communications from other bacteriologists have shown that nearly 

 all expect to find bottled waters more nearly bacteriologically pure than 

 municipal supplies, and many feel that bottled waters should at least 

 contain no B. coli in more than one of 10 cc. portions. 



Comparison of Rapid Method of Counting Bacteria in Milk with Standard 



Method. W. D. Frost. 



The method consists of making small plate cultures, four square 

 centimeters in area, on microscopical glass slides. One twentieth of a 



