680 ABSTRACTS 



their ability to digest starch and to decompose cellulose. The am- 

 monifying and cellulose decomposing power of the fungi tested proved 

 to be strong, the starch digesting and the nitrogen-fixing action to be 

 weak or absent. 



Cultivated and uncultivated soils do not differ distinctly in the 

 species of their fungus flora, though each soil seems to have a more 

 or less characteristic fungus flora. The numbers of fungi decrease 

 rapidly with depth, so that at twelve to twenty inches below the sur- 

 face very few fungi can be found, the largest numbers occurring within 

 the upper four inches of soil. Zygorhynchus Vuilleminii was often the 

 only organism present in sub soil. 



Many pathogenic fungi have been isolated from the soil, a fact 

 which leads one to think that they pass certain stages of their life his- 

 tory in the soil, or are able to live saprophytically in the soil and 

 perhaps play a part in its fertility. — Z. N. 



BACTERIOLOGY OF WATER AND SEWAGE 



Some Aspects of Chlorination. Joseph Race. Jour, Am. W. W. 

 Assn., 1916, 3, 439; Can. Engr., 1916, 30, 603-605. 

 In the use of liquid chlorin for sterilizing water thorough mechani- 

 cal mixture is required. Tests at Ottawa show a saving in chlorin 

 with higher bacterial removals. Data are given indicating that more 

 chlorin is required for high color and when the temperature is low. 

 Studies of the surviving types of B. coli did not indicate greater resist- 

 ance than that possessed by the original culture. — L. P. 



A Preliminary Report Upon Purification of Swimming Pools at the 

 State University of Iowa. J. J. Hinman. Eng. and Contr., 1916, 

 46, 135-138. 



Two types of filters are in use, a pressure filter for the men's pool 

 and a gravity type for the women's pool. Contract with the filter 

 company guarantees an effluent which will conform to the government 

 standard for water on interstate carriers. Out of tests on eighty-three 

 consecutive days, with 1 cc. samples, only three presumptive tests for 

 B. coli were secured on the women's pool and seven on the men's pool. 

 Alum and liquid chlorine are used with the usual apparatus for their 

 appHcation. The author believes that the 37°C. count gives a bet- 

 ter indication of the degree of purification than the 20°C. count. 



F. W. T. 



The Sanitary Control of Swimming Pools. Max Levine. Jour. 



Infect. Diseases, 1916, 18, 293-306. 



The author reviews the investigations on swimming pool disinfec- 

 tion and reports his own results involving the use of filtration, calcium 

 hypochlorite, bleach, and copper sulfate. Continuous filtration 

 effected a reduction of 60 per cent in the bacterial count, the results 



