PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB I37 



" its water in an unfiltered condition from the Elbe above 

 "the town, and Altona obtained filtered water from the 

 " Elbe below the town. Whereas Hamburg was notori- 

 " ously badly visited with Cholera, Wansbeck and Altona — 

 " if one excepts the cases brought thither from Ham- 



" burg — were almost quite free from the disease 



" In one street forming a boundary of Hamburg and 

 " Altona, Cholera occurred on the Hamburg side, whereas 



" the Altona side was free of it Altona resorts 



" to the Elbe after it has received all the liquid and foecal 

 " refuse of 800,000 people, the Elbe being relatively little 

 " contaminated where Hamburg takes its water." 



Here we have an instance of Cholera bacteria living and 

 probably multiplying in a river constantly, and enormously 

 polluted with sewage. The Cholera bacilli were actually 

 detected in the water — we see the disease set up by it in 

 the one town, and in the other where the water is 

 originally at its worst we see the disease prevented by 

 simple sand filtration. 



The Caterham Well may be quoted as a notorious 

 example of a pure water that caused an epidemic of 

 Typhoid Fever through an accidental contamination from 

 a workman, who wliilst employed at work inside the well 

 was seized with Typhoid Fever. This water was of 

 course not filtered, being derived from a deep well. 



Typhoid and Cholera Bacilli 



The mode of the artificial cultivation of the Typhoid 

 bacillus and its separation as recently described by Professor 

 Percy Frankland is of interest, as showing the different 

 behaviour of bacteria towards different nutrient material. 

 Carbolic acid and dilute mineral acids are very fatal to the 

 existence of most bacteria, but the Typhoid bacillus is 

 comparatively insusceptible to their influence. A culti- 

 vation of the suspected water is therefore made in a nutrient 

 fluid to which a little carbolic acid and hydrochloric acid 



