146 DOMESTIC WATER SUPPLY OF BRISBANE, ETC. 



zinc in drinking water. The most striking of all these extracts 

 is the poisoning case in the Straits Settlements. The poisoning 

 there was without doubt caused by the presence of only one-third 

 of a grain of zinc per gallon in the drinking water. In Brisbane we 

 have on the average fully three times this amount. If elsewhere 

 zinc, present in less quantity than we have here, causes severe 

 and even fatal poisoning, may it not be causing serious harm in 

 Brisbane ? I realise that this is in many ways a serious question 

 to raise, but it would certainly be a most extraordinary circum- 

 stance if the presence of zinc in drinking water, which has 

 proved so harmful elsewhere, should be perfectly harmless in 

 Queensland. 



