57 



that used in the town after the pumping had ceased. Now if the trouble was in 

 the reservoir water, we would expect to have the complaints made in the early 

 morning, which would be the only time, as we have seen, that this water had 

 access to the service pipes. And such was the case. All the complaints were 

 made in the morning, and when the superintendent would go to investigate at 

 this or that place late in the forenoon he could detect nothing wrong in the water. 

 The pumps had started and forced the reservoir water back to a certain extent, 

 fresh water from the wells taking its place. 



All of this evidence, together with our knowledge of the natural history or 

 biology of bodies of water exposed to the sunlight would point to the reservoir as 

 the source of the trouble. A microscopical examination of this water was made, 

 and it showed the presence, among other things, of the colony-building infusorial 

 organism Uroglena in small numbers. 



This Uroglena is well known in Massachusetts and Connecticut as having 

 caused strong fishy tastes and disagreeable oily smells in many large water sup- 

 plies, and in some cases in the very best ones. So that knowing the history of 

 this organism, and finding it in the water of the reservoir, it was unnecessary to 

 search further for the trouble. 



This organism itself has been described by Ehrenberg^, Biitschli-, Stein^, 

 Kent*, and Calkins^. It was first recognized in this country by Conn'^, who 

 found it in the reservoir of the Middletown (Connecticut) waterworks. Since 

 then it has been known to cause trouble in a large number of prominent Eastern 

 water supplies. 



The colonies in the LaFayette water were just visible to the naked eye, being 

 considerably less than y^^ (one one-hundredth) of an inch in diameter, and 

 spheroidal in shape. Each colony is made up of a delicate gelatinous matrix, in 

 the periphery of which are imbedded two hundred or more individual monads, 

 these monads having two Hagella each, chromatphores, and, quite important to 

 us in connection with water supplies, many oil globules variously distributed 

 throughout the cell. It is supposed, and with good reason, that these are the 

 direct source of the oily taste and smell in the water. When the colony is intact, 

 in its normal condition in the water, very little if any odor can be detected ; but 

 let that water be disturbed in such a way as to rupture or disintegrate the colonies 



^Die Infusioiisthiere als vollkomna Organismen. Leipzig, 1&58. 



=Zeitschrift fiir Wissenschaftliehe ZoHlogie. 1878. Bd. XXX, p. 265. 



^Organismus der Infusidusthere. III. 1878. 



^Manual of the Infusoria, I. London, 1881. (AV. Saville Kent.) 



^On Uroglena. G. N. Calkins, in Annual Kaport Muss. State Board Health, 1891. 



''Report of Water Commissioneis for 1889, Middletown, Ct. 



