396 Profs. Percy Frankland and Marshall Ward. 



1. Discovery of the Typhoid Bacillus in Natural Waters. 



Inasmuch as the communicability of typhoid fever by drinking 

 water has been long recognised as a cardinal principle of modern 

 hygiene, it was only natural that the discovery of the specific 

 micro-organism of this disease by Eberth should have been soon 

 followed by strenuous efforts to discover the Eberth-bacillus in 

 potable water ; it was not until about six years afterwards, however, 

 that successful attempts in this direction were announced. 



The first investigator who claimed to have discovered Eberth- 

 Gaffky's bacillus in water was Moers (" Die Brunnen der Stadt Miihl- 

 lieim a. Khein vom bakteriologischem Standpunkte aus betrachtet," 

 ' Erganzungsh. zum Centralblatt f. allgem. Gesundheitspflege,' vol. ii, 

 1886, p. 144), who isolated the bacillus from a contaminated well 

 supplying drinking water to a number of people amongst whom 

 many cases of typhoid fever had occurred. 



This discovery was soon followed by a similar announcement from 

 Michael ("Typhusbacillen im Trinkwasser," ' Fortschritte d. Medicin,' 

 vol. iv, 1886, p. 353), in Dresden, who claimed to have isolated the 

 bacillus from a well-water which was suspected of being the source of 

 an outbreak of typhoid which declared itself at the end of the year 

 1885. 



Dreyfus-Brisac and Widal (" Epidemic de Famille de Fievre 

 typhoide," 'Gaz. hebdom.,' 1886, No. 45) again detected the bacilli in 

 the polluted water of a well at Menilmontant, where typhoid fever 

 had been pievalent for some months. 



The typhoid bacillus has repeatedly been found in the water of the 

 river Seine, thus Chantemesse and Widal ('Gaz. hebdom. de Med. et 

 de Chirurg.,' 1887, pp. 146150 ; * Centralbl. f. Bakteriol.,' vol. i, 1887, 

 p. 682) discovered the bacillus no less than three times in this water 

 during an outbreak of typhoid in Paris. Thoinot (' La Semaine 

 Medical e,' 1887, No. 14, p. 135 ; 'Centralbl. f. Bakteriol.,' vol. ii, 1887, 

 p. 39) also isolated typhoid bacilli from the Seine at Ivry, at a dis- 

 tance of but little more than twenty yards from the point where the 

 water is abstracted for the occasional supply of Paris with drinking 

 water. Again, Loir ("Recherche du Bacille typhique dans les Eaux 

 d' Alimentation de la Ville de Paris," 'Annales de 1'lnstitut Pasteur,' 

 vol. i, p. i88) detected the typhoid bacillus in Seine water which was 

 actually being distributed to a portion of Paris during the summer 

 of 1887, owing to the scarcity of the Vanne water, which yields the 

 supply under ordinary circumstances. Vincent ("Presence du Bacille 

 typhique dans 1'Eau de Seine pendant le Mois de Juillet, 1890," 

 ' Annales de 1'lnstitut Pasteur,' vol. iv, p. 772) again found the 

 typhoid bacillus in the Seine water which was being similarly sup- 

 plied to Paris during th,e summer of 1890. 



