ioo BACTERIA IN DAILY LIFE 



and the consequences of frost are most to be 

 apprehended, that those entrusted with this 

 responsible task should be unremitting in their 

 endeavours to obtain a good filtrate. 



That waters submitted to exhaustive natural 

 filtration, such as those derived from deep wells 

 sunk into the chalk, and usually almost entirely 

 devoid of bacterial life, may at times become 

 the carriers of disease has been proved by the dis- 

 astrous outbreak of typhoid fever which occurred 

 some years ago at Worthing. 



This town has long been supplied with water 

 of the very finest quality for dietetic purposes, 

 and nothing could have been more unexpected 

 than this most fatal epidemic. It must, however, 

 be borne in mind that such deep -well waters 

 are not necessarily immaculate, for in the event 

 of any fault in the water-bearing strata occurring, 

 the filtration becomes inefficient, and the water 

 may then, as in the case of Worthing, be the 

 bearer and disseminator of zymotic disease. 



The bacteriological methods for the examina- 

 tion of water, although when first introduced but 

 a few years ago were lightly looked upon, and 

 by many opposed, have now become of para- 

 mount importance in all questions of water- 

 purification. The immense mass of evidence of 

 a purely bacteriological character which was 



