no BACTERIA IN DAILY LIFE 



country and their contributions to the national 

 revenue do not, however, permit us to indulge in 

 the belief that this large consumption of harmless 

 drinks is due to their displacing the use of 

 intoxicants the increasing sale of non-alcoholic 

 beverages cannot in fact be taken as an index 

 of the growing sobriety of a nation ; far more 

 must the greater demand be attributed to the im- 

 provements in manufacture which have cheapened 

 production and placed what was formerly an 

 article of luxury almost prohibitive in price, and 

 hence reserved for the few, within comparatively 

 easy reach of the many. Perhaps also an in- 

 creased sale may be assisted by a prevailing 

 impression that by substituting carbonated for 

 ordinary potable water, the risk of contracting 

 zymotic disease is, if not altogether removed, at 

 any rate very materially diminished. 



It will be therefore instructive to see how far 

 this assumption is justified by actual facts. 



The first fact to be recognised is that the 

 number of bacteria present may and does fluctuate 

 between such wide limits as is represented by as 

 few as three, and as many as 100,000 being found 

 in about twenty drops of artificially aerated waters. 

 Seltzer water, manufactured from well water, was 

 found by Sohnke to contain numbers varying 

 from 200 to 6,000, whilst when only distilled water 



