Ii6 BACTERIA IN DAILY LIFE 



and other investigators have frequently found 

 absolutely no bacteria whatever in these waters, 

 and often only four in a cubic centimetre. 

 When we remember the high temperature of 

 so-called thermal sulphur waters, which in many 

 cases reaches more than fifty degrees Centi- 

 grade, it is perhaps surprising that even four 

 individuals can be found in a cubic centimetre 

 capable of withstanding the nauseous atmosphere 

 of sulphuretted hydrogen in addition to such hot 

 environment. Perhaps in the bacterial community 

 these hot sulphur springs provide that place of 

 punishment which figured so largely in the 

 imagination of the early Christian fathers ; certain 

 it is that in this bacterial hell, in the picturing 

 of which so many of the old masters seem to have 

 revelled, but very few individuals are to be found, 

 and those which are there are almost entirely 

 derived from one family. 



In giving weight to the highly satisfactory 

 results of these bacterial examinations in forming 

 an estimate of the microbial quality of natural 

 mineral waters, it must be borne in mind that 

 these investigations were all made of the said 

 waters in a state of nature straight from the 

 source, and before they had undergone the 

 barbarous ordeal of commercial manipulation 

 such as the process of bottling. 



