SIGNIFICANCE OF COLON GEOUP IN WATER 147 



from standing grains. Gordan (1904) could not find 

 B. coli in .1 and .01 mg. samples of clean bran, but 

 isolated it easily from that of poor quality. Winslow 

 and Walker (1907) have recently reported the examina- 

 tion of 178 samples of grain and 40 samples of grasses 

 for B. coli without success. On the other hand, Diiggeli 

 (1904) found B. coli among the bacteria occurring on 

 the leaves of growing plants, although it was not one 

 of the most abundant species. Barthel, too (Barthel, 

 1906), found B. coli widely distributed on plants from 

 both cultivated and uncultivated regions. Bettencourt 

 and Borges (1908^ examined 35 samples of vegetables 

 and cereals purchased in open market and found 12 

 lactose-fermenting forms, of which only 6 proved to be 

 B. coli. It should be noted, however, that the method 

 of isolation used was direct plating on Endo-medium, 

 which is of course less sensitive than the enrichment 

 processes used by other workers. 



Neumann (1910) has recently studied the distribu- 

 tion of colon bacilli on and in various food substances 

 such as bread, milk, butter and fruit. From fresh 

 fruits immediately after picking he never isolated 

 them, but they were present in a certain proportion of 

 all the foods which had been exposed to human con- 

 tamination and the author concludes that wherever 

 human hands have been, there will B. coli be found. 

 Konrich (1910) in a similar series of investigations 

 obtained positive results from 46 out of 100 .1 to .5 gm. 

 samples of cultivated plants while leaves of trees and 

 grasses and herbs on waste places gave about 6 per 

 cent positive results. Hay showed colon bacilli in 



