THE SIGNIFICANCE OF B. COLI IN WATER. 7$ 



cats, swine, and cattle; and he also found it in the organs 

 of fowls and turkeys after death. Brotzu (Brotzu, 1895) 

 reported B. coli and allied forms as very abundant in the 

 intestine of the dog; and Belitzer (Belitzer, 1899) still 

 more recently isolated typical colon bacilli from the 

 intestinal contents of horses, cattle, swine, and goats. 

 Russell and Bassett (Russell and Bassett, 1899) stated that 

 studies made by E. B. Hoag in Professor Russell's labora- 

 tory indicated the presence of bacilli of the colon group, 

 fermenting dextrose with a gas formula of f , in the feces 

 of " a considerable number of different species of mam- 

 malia, as well as that of birds, fish, etc.," while similar 

 organisms with the inverted gas formula \ were con- 

 sidered by the same authors to be characteristic of decom- 

 posing organic matter of vegetable origin, free from sus- 

 picion of fecal contamination. Moore and Wright 

 (Moore and Wright, 1900) recorded the finding of the 

 colon bacillus in the horse, dog, cow, sheep, and hen; 

 and in a later report (Moore and Wright, 1902) they noted 

 its occurrence in swine and in some, but not all, the speci- 

 mens of rabbits examined. In frogs it was not found. 

 Amyot (Amyot, 1902) failed to find B. coli in the intes- 

 tines of 23 fish representing 14 species. The possibility 

 that colon bacilli may be introduced into unpolluted 

 waters through the agency of fish was considered again 

 by Johnson, in a paper read at the Washington meeting 

 of the American Public Health Association and not yet 

 published. Colon bacilli were found present in the 

 intestinal tract of fish taken from polluted waters, and 



