132 Elements of Water Bacteriology. 



Health (Massachusetts State Board of Health, 1901) in 

 connection with the examination of the spring-waters 

 bottled for sale in the state. Ninety-nine springs were 

 included in this study, and in almost every instance 4 

 samples were examined, 2 taken directly from the spring 

 by the engineers of the board and 2 from the bottles as 

 delivered for sale to the public. In the water of one 

 spring B. coli was found twice, once in a sample from 

 the spring and once in the bottled sample. This spring 

 was situated in woodland, but was unprotected from 

 surface drainage, and the method of filling bottles sub- 

 jected it to possible contamination. In 5 other cases B. 

 coli was found once in the sample from the spring; all 

 were subject to pollution from dwellings or cultivated 

 fields, and 4 of the 5 were shown to be highly contam- 

 inated, chemically. In 7 other cases B. coli was found 

 in the bottled samples alone; 3 of these sources were of 

 high purity, but the bottling process furnished oppor- 

 tunity for contamination. 



Clark and Gage (1903), hi the examination of 170 

 samples of water from tubular and curb wells of good 

 quality used as sources of water-supply, found B. coli only 

 five times, once in one cubic centimeter and four tim.es in 

 one hundred cubic centimeters. Horton (1903), from a 

 study of ground-waters in Ohio, concluded that the 

 presence of B. coli in wells and springs was indicative of 

 serious pollution; of 37 waters of this class which showed 

 B. coli, 27 had a history of typhoid fever. 



