378 Biology in America 



many plants other than the bacteria which may render water 

 unsuitable for consumption or other household uses. Ani- 

 mals too, especially mosquito larvae, present in drinking 

 waters, may play an important role in human health. At 

 various times the people of Boston have noticed an odor of 

 cucumbers in their drinking water. However delectable the 

 odor of cucumbers may be in a salad, the inconsistency of 

 human nature is such that Boston people strongly objected 

 to it in their drinking water, the more so as it suggested cer- 

 tain unsavory things such as garbage cans, or a vegetable push 

 cart in Salem Street. Investigation proved however that the 



SYNURA 



Which imparts the odor of cucumbers to water. From Conn, "Pro- 

 tozoa of Connecticut." 



cucumber was entirely blameless in the matter, the guilty 

 party being an innocent looking little animal, the protozoan 

 Synura. Professor Whipple has compiled a list of twenty- 

 two unicellular plants and animals which are responsible for 

 various odors in water, ranging all the way from the delicate 

 perfume of the violet to the disgusting smell of the piggery. 

 Some organisms indeed run the whole gamut of odor, de- 

 pending on the number present and the amount of decom- 

 position, from the odor of a violet or a geranium to that of 

 a fish, or from the smell of newly cut grass or corn to that of 

 the pig-pen. "Things are not always what they seem." On 

 one occasion seven out of ten people declared that highly di- 

 luted kerosene smelled like perfumery, which observation may 

 be interpreted either as a libel on certain "perfumery" or 

 vice versa. 



When the shirt of your bosom returns to you an hour be- 

 fore dinner stiff and glossy, but with dull brown stains upon 

 it, do not blame the Chinaman or the laundry maid ; go rather 



