May 23. 1902 ] 



SCIENCE. 



827 



$3 per day, American plan. Persons wishing 

 to join this party should send their names to 

 Dr. I. C. White, Morgantown, W. Va., without 

 delay. During the Association meeting some 

 shorter excursions are proposed, under the 

 direction of Mr. James E. Macfarlane. When 

 the details of the several excursions are per- 

 fected, a special circular relating to them will 

 be issued. 



The Hotel Schenley has been selected by the 

 local committee, A. A. A. S., as the head- 

 quarters. 



All persons attending the meetings in con- 

 junction with the A. A. A. S. can secure the 

 customary reduction in railway rates, to one 

 and one third fare for the round trip, by ob- 

 taining a certificate at the starting point in 

 the name of the Association. Tickets may be 

 bought from June 19 to June 30. 



Herman Le Roy Fairchild, 

 Secretary. 



Rochester, N. Y., 

 May 15, 1902. 



SOCIAL -AND ECONOMIC SCIENCE AT THE PITTS- 

 BURGH MEETING OF THE AMERICAN 

 ASSOCIATION. 



The next meeting of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science will 

 be held at Pittsburgh from June 30 to July 3, 

 1902. The easily accessible location of the 

 place of meeting, combined with its peculiar 

 economic interest as a great industrial center, 

 offers the opportunity to Section I for an ex- 

 ceptionally successful session. To make it 

 such the hearty cooperation of all members of 

 the Section is needed. They are cordially in- 

 vited to attend the sessions and to contribute 

 papers to the proceedings. They should in- 

 form the secretary as promptly as possible of 

 the title and the probable length of any paper 

 that they may care to present, so that notice 

 of it may appear in the preliminary program. 

 Carroll D. Wright, 



Chairman. 

 Prank E. Eutter, 



Secretary. 

 Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington, May 2, 1902. 



SEORTEB ARTICLES. 



streptococci characteristic of SEWAGE AND 



sewage-polluted WATERS APPARENTLY 



NOT HITHERTO REPORTED IN AMERICA.* 



During the last few years the brilliant re- 

 searches of the bacteriologists connected with 

 the Local Government Board of England have 

 revealed two new organisms which, with the 

 Bacillus coli communis, are likely to be of 

 great service in tracing the history of water 

 pollution. These are the Bacillus enteritidis 

 sporogenes of Klein, and the sewage Strepto- 

 coccus of Houston; so that now with three 

 forms, all apparently characteristic of a sewage 

 flora, the sanitairy bacteriologist finds himself 

 in a position to form a reliable opinion of the 

 antecedents of any water submitted to him for 

 examination. 



The importance of the streptococci to the 

 sanitarian was first pointed out by Dr. 

 A. C. Houston in an article entitled, 'Bac- 

 terioscopic Examination of Drinking Water, 

 with Particular Eeference to the Eelations of 

 Streptococci and Staphylococci with Waters 

 of this Class,' published in the Eeport of the 

 Medical Officer to the Local Government Board 

 for 1898-9 (Supplement, XXYHI. Ann. Eep., 

 L. G. B.). He there stated that he had isolated 

 both streptococci and staphylococci from pol- 

 luted soils, from crude sewage, from sewage 

 effluents and from impure waters; but he laid 

 stress mainly upon organisms of the former 

 class, as germs unlikely to persist for a long 

 period outside the animal body, and therefore 

 indicative of fresh pollution. He concluded by 

 stating that the streptococci 'are organisms 

 readily demonstrable in waters recently pol- 

 luted and seemingly altogether absent from 

 waters above suspicion of contamination. 

 * * * Search for them should * * * consti- 

 tute an important part of bacterioscopic analy- 

 sis of potable waters.' In the report of the 

 Medical Officer of the Local Government 

 Board for 1899-1900 Dr. Houston extended 

 his investigations to the study of a large num- 

 ber of additional samples of polluted waters 

 and soils, with the result that the presence of 

 the streptococci seemed always to coincide with 



* Preliminary communication. 



