412 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 977 



instance but one B. welcliii was present. It should 

 be stated that the water was kept in the dark and 

 at the out-of-door temperature. The calcium hypo- 

 chlorite used had 34.1 per cent, of available chlo- 

 rine. It is worth noting that in one experiment 

 with water of a turbidity of 12 in which we used 

 0.75 part of chlorine per million the colon bacillus 

 was present in 1 c.c. at the end of two hours and 

 in 10 c.c. at the end of three hours. In addition 

 to this, 10 c.c. of the treated water still caused 

 fermentation at the end of six hours, but not after 

 twenty-four hours. The colon bacillus, however, 

 was not isolated from any of these. In this in- 

 stance the bacterial content of the water was about 

 one seventh as great as in the previously described 

 case. This result is to be ascribed to the very low 

 available chlorine content of the hypochlorite used 

 —this being only 1.546 per cent. We have been 

 imable to repeat the experiments with water of 

 very high turbidity, owing to the lack of heavy 

 rains on either of the two watersheds, but we 

 purpose to do so at the first opportunity. Besides 

 this we propose to determine if there is any rela- 

 tion between the temperature of the water treated 

 and the amount of chlorine necessary to destroy 

 B. ooli. So far we can but state that, with water 

 of a turbidity of about 30, a bacterial content of 

 15,000 and the colon bacillus present in 1 c.c. and 

 not present in 0.1 e.c, 0.75 part of chlorine to 

 the million gallons eliminates B. coU from 10 c.c. 

 in one hour and from 50 c.c. certainly in four 

 hours and possibly in less time; of course this pre- 

 supposes the use of hypochlorite of high available 

 chlorine content. 



The Distribution of B. ooli in Polluted Oysters: 

 John W. M. Bunkek, Ph.D., instructor in san- 

 itary analysis, Harvard University. 

 To establish whether the distribution of B. ooli 

 in polluted oysters is or is not uniform throughout 

 the regions of the oyster body, examination was 

 made of the following regions of 145 oysters taken 

 from regions subject to varying conditions of 

 pollution in Narragansett Bay: shell liquor from 

 the branchial chamber, material from the mouth, 

 material from the stomach, material from the 

 intestine at the point where it bends sharply upon 

 itself, material from the extremity of the intestine, 

 shell liquor from the cloaeal chamber, decanted 

 mixed shell liquor. As a result of these examina- 

 tions it is evident that (1) the distribution of the 

 colon bacUlus is not uniform throughout the vari- 

 ous regions of a polluted oyster; (2) of the body 

 regions, the stomach, in general, contains the colon 



bacillus most frequently; (3) at all seasons of the 

 year the colon bacillus is found more frequently 

 in the shell liquor than in any portion of the 

 body; (4) when the temperature of the water on 

 the oyster beds is below from 6°to 8° C, the best 

 index of pollution as afforded by the B. coli test 

 can be obtained from the liquor in the cloaeal 

 chamber; (5) at temperatures of above 8° C. the 

 liquor in the branchial chamber is the most re- 

 liable source of information regarding pollution; 

 (6) at no season of the year does the practise of 

 decanting the shell liquor afford the most reliable 

 index of pollution that could be obtained. 



The Bacteriology of the Sen's Egg: Leo F. 

 Eettgee, ShefiSeld Scientific School, Yale Uni- 

 versity. 



In our investigations of bacillary white diarrhea 

 in chicks we have made bacteriological examina- 

 tions of at least ten thousand eggs. While our 

 chief object was the detection of B. pullorum, the 

 specific cause of the disease, a general bacteriolog- 

 ical study was made of the eggs, and particularly 

 those which were fresh and apparently normal. 

 Until the spring of 1912 the yolks only were 

 examined, as a rule. During the past year special 

 tests were made with the whites. In the examina- 

 tion of the yolks of fresh and unincubated eggs 

 the entire yolks were employed. They were re- 

 moved aseptically and mixed in special test tubes 

 of large diameter with 25 cubic centimeters of 

 plain bouillon. The tubes were kept three to four 

 days at 37° C, and for an additional period of 

 twenty-four hours at 20°. Streaks were made with 

 platinum loops on slant agar. Incubated eggs 

 were tested directly, that is a smaU amount of the 

 yolk was streaked over the surface of slant agar. 

 In the testing of whites 5 cubic centimeters of the 

 egg-white were mixed with 100 c.c. of sterile tap 

 water. These tests were made in duplicate. One 

 flask of the diluted white was kept for five to six 

 days at 20° and the other at 37°. Slant agar 

 streaks were then made. From the results of the 

 numerous tests we were led to conclude that the 

 yolks and whites of fresh eggs were, as a rule, 

 sterile. Among the organisms found (aside from 

 B. pullorum) the most conspicuous was a large 

 spore-bearing bacillus, resembling in many ways 

 B. mesentericus. In addition to this the follow- 

 ing were observed: Proteus vulgaris, B. pyooy- 

 aneus, B. fluoreseens, B. coli, cocci and moulds. 

 It is quite probable that many of the organisms 

 obtained in the tests were contamination forms. 

 Eggs which were incubated artificially for from 



