The Examination of Waters. 3 



— over three per million. A similar statement may, I am 

 afraid, be made with regard to almost every public water 

 supply in the colony, except Yan Yean, which, owing to the 

 great care taken, is steadily improving, and, apart from its 

 colour, is an exceptionally pure water. 



The figures just given do not prove that the water is 

 poisonous ; and we know that the people of Geelong who 

 drink this water have not suffered more, or as much, from 

 typhoid fever — the real filth disease — as the people who are 

 drinking the purer Yan Yean ; and this argument, amongst 

 others, is used to prove that though the water has chemically 

 deteriorated to such a great extent, it is still a wholesome 

 water. To investigate it further, I tried to follow the 

 experiments described by the late Dr. Angus Smith in his 

 last report to the Local Government Board of Great Britain, 

 dated 1884, and convinced myself that the water was directly 

 contaminated by filth. I found many difficulties in follow- 

 ing Dr. Smith's experiments ; but even though not suc- 

 cessful in proving the quantity or energy of the contami- 

 nation, I found no difficulty in developing a large variety 

 of bacteria only to be found in filthy water, or water 

 contaminated by filth. I find similar bacteria in the waters 

 from both branches of the Moorabool, Lai Lai Creek, Stoney 

 Creek reservoir, some cattle tanks near the Anakies, the 

 Clunes supply, the Coliban, the Wimmera at Dimboola, the 

 Horsham supply, and several others. 



I feel considerable diffidence in namiug the various 

 forms which I have observed, as some do not agree with 

 the descriptions given by the " best authorities," and of 

 late we have seen that these same "best authorities" do 

 not agree with one another, not only about the name a 

 certain form shall take, but also as to whether these in- 

 teresting micro-organisms are vegetables or animals. I 

 have no doubt, however, that I have recognised in the 

 waters named all the common types of bacteria which 

 always accompany filth. The greatest variety of forms 

 are to be found in the water from the Western Moorabool 

 and Lai Lai Creek, and they may be developed by any of 

 the ordinary means in such numbers in a bottle of either of 

 these waters that in a short time it is simply a bacteria 

 jelly with an offensive, sickly smell. The number 

 developed may in some measure have prevented my being* 

 successful with Dr. Smith's gelatine method, as these 

 organisms render a thin gelatine jelly liquid, and if the 



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