WATER SUPPLY OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 125 



Philippines, nor in fact any other water excepting that which is known 

 to be safe and is kept in closed sterile receptacles. 



It is of interest to note that during the work on waters there was 

 isolated from a specimen of water taken from a well on Calle Cabildo, 

 Intramuros, a pathogenic bacillus of which I have been able to find 

 no description. Its characteristics are as follows : 



Bacillus cabildonis, spec, nov., 190S. 



It is a single bacillus with a breadth of less than 1 p, average length about 

 2 ii. It stains easily with the standard aqueous dyes and takes a polar stain 

 with Z. N. carbol-fuchsin. It is decolorized by Gram's method. No capsule, 

 spores, vacuoles, or crystals have been observed. The organism is actively motile 

 and a facultative anaerobe. Pleomorphism has not as yet been observed. It 

 grows well either at room or body temperature. A greenish fluorescence develops 

 in twenty-four hours on all transparent media. The bacterium grows well on all 

 ordinary media; nutrient broth remains alkaline as far as my observation 

 goes, without the development of odor ; milk is not coagulated, digested or 

 acidified nor is an odor developed; no gas is formed with saccharose, glucose, 

 glycerine or lactose; solidified blood serum is not peptonized; the growth on 

 potato is abundant; indol is produced in sugar-free peptone solution; alkali is 

 formed with or without the presence of carbohydrates. Guinea pigs or rabbits 

 inoculated intraperitoneally with one or two drops of a 24-hour broth culture or 

 with the peritoneal exudate of a previously inoculated animal, die in five or six 

 hours with evidences of peritonitis and septicaemia. While this organism has 

 been encountered but once, its extreme pathogenicity for small animals to my 

 mind makes it of sufficient importance to merit description. 



SUMMARY. 



The presence of protozoa, pathogenic bacteria or a colony count of 

 more than 200 per cubic centimeter being the criterion, 53 per cent 

 of the waters heretofore examined in this laboratory should be condemned. 



Waters bottled and for sale by reliable firms are safe. The clanger of 

 contamination of water with protozoa by handling it is great. This, 

 coupled with the fact that we do not know absolutely what protozoa are 

 pathogenic, makes the use for drinking purposes of all water handled in 

 the ordinary ways, dangerous. All well, cistern, river and hydrant water 

 should be efficiently sterilized and kept in sterile vessels until used. 



Not enough careful work has been clone on artesian water to justify 

 any general conclusion, but it is safer than any other which is used 

 without being sterilized : it having been repeatedly examined with 

 negative results. 



B. cabildonis is described as a new pathogenic species. 



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