The Significance of B. Coli in Water. 115 



Refik (Refik, 1896) recorded the constant presence of 

 colon bacilli in water of all sorts, public supplies, wells, 

 cisterns, and springs in the neighborhood of Constanti- 

 nople, but the only characters which these "colon bacilli" 

 exhibited in common were the "classical growth" upon 

 potato, the possession of less than 8 cilia, and the power 

 of active development on certain media upon which the 

 typhoid bacillus did not grow. A more careful and sig- 

 nificant piece of work on the game line was published by 

 Poujol 'in the succeeding year. This author reported 

 (Poujol, 1897) the isolation of B. coli from 22 out of 34 

 waters studied by him in relation to their use as public 

 supplies. The waters were from various sources — 

 springs, wells, and rivers — but all were of fair quality 

 and many quite free from any possibility of contamina- 

 tion. Samples of 100 c.c. were used for analysis; in the 

 only case in which a smaller amount was also tested, 

 , broth inoculated with 10 drops of the water and placed 

 at 45° C. remained sterile. The author concluded 

 that "fecal contamination can only exceptionally be 

 invoked to explain the presence of B. coli in water. As 

 the bacteria of the subterranean water are contributed 

 to it from the surface of the earth by the 'water which 

 filters downward, I am rather inclined to believe in a 

 general diffusion of B. coli either on th^ surface of the 

 earth, where it might be deposited with the dust of the 

 air, or in the superficial layers of the earth, which may 

 form one of its normal habitats." Therefore, the author 



