142 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



the shellfish would be so great as to be prohibitive. In these 

 circumstances the possibility of sterilising the water used 

 for cleansing, by some chemical means, may be considered. 

 Early in 1914 the Committee requested me to meet an Inspector 

 of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries and discuss with 

 him, and the officials of the Conway Corporation, the methods 

 which were in contemplation, in that district, for the cleansing 

 of the local mussels. I did so, and made a report to the 

 Committee, when I was requested to report further on the 

 practicability of the method proposed to be adopted at Conway 

 — -that of the sterilisation of the water used for cleansing by 

 means of dosage by chlorine solution. In April and May of 

 1914 Mr. Scott and I accordingly carried out these experiments, 

 which I subsequently repeated. Some reference to the results 

 obtained was made in my report to the November Meeting 

 of the Scientific Sub-Committee, but I have been further 

 requested to make a more complete statement. 



Several distinct points had to be investigated (1) The 

 concentration of chlorine in the sea-water necessary for 

 sterilisation ; (2) The concentration of chlorine which the 

 mussels could withstand without interference with their 

 normal functioning ; and (3) The length of time necessary for 

 the removal of the bacteria contained in the cavities of the 

 bodies of the mussels. It was already known that a very 

 small quantity of chlorine in water sufficed for almost complete 

 sterilisation — this was, in fact, the principle of the Candy 

 Process of water purification, and numerous experiments had 

 been made, to say nothing of data recorded in the text-books 

 on Public Hygiene. It was, however, desirable to assure 

 oneself personally of the fact of this sterilisation, so five 100 c.c. 

 flasks were filled with normal sea-water and sterilised, and 

 then the same volume of a culture of bacilli fermenting glucose, 

 lactose, cane sugar, dulcite, adonite, but not inulin, forming 

 indole and giving a positive Vosges and Proskauer reaction, 



