44 A RARE BACILLUS. 



From the first I had felt convinced that the water supply 

 had little or nothing to do with the affair, though the 

 employment of sewage-polluted water for washing, &c, was 

 tantamount to the use of a bacillus culture broth for the 

 same purpose, and about the best means possible of inducing 

 the appearance and continuance of the germs. The trouble 

 first manifested itself as a series of little blood-red spots on 

 a dish of green peas that had been cooked the previous day. 

 The mistress of the house at first blamed the cook for 

 having sprinkled the peas with cayenne pepper, an imputation 

 the cook stoutly denied. 



Next day a milk pudding was similarly affected, and 

 some cold potatoes and a joint of beef also became spotted 

 later in the day. I was shown the potatoes, and I requested 

 that they might be allowed to remain undisturbed for 

 another twenty-four hours. They were left in the larder, 

 and at the end of that time no one would have recognised 

 them as vegetables at all, for they were completely covered 

 with dark red slime, and exactly resembled the blood-covered 

 kidneys of a newly-slaughtered animal. I took some of 

 them to my laboratory, and at the end of another day the 

 smell they emitted (tri-methylamine) was like that of putrid 

 fish, and well-nigh overpowering. 



I may here state that the house where this phenomenon 

 occurred was exceedingly well kept in every way, and the 

 utmost cleanliness prevailed throughout. The drains were 

 apparently in perfect order, clean and well flushed, the house 

 dry and well ventilated, in fact the weather being warm just 

 then, the family were practically living out of doors all day 

 and sleeping with the windows opened to their widest extent 

 all night. 



There was, however, one grave defect at first not 

 realised, for the plumbers had recently connected a large 

 leaden pipe to the main drain, to serve as a waste-pipe to a 

 newly-arranged lavatory basin. The basin had been delayed 

 in transit and the pipe remained unstopped in any way for 

 about a fortnight, during which time the red growth appeared. 

 Adjoining the lavatory was the larder, where the trouble 

 began, and between the two rooms a window in which one 

 pane was missing. The sewer gas thus had free access to 

 the larder, and every rise and fall of the tide caused the 

 impure air to circulate through the defective window and 

 over the food. The microscope revealed the fact that the 

 trouble was caused by the " bacillus prodigiosus " and the 

 stopping of the drain I have alluded to, together with a 



