REPORT OF BACTERIOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS 193 
During the year much evidence has been accumulated to show its distribution in 
food-stuffs, and special investigations have been made to determine its significance. 
Attention was especially drawn to this organism by a case of poisoning which was 
thought might be due to eating diseased salted fish. Examination of the dried fish 
showed the presence, amongst other bacteria, of the Bacillus enteritidis sporogenes. 
Subsequent examinations of numerous examples of dried fish, however, showed that 
this organism was normally present. A series of analyses of foods liable to dust 
contamination was then made, viz., wheat, barley, oats, oatmeal, flour, rice, cornflour, 
clovers, grasses, etc. Sixty samples were examined, and forty-one gave an enteritidis- 
like growth in milk, and thirty were fatal to guinea pigs when inoculated, and eleven 
produced an inflammatory reaction. 
Further research demonstrated that the bacillus was widespread. The 
pathogenicity of the bacillus isolated was tested, in order to make certain that the 
bacillus isolated was that described by Dr. Klein. 
The observations of the year's analyses show that the organism is abundant 
in milk and other food-stuffs, and our conclusions are that the Bacillus enteritidis 
sporogenes is much more widespread than the Bacillus coli, owing no doubt to its 
power of spore formation, and that, therefore, although originally derived from the 
intestine, its presence in a food is not of the same significance as that of the Bacillus 
coli. With regard to its pathogenicity in animals there is no doubt, but in man it 
is like the Bacillus coli, common to the intestine. It may be that certain forms ot 
diarrhoea are due to an increased virulence of this organism in the intestine as in the 
case of diarrhoea associated with Bacillus coli, but further evidence of this is wanted. 
3. Experiment to demonstrate the significance of the Bacillus coli 
This organism is looked for in all samples of foodstuffs and water where 
bacteria are known or suspected to be present. The reason for this is that it is 
considered by many to be evidence of sewage contamination. In all the analyses it 
is therefore stated whether it is present or absent, and the result is that during the 
past twelve months a mass of evidence shows that the Bacillus coli indicates recent 
pollution or contact with inflammatory discharges. 
Stream and rivulets, not obviously polluted, showed an absence of this 
organism in the quantities analysed. Sewage and sewage effluents, on the other 
hand, or streams near human habitations, showed the presence of the Bacillus coli. 
It has a very low degree of resistance, and soon perishes outside the alimentary tract. 
This was strikingly demonstrated in the roadways. If the season was dry and the 
roads dusty, the Bacillus coli was absent or very scanty in the dust. On the other 
hand, in the gutters along the side of the roads, which are usually moist and often 
receive garbage, the Bacillus coli were very numerous. Although the Bacillus coli 
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