BACTERIA IN PUBLIC SWIMMING BATHS 
99 
But, supposing a bath became infected in the manner suggested with typhoid, 
the bacilli might multiply considerably if the water was not frequently changed, 
especially if it was fresh, not salt. Herdman (6) and Boyce in their monograph on 
oysters have proved that sea water actually tends to destroy typhoid bacilli, a point 
in favour of salt water swimming baths. 
Apart from a specific or infectious disease, bathers might be attacked with 
gastro-intestinal troubles, headache, sore throat, etc., and complaints similar to those 
following the inhalation of sewer gas, or drinking sewage-contaminated water. 
We instituted an enquiry among several schools which are in the habit of 
using the Liverpool Swimming Baths, in order to ascertain if bathing in them was 
ever followed by illness. Six headmasters furnished us with information, their 
experience extended over several years, and they had collectively supervised several 
hundred children. Two had never heard of any illness from bathing ; two stated 
that colds occasionally occured ; three found that headache was not infrequent, which 
one attributed to staying in the water too long ; lastly, one had noted 'that once or twice 
a month a boy after bathing in a salt water bath at seven a.m. on Monday may vomit 
but soon recovers.' This he attributed to swallowing the salt water, and we quite 
agree with him, for the water in the bath in question is always clean on Monday 
morning, and consequently contains very few bacteria. The nett result of this enquiry 
is therefore very satisfactory for Liverpool. 
Whether the results would be equally favourable in other towns, where the 
water is less frequently changed, is another matter. Dr. Macalister, Physician to the 
Royal Southern Hospital, is convinced from actual experience of industrial schools that 
many cases of the so-called Institution Pneumonia, a rapidly fatal and mysterious disease, 
are due to washing too many children in the school bath on the same day without changing 
the water. In a Liverpool Industrial School some years ago, at least half-a-dozen fatal 
cases of this malady occurred in about four years. Here it was then customary to wash 
two hundred children in a bath containing three thousand gallons of water at 90 0 F., with- 
out changing the water. Those suffering from skin diseases or ear troubles entered 
in the last batch ! Therefore, if each bather shed six thousand million bacteria, the 
number of organisms in the bath would rise to ninety thousand per c.c. Fresh 
regulations have now been introduced with regard to bathing, and no case of Institution 
Pneumonia has occurred for several years. 
Earache is a common complaint among bathers, but it seems to be mainly due 
to concussion of the water when diving. 
There are certain healthy persons accustomed to bathe in open air, who always 
feel tired or stupid after swimming in a public bath, especially fresh water. We do 
not believe this feeling of lassitude is due to the fact that the water in the bath contains 
o 
multitudes of microbes. We think it is partly because the temperature of the water 
