BACTERIA IN COMMERCIAL BOTTLED WATERS. 3 
houses. It is reasonable also to assume that when people pay 
from 2 cents to $30 per gallon for bottled water they expect to ob- 
tain a pure, or at least a safe water. Whipple x has denned a " pure " 
water as one which is "free from bacteria or other organisms which 
are liable to cause disease, and also free from B. coli." 
INSPECTION OF SPRINGS. 
The ultimate test of the fitness of a particular water for sale lies in 
its condition at the spring. When contaminations are found in the 
bottled article, the determination of responsibility for the condition 
found calls for inspection at every stage of its handling. Such 
inspections of springs have been made from time to time, usually 
resulting in locating the source of trouble. The results of the 
inspection of three springs are included in Tables I, II, and III. 
These illustrate certain typical sources of pollution. In spring No. 
1, insufficient coverings over the spring evidently permitted the 
entrance of a rotten lemon or orange, containing the mold Penicillium 
italicum, a short time previous to the collection of these samples. 
This mold can not exist long in water, and is practically never found 
except on decaying citrus fruits. The actual inspection of this 
spring and statements by the people of the vicinity disclosed the 
fact that freshets would cause the water in the creek flowing past 
to back through a swimming pool and into the spring. Inadequate 
care was also apparent in the method of cleaning and rinsing the 
bottles before they were filled. These bottles, as were those used 
at spring No. 3, were rinsed with polluted water just before filling. 
(See Table III.) The water in spring No. 2 was undoubtedly grossly 
polluted at times from the creek which flowed past. A culture of 
B. paratypJiosus B was obtained from a shipment of bottled water 
from this spring four months prior to the inspection. 
It is not always possible, however, to locate the source of contami- 
nation at the spring even by several inspections. One such spring 
is still under observation. This spring is on high land well removed 
from farm buildings and large streams of surface water. Its water 
is highly mineralized and at its source contains B. coli in 1 cc or 
0.1 cc quantities. It is said that the water is boiled and the bottles 
sterilized before the bottling; yet 88 out of 96 bottles purchased at 
retail stores have been found to contain B. coli in 10 cc quantities, 
and 64 out of 96 in 1 cc quantities. The B. coli found were identified 
in all instances as belonging to the communis and communior groups. 
Evidently the survey has been incomplete in some essential point. 
Naturally carbonated waters occasionally contain large numbers 
of organisms. In general, however, artificially carbonated waters 
1 Whipple, Geo. C, Value of pure and wholesome water, Biol, studies of the pupils of W. T. Sedgwick, 
June, 1906. 
