officers in charge of purification works should be care- GOVERNMENT EXAMINATION OF DRINKING WATER ON RAILROAD TRAINS. In Bulletin No. 100 of the Hygienic Laboratory of the United States Public Health Service, Treasury Department, there is an important paper on this subject by Richard H. Creel. This entire paper, appearing in November, 1914, is worthy of most careful study, and particularly with reference to the light it throws upon the "bile presumptive test for colon bacillus." It deals particularly with anaerobic bacilli, found in the water of train coolers, which complicate the ordinary so-called coli tests. It speaks of several groups of bacteria which are obligate anaërobes. Concerning the reliability of the presumptive tests, we quote as follows: 66 "Bile Presumptive Test for B. Coli.” The difference between the actual B. coli percentage in the 1000 samples examined and that which would have resulted had the lactose bile presumptive test been used is as follows, the comparison applying only to tubes containing water in 10 cubic centimetre The margin of error is greater in relatively pure water than in water of moderate pollution. "Estimated according to the different trains, the comparison is as follows: "It will be noted that there is a wide divergence between the real and the presumptive percentage when the water is fairly pure, but that in moderately polluted water, as that from Train 82, there is less discrepancy. In the latter class of water the approximation of the two figures seems to be due to the inhibiting effect of lactose bile on the B. coli. From the foregoing results the 'presumptive test' for B. coli does not seem applicable for analyzing water of moderate pollution, as its employment would often result in condemning a water of acceptable standard of purity." RECENT ENGLISH COMMITTEE REPORT ON THE STANDARDIZATION OF BACTERIOSCOPIC METHODS OF WATER EXAMINATION. In the autumn of 1914 a committee of thirteen leading bacteriologists and sanitarians appointed in March, 1914, by the Royal Institute of Public Health of Great Britain, reported on this subject. It is not practicable to repeat all of the technical details, but it is of interest to note what they say with regard to standards, especially in connection with the caution which they urge against wording reports to give unnecessary alarm, as follows: "The committee do not think it is practicable to lay down any fixed standards to govern all cases. Speaking generally, the committee consider that too much stress should not be laid on the number of mi- "A good water should not contain any B. coli Experience has shown that even initially impure waters may be purified at a reasonable cost, so as to yield no B. coli in 100 cubic centimetres in the majority (about seventy-five per cent.) of samples examined. "It is much more difficult to suggest a standard by which a water should be condemned. All that the committee feel justified in stating is that the further a water departs from the above standard of purity (no 'lactose indol + ' B. coli in 100 cubic centimetres) the greater is the suspicion attaching to it, unless the local conditions and circumstances are such as to exclude undesirable pollution.' NEED OF FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF BACTERIOLOGICAL METHODS. There is a feeling among some water works men that the recent standard proposed by the Federal Government for the quality of drinking water supplied to the public by common carriers in interstate commerce will cause annoyance and perhaps some serious trouble to municipal water supplies that are generally believed to be of safe and satisfactory quality. At any rate, the Treasury Department report above quoted from at length will unquestionably stir up a helpful agitation as to the reliability of bacteriological methods of analysis and accentuate the need of more care being exercised in the future than in the past. No doubt there are places where the bile presumptive test for B. coli is markedly helpful, and its use in many places will no doubt be urged by the extremists who wish to be ultra-conservative in insisting upon the highest purity for public drinking water supplies. Nevertheless, the evidence, on the whole, points to the ease with which gross injustice against some important water supplies might be brought about. It seems important to have the standard methods of bacterial water analysis thoroughly reviewed and brought to date. And it is understood that the American Public Health Association, through its Laboratory Section, appointed a new committee to deal with this subject (Jacksonville, Fla., Convention, December, 1914). WATER SUPPLIES AND TYPHOID FEVER. The general relation between deaths from typhoid fever in a community and the quality of the water supplied to it has long since been established. It is well known that ordinarily in towns where water supplies are relatively good, typhoid fever cases and deaths are relatively low, and for towns where a water supply is assumed to be impure the converse is true. The relation is, of course, not at all an exact one. Table V gives the annual typhoid fever death-rate for various American cities, noted in deaths for 100,000 population, from the years 1880 to 1914. Notes are made of various improvements in the water supplies at certain times, and the change of death-rate accompanying this gives some information as to the resulting effect on the population. 66 In the first column are data for the city of Chicago, when at the beginning of the year 1894 or the end of the year 1893 a new intake was put into service. This is marked with a little note 4." The effect on the typhoid fever death-rate was very marked, indeed, as this rate dropped from 54 in 1893 to 38 in 1894, and it is probably safe to say that at least some part of this reduction is the result of the improvement of the water. In 1900 the new Chicago Drainage Canal was put into service. The effect of this introduction was, however, less marked. The cities of Milwaukee and Detroit show a relatively uniform rate during the last twenty years, and no material change in the water supply system has been made in those cities during that time. The city of Cleveland shows marked improvement, due to the introduction of a new intake in 1905, and again in 1912, when the water was sterilized for the first time. In the column showing the deaths in the city of Buffalo there are no very significant figures. A new intake was introduced. in 1911, but the time since then is rather too short to suggest any positive inferences. For the city of Toronto the filtration plant was started in 1911. TABLE V. ANNUAL TYPHOID FEVER DEATH-RATES FOR VARIOUS AMERICAN CITIES IN DEATHS PER 100,000 POPULATION Note: New York includes Borough of Manhattan only through 1898-since 1898 Greater New York 1 Filtration effective for city. * Sterilization of water supply begun. Drainage Canal in service. 4 New intake Coagulation introduced. The city of Boston shows a rather satisfactory and gradual reduction of typhoid during the last twenty years, without any very marked changes in the entire water supply. In 1898 the Wachusetts water supply was introduced, showing some reduction in typhoid fever as a result. For the city of New York the reduction has also been rather gradual. The only notable point is for the year 1893-1894, |