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14
ON THE SANITARY CONDITION OF
some cases to the eating of oysters which had been
laid in some "fattening ground" contaminated with
typhoid sewage. It is also possible that the floods in
the Thames in late autumn by washing down the
deposits in its bed together with the contents of
numerous cesspools on its banks may have exercised
some influence on this disease. The chemists of the
Water Companies claim that the "efficiency of filtration,
"as regards the security of the public against any
"possibility of water pollution, is proved by the bac"teriological
examinations of the waters."
Dr. E. Frankland, who analyses the water on behalf
of the Local Government Board, reports as follows:—
"The Thames at Hampton was, on November the
"5th, owing to heavy floods, in an extremely bad condi"tion;
it was very turbid and brown in colour and con"tained
a very large proportion of organic matter in
"solution, most of it, however, of vegetable origin.
"Bacterially it was also of very inferior quality, contain"ing
more than five times as many microbes per cubic
"centimetre as on the 10th of October. As delivered
"by the five Companies drawing from this river, it was
"greatly improved in quality. Owing to the command
"of large storage, the Chelsea Company sent out water
"of quality almost as good as that delivered in October,
"but the remaining Companies could not exclude flood
"water, and their supplies contained much more organic
"matter than usual; nevertheless, the excess appears
"to have been wholly of vegetable origin, or nearly so.
"It was, in every case but one, efficiently filtered; the
"exception was the water sent out by the Southwark
"Company, which was, however, only very slightly
"turbid."