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102
From the foregoing Table it will be seen:—
1. That seventeen samples of watercress and one sample of water
have been examined bacteriologically.
2. That all these samples were found to be polluted with organisms
from the human intestine, and that the sample of water contained
50 of such organisms, i.e., bacilli coli, to each cubic centimeter (a
cubic centimeter is equal to about 22 drops).
3. That six samples of watercress and the sample of water came
from watercress beds situate in West Ham: four samples were said
to come from Gomshall, in Surrey; three from Spitalfields Market;
one from Covent Garden Market; one from Crooked Billet Yard,
Shoreditch ; two from unknown sources.
4. That while these samples were taken from distant parts of
Hackney, they all have this common feature, that of sewage pollution.
My suspicion being directed to the West Ham beds as being
chiefly concerned in the unusual incidence of enteric fever, I made
a visit to this place, and found that the beds are situate in West
Ham, adjoining the south-east border of the Hackney Borough.
There are 25 beds, each about 20ft. wide by 60ft. in length. The
beds are fed by water from an adjoining ditch, into which water is
pumped as required. This water is pumped from a sump hole about
6ft. deep adjacent to the Channelsea branch of the river Lea. This
branch is one of the most polluted branches of the badly polluted
river Lea ; so that practically the West Ham beds are fed by almost
undiluted sewage. The sample of water E was taken as it flowed
from the aforementioned ditch on the watercress beds.
With respect to the conditions under which the remaining samples
of watercress have been grown, I should judge, from the fact that
the bacteriological analysis of these gives results differing in no way
from those of West Ham, that they are cultivated under conditions
similar to the latter, although I have not been able to confirm this
by a visit to the several places where they were grown.