View report page

30
carried out in the absence of a bacteriological laboratory. In cases where dirt has
been found in any considerable quantity further samples have been obtained and
submitted to the Borough Analyst for examination.
In the five years 1922-26, 455 samples were examined for dirt in the Public
Health Department. In 13 of these dirt was disclosed, ranging from a trace up to
17 parts per 100,000 by volume. During the same period 23 samples were submitted
to the Borough Analyst, 21 being certified as containing dirt, the amount ranging
from a trace up to 2.2 parts per 100,000. It will, therefore, be seen that in the
five years of routine work seven per cent. of the samples examined gave evidence
of the presence of dirt.
This examination for dirt cannot, of course, be compared for efficiency with
bacteriological examination. In the same five years (1922-26), 103 samples were
submitted for bacteriological examination for (1) tubercle bacilli, (2) organisms per
c.c. at 37° C., and (3) minimal volume containing B. coli. Ten samples showed
definite evidence of tuberculous infection, whilst amongst the organisms found in
addition to tubercle bacilli and B. coli were B. fæcalis alkaligenes, B. enteritides
sporogenes and streptococci.