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103
sources from which the samples were taken, and of
the dates of such taking. His examinations appear
to have been made during the closing weeks of 1894,
and the early weeks of 1895, a time when the
phenomenal frost deranged the working of the filter
beds. Prof. Klein lays considerable stress on the
presence of the bacillus coli communis, but this
organism is practically universally present, and
although its name would imply a close connection
with fsecal pollution, yet there are good grounds for
believing that it may be independent of any such
origin.
The other Report is the Memorandum of the
Medical Officer of Health to the London County
Council, dated 8th July, 1895, contained in his
Annual Report for that year. In this he
drew attention to the fact that, during the
49th-51st weeks of 1894, the notifications of enteric
fever increased in number in lieu of decreasing, as they
did in each of the four preceding years in which
notification was in force. From an examination of all
the ascertainable facts, he was led to conclude that the
increase was to be best explained by attributing it to
the water supply, the Thames being at that time in
flood.
The River Thames, receiving as it still unfortunately
does, the sewage of the majority of the
towns and villages on its banks, and of the boats and
shipping on its waters, may not be, and is not, an