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38
SODA WATER.
The conditions under which the manufacture of Soda Water was carried
out was the subject of a report I laid before the Sanitary Committee in
October, 1908. This report presented the results of an investigation made
in consequence of the incidence of a case of Diphtheria which had been
attributed to the consumption of Soda Water, and the following report by
Dr. Klein upon a sample of the particular brand that the patient was in the
habit of purchasing illustrated the necessity for some enquiry into the
question:—
"The sediment contained an enormous number of microbes: they
"were (a) cocci, (6) some sporing bacilli, and (c) the main mass were
"small positive non-mobile bacilli, which in shape resembled diphtheroid
"microbes, but they gave no Neisser staining, and injected in large
"doses into a guinea-pig's subcutaneous tissue caused no change what"ever;
the animal developed no tumour and remained quite normal.
"It is clear from these observations that the chief microbe present in
"the sediment is not the Klebs-Loffler diphtheria bacillus, although it
"most probably—judged by the character and aspect of the colonies,
"the shape and grampositive staining—belongs to the large tribe of
"'diphtheroid bacilli.'
"I was not a little surprised at the fact that this soda water con"tained
such abundance of living microbes capable of growing at body
"temperature.
"The charging of the water with Carbonic Acid seemed to have left
"the water, no doubt originally impure, in an unaltered state—unaltered,
"that is, as to its abnormal bacterial nature."
In the circumstances a series of samples were taken for analysis, and the
following is a brief summary of the results:—
No. of
Samples.
Pure 10 or 27.7 per cent.
Fairly pure 7 „ 19.4 „ ,,
Impure 19 „ 52.7 „ ,,
36 100.0 ,, „
These results showed the highly unsatisfactory character of the Soda Water
as sold in the City, and made obvious the need for a more stringent control
over its manufacture.