London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
City of London 1938
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Port of London]
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| Date. 1988. | Sample. | Result of Analysis. | Action taken. |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 25 | Water from Barling Hall Creek, River Roach. Sample taken at Ebb tide. | Condition of sample—Cloudy, opalescent. Heavy deposit. | Tenant of Barling Hall Creek informed that this creek cannot be approved by the Port Health Authority as a suitable position for the re-laying of shellfish collected from within the jurisdiction of the Authority. |
| No. of micro-organisms developing on Yeastral agar (aerobically) at 68° F. (3 days) averaged 150,233 per c.c. | |||
| No. of micro-organisms developing on Yeastral agar (aerobically) at 98° F. (48 hours) averaged 3,403 per c.c. | |||
| Bacillus Coli (typical) present in 50 to 5 c.c. Absent from 1 to 0.001 c.c. | |||
| Streptococci not present. B. Welchi present in 50 c.c. | |||
| „ 25 | Water from Barling Hall Creek, River Roach. Sample taken at Flood tide. | Condition of sample—Cloudy, opalescent. Heavy deposit. | |
| No. of micro-organisms developing on Yeastral agar (aerobically) at 68° F. (3 days) averaged 344 per c.c. | |||
| No. of micro-organisms developing on Yeastral agar (aerobically) at 98° F. (48 hours) averaged 709 per c.c. | |||
| Bacillus Coli (typical) absent from 50 to 0.001 c.c. Streptococci and B. Welchi not present. | |||
| Remarks—This sample does not show evidence of sewage contamination. | |||
| May 30 | 4 samples of water from ss. "Orama." | Condition of samples: all slightly cloudy opalescent water. | All fresh water tanks, were emptied, cleansed and refilled. + |
| General appearance : 3 slight deposit, 1 definite deposit. | |||
| Number of micro-organisms developing Yeastral (aerobically) at 68° F. (3 days) averaged 213, 275, 517 and 185 per c.c. respectively. | |||
| Number of micro-organisms developing on Yeastral agar (aerobically) at 98° F. (48 hours) averaged 296, 315, 725 and 370 per c.c. respectively. | |||
| Bacillus Coli (typical) absent from 50 to 0.001 per c.c. of each sample. | |||
| Coliform organisms—B. Pyocyancus present ++ in all samples. | |||
| Other organisms—Streptococci and B. Welchi r present. | |||
| Remarks—All unsatisfactory drinking water. | |||
| (6) Analyst— | |||
| Jan. 4 | Tomato paste | Contained 32 parts of copper per million. | Sampled for Ministry of Health. |
| „ 4 | Tomato puree | Contained 4 parts of copper per million. | Sampled for Ministry of Health. |
| 4 | Tomato puree | Contained 2 parts of copper per million. | Sampled for Ministry of Health. |
| „ 4 | Canned tomatoes (6 tins) | The tins were incubated at blood heat for 14 days and inspected at 1, 7 and 10 days. In outward appearance there was little difference at any of these periods with that of the tins when first incubated. Considerable swelling took place when tins reached blood heat, but decreased on cooling, showing that the swelling was due chiefly to expansion of the contents. From the 6 tins 4.9 c.c.s of gases were collected, of which 0.2 c.c. was carbon dioxide. Unable to obtain evidence of presence of hydrogen. There was a complete absence of vacuum in each tin. Frcm these experiments I am of the opinion that the gas present in the cans was air. | Consignment destroyed. |
| „ 7 | Tomato puree | Contained 28 parts of copper per million. | Sampled for Ministry of Health. |