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
Malden and Coombe 1908
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Malden & Coombe]
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25
Experiments with Deposit Collectad from Slates in Bed treating the Sewage at a Private House.
A preliminary microscopical examination showed that the deposit was swarming with minute red worms, anguillulæ, infusoria, and various bacteria.
| Substance. | First day. | Second day. | Third day. | Fourth day. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lean of raw beef | In four hours the red colour had turned to grey. | The beef had sunk into the mud, grey in colour, and swarming with bacilli, spirilla, monadina, &c. | Beef scarcely visible, being now one mass of various organisms. | Meat entirely disappeared. |
| Cheese | In four hours the cheese was light grey in colour. | Cheese had sunk into humus, swarming with bacilli of various kinds. | Cheese reduced to a thin layer. | Entirely reduced to a pasty condition. |
On November 2nd, 1908, 7 grammes of raw liver were placed on a layer of the above deposit, laid on the bottom of a 4 in. Petri dish, the area being 12 in. approximately. The quantity of liver thus treated was equal to the treatment of a sewage 100 times normal strength.
| First day (after 24 hours). | Second day. | Third day. | Fourth day. | Eighth day. | Fifteenth day. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liver had lost colour, odour unpleasant. | Odour offensive | Very offensive. | Odour decidedly reduced. | Odour had entirely disappeared. | Liver reduced to a very few resistant pieces, which were covered with whitish grey spots consisting of bacillus megatherium. Later, a growth of of the mould, mucor caninus, developed. |
Note.— This experiment was very drastic. The liver was laid very thickly, with scarcely any room between the pieces, none
of which was smaller than one sixteenth in. diameter, whilst many approached ½ in.
On November 6th another dish was similarly charged with I gramme of beef steak raw, I gramme of beef fat, and I gramme
of cheese. On the sixth day the cheese had entirely disappeared, the beef steak was reduced to a greyish soft mass, and the fat
was disintegrated.