From the exacting point of view of the uncompromising bacteriologist
the most satisfactory waters in existence for drinking purposes should
be those derived from sulphur springs. Dr. Fazio and other
investigators have frequently found absolutely no bacteria whatever in
these waters, and often only four in a cubic centimetre. When we
remember the high temperature of so-called thermal sulphur waters,
which in many cases reaches more than fifty degrees Centigrade, it is
perhaps surprising that even four individuals can be found in a cubic
centimetre capable of withstanding the nauseous atmosphere of
sulphuretted hydrogen in addition to such hot environment. Perhaps in
the bacterial community these hot sulphur springs provide that place
of punishment which figured so largely in the imagination of the early
Christian fathers; certain it is that in this bacterial hell, in the
picturing of which so many of the old masters seem to have revelled,
but very few individuals are to be found, and those which are there
are almost entirely derived from one family.
In giving weight to the highly satisfactory results of these bacterial
examinations in forming an estimate of the microbial quality of
natural mineral waters, it must be borne in mind that these
investigations were all made of the said waters in a state of nature
straight from the source, and before they had undergone the barbarous
ordeal of commercial manipulation such as the process of bottling.
We are all of us sufficiently acquainted with the first principles of
germ life to realise how deftly and how directly any inattention to
hygienic details is reflected in the larder or the store-room; and it
requires but little stretch of the imagination to picture the
bacterial armaments which would at once invade these peaceful waters
on the first suggestion of relaxed vigilance, or removal of that rigid
surveillance so essential for their protection and preservation.
MILK DANGERS AND REMEDIES
It may with justice be said that in no department of applied
bacteriology is more activity apparent than in that which has for its
object the building up of a scientific basis for dairy practice.
Although this is undoubtedly true, yet, unfortunately, unlike its
continental neighbours, the British public, with whom practically
rests the control of our dairy industries, has hitherto held itself
strangely aloof, evincing little or no sympathy in researches which,
even if they fail to interest, should surely impress with a sense of
the great hygienic importance attaching to them. But this apathy is
not only to be deprecated in the interests of health, but also on
economic grounds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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