11
REPORT ON THE WORKING OF THE KING INSTITUTE, GUINDY
purpose. No steps in this direction have yet been taken. It is to be hoped that
the necessary orders for this purpose will be issued soon, so that no obstacles to
the purchase of the requisite amount of serum will arise for want of adequate
funds.
(iii) PUBLIC HEALTH SECTION.
One hundred and fifty specimens of a public health nature, excluding water,
were examined during the year. Details of these are given in statement No.15.
This number represents an increase of about 100 samples over the corresponding
figures for the previous year. The varied nature of the specimens examined
would indicate that the Institute is now capable of dealing with the routine
analytical work of a Public Health laboratory. The number of specimens dealt
with by this section is still ridiculously small. This is due in great part to the
absence of satisfactory standards of purity for the various articles of food in the
Madras Presidency. When the Public Health Analyst is appointed and takes
charge of the section this work will be taken in hand and a great increase in this
type of work will then be expected.
The number of samples of water examined during the year was 2,468. This
represents an increase of over 100 per cent over the samples tested in the previous
year (see statement No.16). The major portion of this work has been done on
behalf of the Madras Corporation. One thousand four hundred and eleven
samples were examined chemically and bacteriologically. The total number of
chemical examinations was 1,864 and bacteriological 2,015. The half-yearly
routine examinations from Municipalities, Jails and railway stations provided
451 samples. Two hundred and eighty-two samples were derived from the
Institute experimental filters. The work done for the Madras Corporation
during the period of the emergency, i.e., between September 1922 and December
1922 and the samples that were examined in connexion with the experiments at
the Kilpauk experimental installation accounted for 1,735 examinations. A
special report on the Madras water-supply based on the examination of these
samples and on a review of the analytical data available from examinations of the
Madras water carried out between 1908 and 1923 was in process of preparation
at the termination of the year under report.
Municipal water supplies.
Of the 14 municipalities supplied by infiltration galleries, Nellore continues to
give the best results. Rāmēswaram comes next with a uniformly good record.
Conjeeveram possesses a gallery which yields a good water. A dirty pipe line
however causes some deterioration in transit. The supplies at Tirupati, Tanjore,
Trichinopoly, Madura and Vizianagram have all given fairly satisfactory results.
Cuddapah, Dindigul, Negapatam, Gudiy āttam and Bezwada afford examples of a
fair gallery supply deteriorating in transit. The results of the analysis of the
Guntū r water-supply have been unsatisfactory at both examinations.
The ten sand filter installations have continued to give very variable results.
The filters at Kurnool have been the most satisfactory on the whole but a dirty
distribution system has caused considerable deterioration in the water after filtra-
tion. The filtrates obtained from the installations at Ad ōni, Cocanada, Ellore and
Vellore have all yielded consistently bad results. The individual filters belonging
to the Madras Corporation have worked very unevenly. The production of
sulphuretted hydrogen was most marked at the first examination. The final
mixture of filtered and raw water showed very little improvement over the raw
water. The remaining slow sand installations in the Presidency have not been
satisfactory.
The mechanical filter at Masulipatam was being worked satisfactorily on both
occasions on which it was tested. The other two installations, at Erode and Chidam--
baram, effected little or no improvement. The remarks made in my last year's
report apply with equal force this year also. As the efficiency of this type of
filtration depends entirely upon the addition of the optimum amount of coagulant,
it is obvious that no improvement can be expected with these installations until