REPORT OP THE KING INSTITUTE, GUINDY
i3
the M. & S. M. Railway and at Calicut, Cannanore, Chidambaram, Erode, Madura,
Maniyachi, Podanur, Shoranur and. Villupuram on the South Indian Railway
and at Naupada and Vizianagram on the B.N. Railway, were found to be of
either fair or good quality during the year under report. At other stations
not specifically mentioned in the two lists given above, the water-supply was
either indifferent or poor in quality needing remedial measures. At Mangalagiri,
Ongole and Nanclyal water was brought from other stations in wagons and
supplied to the passengers because the wells in those stations had either dried
up, or yielded very polluted and chemically impure water.
(d ) Types of filters.—Slow sand filters at Berhampur and Vizagapatam
yielded uniformly excellent results. At Berhampur deterioration occurred in
transit in November, so that the full benefits of filtration did not reach the
consumer. Variable results were obtained with the filters at Cocanada, Kurnool
and Madras. The slow sand filters at Ellore, Periyakulam, Salem and Vellore
functioned unsatisfactorily. It is surprising that the filters at Periyakulam
should have fared badly so soon after they were overhauled and ralaid after
closing the leaks. They functioned very efficiently in March 1929 (vide last
Annual Report).
The mechanical filters at Chidambaram and at Mettur were working very
efficiently and gave excellent results during the year. Those at Erode and at
Masulipatam gave variable results.
There was nothing special to note in the behaviour of the infiltration gallery
supplies during the year. Cuddapah passed through a severe water famine
practically the whole year, while again the galleries in many other stations were
unable to yield an adequate supply of water thus necessitating the tapping of
other sources and the use of water from wells and trenches.
(3) Field investigations of water-supplies.— Mr. Raghavachari visited
Meghadrigadda with the Sanitary Engineer and carried out sòme tests on the
spot to enable the Sanitary Engineer to decide on the new scheme. He visited
Madura at the instance of the Sanitary Engineer to inspect a new well which
was to be used to augment the town supply. He also visited during the year,
the following places on the Water Survey Tour projected in 1927 :—Coimbatore
Municipality and Jail, Ootacamund, Coonoor, and Dindigul Municipalities.
(4) Miscellaneous Chemical work.—Table XVI Food-stuffs need not be
mentioned for they will be reported on in a supplement by the Public Analyst.
A few samples of water for boiler and industrial use were received and reported
on. Various analyses were made for the clinical bacteriological section such as
the determination of urea, sugar, albumen, etc., in pathological fluids. These
are excluded from this table as they have been included in Table XII.
(E) OTHER RESEARCHES AND PAPERS PUBLISHED.
(1) " Glandular Fever" in Narsapur.—A most interesting small epidemic of
an unknown fever occurred in July 1929 at Kara village in
interesting
Taluk of
the West Gōdā vari District. At the instance of the District Health Officer the
outbreak was investigated by a bacteriological unit from the Institute under
Dr. R. Sanjiva Rao. A. report was submitted which may be summarized as
follows:—
On July 20th a girl of twelve died in Kara after having had fever for 12
hours with enlargement of the glands in one groin. This was followed by a
succession of twenty-two cases in the same village between 20th July and
6th August The symptoms of the disease were the same in all, namely
fever for a few hours accompanied by slight and painful enlargement of glands in
the groin and a quick recovery in a day or two. There were two similar cases
in the village Chindimada two miles away from Kara, about the 1st August and
one i n Maddi pul l i 11/ 2 mi l es away f r om Kar a on 8t h Augus t 1929. Al l t he t hr ee
cases were like the Kara cases in their symptoms and recovery.
As the first case was fatal, plague was suspected and the Civil Assistant
Surgeon of Narsapur took gland and blood smears of the cases which followed.