16 REPORT ON THE WORKING OF THE KING INSTITUTE, GUINDY
Anti-toxic sera.
The Institute continued its role as the purchasing, storing and distributing
agency for anti-toxic sera for the Madras Presidency. The demand for these sera
is increasing rapidly. Statement IX shows that the supplies made from the
Institute during the year under report have been more than doubled during the
past two years. (2,664 bottles in 1921 as opposed to 1,261 bottles in 1919.)
This increase has undoubtedly been aided by the modification in the financial
adjustment introduced by G.O. Mis. No. 1259 L., dated 1st October 1918.
Previous to this the Institute obtained stocks of sera on credit from firms in
England. The bills for these were paid by recouping the cost from the various,
Government Institutions to whom the serum was supplied. By the new arrange¬
ment the King Institute purchases the serum from a fixed sum allotted in the
Institute budget. Government Institutions are supplied free and private bodies are
charged cost price.
No objection is taken to this procedure, which has the merit of simplicity, so
long as the grant is sufficient to purchase all the serum required for the Presidency
and other heads of the Institute budget are not drawn upon for this purpose.
C.—PUBLIC HEALTH.
Sixty-one specimens of a public health nature, excluding water, were examined
during the year. Details of these are given in statement X. This number is
ridiculously small especially when the unsatisfactory condition of the foods in this
country is considered. No standard of purity has yet been laid down for the
common articles of diet in the Madras Presidency although a Food Adulteration
Act is on the Statute book. Work of this nature comes within the sphere of the
public health side of the King Institute and it is to be hoped that a properly
organized public health section will soon be developed which will be able to deal
effectively with this type of work.
The number of samples of water examined was 1,160 as opposed to 1,036
tested in the previous year (see statement XI). 624 samples were examined
chemically and bacteriologically. The total number of chemical examinations was
866 and bacteriological 918. The half-yearly routine examinations from the
municipalities, jails and railway stations provided 481 samples. The remainder
were derived from the Institute experimental filters.
Municipal water-supplies.
Of the 14 municipalities which depend upon infiltration galleries for their
supply, Nellore has given the best results. Tanjore, Trichinopoly, Vizagapatam
and Bezwada came next in order. At Madura, the new gallery at Kochada which
came into operation in 1919 has been found to yield a better water than the older
source. If this gallery could produce sufficient water to supply the whole of the
town a distinct advance would be made.
Many supplies which give satisfactory results at their source deteriorate
considerably in transit owing to dirty pipe lines and as supplied to the consumer
do not come up to the necessary standard of purity. Where such a condition of
affairs has been reported, steps taken to remove this source of contamination
would cause a considerable improvement in the supply.
The ten sand filter installations in the Presidency have yielded very variable
results. Five of these have effected no improvement. Four others have given
inconsistent results. The individual filters belonging to the Madras Corporation
vary very considerably in their efficiency but on the whole the process of filtration
has effected an improvement. The benefits of filtration are to a great extent lost,
however, by the mixture of a proportion of raw water with the filtered water
before supply to the town. The Presidency mechanical filter installations have
again failed to give satisfactory results because the correct dose of alum has not
been used. 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 the correct dose has been calculated
for all the seasonal variations which are bound to occur in the raw water.