R E P O R T U P O N T H E W O R K O F T H E B A C T E R I O L O G I C A L
SECTION OF THE KING INSTITUTE OF PREVENTIVE
MEDICINE, GUINDY FOR 1908-1909,
IN July 1908 Captain W. S. Patton, I.M.S., the Acting Superintendent, was so
unfortunate as to suffer from a break-down in his health, and had to apply for leave.
Dr. F. Maitland. Gibson., M.B., B.Sc., was appointed to act as Superintendent in place
of Captain Patton.
While the various functions of the laboratory have remained. unaltered, it is not
possible to classify the work under the headings of " Routine," " Research " and "
Edu-cational " as in previous years. This is mainly due to the fact that a preponderating
amount of the routine work carried on in the laboratory has been in connection with
the investigations presently being made by Major W. W. Clemesha, I.M.S., on the
" Town Water Supplies of the Madras Presidency." This work has absorbed almost
all resources of the laboratory both as regards energy and material. The examin
-ation of pathological and other material formed. but a minor portion of the work of the
laboratory.
Major Clemesha's investigations are of great importance and may have far
reaching results. This is the first attempt that has been made in India to determine
:standards of purity for potable waters. The standards that have been arrived at in
Europe, after years of experiment, are far from being consistently fixed and in any case
:are probably not adapted to Indian conditions.
The branch of Major Clemesha's investigations dealing with the resistance of
various forms of organised pollution to the influence of sunlight, etc., is also of great
interest, and is likely to yield important information as to the origin, both as regards
where and when, of such pollution. In its bearing on the " causation " or avoidance of
epidemic disease the " when " of pollution is of very special importance.
It is not however my purpose to discuss here the results of these investigations,
which will be published separately in appendix form, except in so far as they yield
information in regard to the working efficiency of the Bacteriological Section of the
King Institute.
Serious deficiencies in equipment have been brought to light. The most important
of these is the want of a large steam steriliser. An investigation such as the one
under discussion demands a very large supply of very varied culture media. With the
present equipment of the media department, it has not been possible to prepare media
for more than one or two days in advance. Such a hand-to-mouth existence is far from
desirable, and renders the work very liable to involuntary interruption. That such
interruptions have not occurred says much for the carefulness and willing energy of the
'staff. On more than one occasion it has been necessary to work double tides so as to
recover the ground lost by accidental occurrences.
From the point of view also of economical working the present system leaves much
to be desired and that a large steam steriliser would be of great, indeed of almost
essential, service in the Vaccine Section is not open to question.
Before going on leave Captain Patton, I.M.S. was able to carry out two
protozoological investigations which are printed in
I.M.S.,
2. They are (1) The
Life Cycle of Crithidia gerridis and (2) The Life Cycle of Herpetomonas lygæi. As
noted by the Acting Sanitary Commissioner in his letter accompanying the report of
1907, investigations of this description are especially important from two points of
view. Firstly from the light they may throw on similar processes in the life history
of protozoa, pathogenic to man and the domestic animals, and secondly in extending
our knowledge of the protozoological parasites special to blood-sucking invertebrates.