The Press., 1895-11-28
Number 35.
lFrom the London Queen.) CHOLERA, DRINKING WATER =, AND FIL TIERS.

ANO FlL ENS.
 The outbreak of cholera in the East Lancashire regiment seemed at first to be in the highest degree mysterious. The regiment consisted of six companies, all apparently living under the same condi- tions; barracks, food, water supply were all alike, and yet some companies suffered much more severely than others, and one, company E, escaped altogether, though cholera was raging around. The compa- nies were transferred to the cholera camp at KOkrail to stay the epidemic, but, strange to say, the disease broke out anew with fresh violence. It baffled the au- thOrities, 1t seemed to defy sanitary pre- cautions, and to make strange and inex- phcable selections. The mystery is ex- plained in Mir. Hankin's report, and 1t is seen to be no Osmystery at all, and cholera Is found agaia to be due to the cholera bacillus alone. All the water drunk by the soldiers was filtered; but there's the rub; the filters gave false security, and were, in fact, the breeding grounds of the bacilli. The water was derived from deep wells, and was pumped from them into filter beds. Now 1t was found that the water passing from the wells to the fil- ters was germ free, but that that coming from the filter beds contained cholera bacilli. How did; it get inp It came out in investigation that the sand used for these filter beds had been taken from the banks of the river below the town, at a spot exposed to every kind of contamina- tiOn, and that several months before Mir. Hankin had specifically condemned sand from this spot as unfit for filters. Yet, nevertheless, lowing to an ingenious mis- take of a native subordinate, sand for the filter tanks was brought from this same locality" How lucky, one cannot help thinking, that there was nameless native to blame. But still it was difficult to understand how Company k completely escaped. To qdote the dramatic expla- nation given by MT. Hankin: "On cross- examining the color-sergeant of this com- pany, the mystery seemed to deepen, for he roundly asserted that the men of his company had exactly the same supplies of food and water as the men of the other mpanles; but upon his being pressed as to how he knew that the Water supply was the same as that of the other hn In1 bn know, as he boiled it himselfl'" Herein lies the difference, and herein the reason why Company E escaped when the other companies were decfmated. To boil the water, and thus to destroy the germs, is sufficient protection against cholera. How efficient the remedy, how practical the precaution, how simple the prescription, and yet, those in authority will search far afield for the occult causes of the out break of a dire disease, which can be pre- vented at the beginning by simply boiling the water.
 When the companies moved, however, into the Kokrall cholera camp, in the hope that changeof site and surroundings would check the epidemic, the disease broke out afreeh with renewed virulence The companies had taken the precaution of carrying their filters with them; but these proved new starting points for the dissemination of cholera. In unpacking and setting up, the filters became infected with the cholera bacillus, which remained in the filter, bred there, and actually be- came fresh foci of disease. At one time 1t was thought that if water was chemi- cally pure it-was enough; 1t is now known that potable water must be bacteriolo- gically pure to be safe. A filter which does not filetr off the germs is unreliable. None of the filters which are in domestic use do this, except those known as the Pasteur-C Chamberlain. The domestic les sons learned from the Lucknow epidemic are that the ordinary filters are not to be trusted to filter off the germs, but that these can be efnctently destroyed and the water renderedsafe by boiling.