II. On the conditions affecting bacterial life in Thames water

Abstract

Since May, 1892, I have been making monthly determinations of the number of bacteria capable of development on a peptone-gelatine plate in a given volume of Thames water collected at the intakes of the Metropolitan water companies at Hampton. The number of microbes per cubic centimetre of water varied during this time between 631 and 56,630, the highest numbers having, as a rule, been found in winter or when the temperature of the water was low, and the lowest in summer or when the temperature was high.