1. The vitamin C in the dietary of an institution was largely destroyed by the methods of cooking and distribution.

2. Some 50 mg. of ascorbic acid per head per day were required to be added to the diet to produce an optimum excretion level.

3. Large doses of ascorbic acid were given to a group of adolescents in the institution over a period of several months. A record was kept of the incidences of infectious diseases in this treated group and in the remainder (controls). The following conclusions were reached:

(a) The incidences of common cold and tonsillitis were the same in the two groups.

(b) The average duration of illness due to the common cold was the same in the two groups.

(c) The duration of illness of tonsillitis was longer in the control group than in the test group.

(d) Cases of rheumatic fever and pneumonia occurred in the control group but no case of either disease occurred in the test group.

1. In a controlled experiment prontosil was used in the treatment of four cases of streptococcal tonsillitis. These cases subsequently developed acute rheumatism.

2. Two cases of otitis media and one case of streptococcal pneumonia, not in the controlled experiment, were treated with sulphonamide and sulphapyridine respectively. These cases developed rheumatism as a complication.

3. Haemolytic streptococci were recovered from twelve cases of respiratory tract infection which subsequently developed acute rheumatic fever.

1. A review has been made of literature on the ecology of different types of coliform bacteria. The main object of the review has been to consider whether there is evidence to support the view that Bact. aerogenes and the intermediate types live normally on plants or in the soil and not in the intestines of man and other animals.

2. There is ample evidence that Bact. coli is by far the most common type of coliform in normal human faeces. On the other hand, there is evidence that Bact. aerogenes or intermediate types are usually present in faeces, may sometimes be present in greater numbers than Bact. coli, and on rare occasions may be the only type present. Both quantitatively and qualitatively the coliform flora of the faeces of an individual person may vary from day to day. There is insufficient evidence on the numbers of Bact. aerogenes and intermediate types in faeces to justify any more definite statement, but limited data suggest that such types may be absent or may be present in numbers of the order of a million per gram.

3. When fresh faeces are stored there is first a multiplication of such bacteria as will grow on ordinary laboratory media, including the coliform types. The rate of multiplication, as with the flora of soil, water, and milk, increases with an increase in the incubation temperature to 37° C, but the period of multiplication becomes shorter. In the literature consulted no evidence can be found to show which groups are prominent in the multiplication. Results are in agreement that on further storage the ratio of the numbers of Bact. coli to those of Bact. aerogenes and intermediates decreases, the typical Bact. coli flora dying off more rapidly than other conform types. The rapidity of decrease appears to depend partially at least upon the temperature of the environment, and the decrease may be accelerated by intense sunlight.

4. In urine from patients suffering from genito-urinary infections the dominant types of coliform are usually either Bact. aerogenes or intermediates. No data on the number of such organisms in urine have been obtained from the works consulted.

5. There is no-evidence that coliform bacteria multiply on fresh grasses or grains. Few quantitative data on this question have been found. In some of the older work it is doubtful whether a large proportion of the cultures isolated were actually coliform bacteria or whether they were species of other genera capable of fermenting lactose at 30° C. but not at 37° C. In the decomposition of grasses and legumes during ensilage, a process involving a considerable increase in temperature, it would appear that multiplication of conform bacteria may take place and counts may for a time equal those found in fresh faeces. No indication has been found that this multiplication is confined to Bact. aerogenes or intermediates.

6. Most workers who have studied the coliform bacteria in soil have ignored the quantitative aspects and no counts at intervals over long periods of coliform bacteria in any undisturbed soil appear to have been made. No evidence of any multiplication of coliform bacteria in soil has been found. Results, however, are in agreement that where pollution of the soil by animal excreta has taken place, the heavier the pollution the greater is the number of coliform bacteria; soils relatively free from human or other animal pollution either contain no coliform bacteria or only small numbers. It is generally agreed that the ratio of the numbers of Bact. coli to those of Bact. aerogenes and intermediates decreases with the increase of time which has elapsed since pollution of the soil. This change is similar to that which occurs in faeces during storage.

7. There is insufficient evidence to justify the definite statement often made that Bact. aerogenes and intermediates are normal inhabitants of soils, grasses, and grains.

1. The authors concluded in a previous paper that the most reliable single test for the detection of Bact. coli was incubation in MacConkey's broth at 44° C, such a test for Bact. coli alone being necessary in shellfish because of occasional multiplication of other coliforms in purified mussels. The present investigation is an attempt to verify this finding on a broader basis.

2. A description is given of the isolation of 1600 cultures of coliform organisms from polluted mussels, sewage, and faeces (human, cow, sheep and sea birds). Their classification according to ‘IMViC’ reactions and the production of gas in MacConkey's broth at temperatures of 37, 41, 44, 45 and 46° C. is given.

3. Of the + + − − type, 1036 out of 1065 cultures (97·3%) were found to produce gas in MacConkey's broth at 44° C. A balance is noted between the + + − − type which does not produce gas at 44° C. (irregular I) and the two irregular types which do so (irregular II and irregular VI). Such a balance was reported by Bardsley (1938).

4. From the cultures examined it is confirmed that incubation at 44° C. is the most suitable temperature for use with MacConkey's broth for permitting the maximum number of Bact. coli to produce gas while inhibiting the maximum number of other coliforms.

1. A historical survey is given of work upon the Eijkman method.

2. A total of 104 water samples were examined by methods I and III. These yielded 602 cultures obtained from the 44 and 37° C. presumptive series, and of these 357 were 44° C.-positive. The only types capable of fermenting lactose at 44° C. were Bact. coli type I and Irregular type II, with the addition of three cultures of intermediate type I and two of aerogenes type I.

3. The relative efficiencies in the detection of Bact. coli of the 44° C. method by direct inoculation and of the 37° C. presumptive test with plating and differentiation were compared. Out of 104 samples, sixty-eight were shown to contain faecal Bact. coli, and in 19% of these the 44° C. method detected Bact. coli when it was not recovered at 37° C. The converse was true in only 13% of samples.

4. The results obtained by other workers in regard to the specificity of incubation at 44° C. and to the various methods hitherto proposed for employing it have been collected and discussed; technical advantages and disadvantages have also been considered.

5. It is concluded: (1) That false positives at 44° C. are a negligible quantity for practical purposes. (2) That the best all-round method to use is Wilson's method IV. (3) That 48 hr. incubation should be given, but that 24 hr. is sufficient when rapidity is desired. (4) That the test should be officially recognized and standards laid down for use with it.

6. Cellobiose was found to be inferior to citrate for the identification of the I.A.C. group.

A small outbreak of diarrhoea is reported which involved five patients in a mental hospital. An organism showing the characteristics of the paracolon bacillus was isolated from all these cases. Agglutinins to this organism were present to significant titre in the sera of all the patients, suggesting that this race of the paracolon bacillus was the aetiological agent in this outbreak.