Report of streams examination, chemic and bacteriologic : of the waters between lake Michigan at Chicago and the Mississippi river at St. Louis, for the purpose of determining their condition and quality before and after the opening of the drainage channel / Made under the direction of Arthur R. Reynolds, M. D., commissioner of health ... pub. by authority of the trustees of the Sanitary district of Chicago.

  • Chicago (Ill.). Department of Health.
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report of streams examination, chemic and bacteriologic : of the waters between lake Michigan at Chicago and the Mississippi river at St. Louis, for the purpose of determining their condition and quality before and after the opening of the drainage channel / Made under the direction of Arthur R. Reynolds, M. D., commissioner of health ... pub. by authority of the trustees of the Sanitary district of Chicago. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    29/374 (page 21)
    REPORT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO. BY PROF. E. O. JORDAN, Ph. D. Arthur R. Reynolds, M. D., Director of Streams Examination. Dear Sir:—I beg to submit herewith the final and complete report upon the chemical and bacterial analyses conducted under my direction in behalf of the Sanitary District of Chicago. These analyses cover a period extending from May i, 1899, to July i, 1900, and embrace about two thousand chemical and bacterial determinations. Regular weekly analyses have been made of water samples collected from the Illinois and Michigan Canal, from various parts of the Desplaines and Illinois rivers and from the principal tributaries of the Illinois River; regular examina- tions have also been made of samples from the Mississippi River at sev- eral points, from the Missouri River and from the St. Louis city water supply. The reasons governing our choice of the points for collection are stated in detail elsewhere (pp. 47-54). With two exceptions the collecting stations have been visited conjointly by Professor Palmer and myself, and all of the more important stations have also been visited separately by us both. Throughout the investigation I have been assisted on the chemical side by Mr. F. L. Stevens, Ph. D. (Chicago), and on the bacterial side by Mr. E. E. Irons, S B. The continued faithfulness, zeal and high effi- ciency with which they have carried on their work deserve especial men- tion. I have also been assisted in special ways at various times by Messrs. W. G. Sackett, W. L. Sayer and C. B. Davis. DESCRIPTION OF METHODS EMPLOYED AND RESULTS OB- TAINED IN THE REGULAR ROUTINE EXAMINATION. (a) Method of Collection. Explicit instructions were given to all collectors concerning the methods to be employed, and, in addition, printed directions were sent out weekly with each collecting bottle. The bacterial samples were collected in wide-mouth four-ounce glass bottles, which were sterilized in the laboratory, enclosed in a tight-fitting metal case, which was itself placed in a large packing canister, ten inches deep and six and one-half inches in diameter, and the whole, together with the