The Organisms Infesting Water-Works

Abstract

THE water-works of Rotterdam obtain their supply of water from the River Meuse, and apparently were able to filter and purify it in a satisfactory manner until the spring of 1887, when the Schizomycete Crenothrix Kühniana made its appearance in great abundance in the various reservoirs and aqueducts. This gave rise to so much trouble and difficulty in obtaining a pure water-supply, that new and improved filters were made, and finally a Commission of investigation was appointed, which carried on its work chiefly during the winter 1887–88. Some further questions bearing on the matter were investigated in the following year, and now we have before us the chief scientific results of the Report sent in by the Professor of Botany at Amsterdam, Hugo de Vries, and giving a most interesting account not only of this particular pest, the Crenothrix, but also of the other plants and animals found living in the dark places of the Rotterdam aqueducts.

Die Pflanzen und Thiere in den dunkeln Räumen der Rotterdamer Wasserleitung. Bericht über die Biologischen Untersuchungen der Crenothrix-Commission zu Rotterdam, vom Jahre 1887.

Erstattet von Hugo de Vries. (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1890.)