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A DANGEROUS DELAY.
467 had suffered the extreme penalty for murder. In lieu of a sideboard the dining-room contained a grim-looking erection fashioned out of human bones, plates and dishes resting on the pelves, and knives, forks, and spoons between the ribs, while the dome of a skull served as a sugar-basin and a child’s ossicles as sugar-tongs. The appliances thus forbiddingly stored were, however, more for show than use, since their owner never by any chance entertained a guest and towards the end abstained almost altogether from eating. His death is ascribed to fear and hunger combined. A few moments before he expired he is said to have raised himself up in bed with great difficulty in order to blow out a candle ; but whether he was actuated by a desire for economy or dreaded to afford illumination for the longexpected robber it is impossible to determine.
OYSTERS AND TYPHOID FEVER. ACTING on the instructions of the Sanitary Committee, the medical officer of health of Brighton, Dr. Newsholme, has written to the medical officers of the thirty-three great towns of England and Wales, drawing attention to the danger of the spread of cholera and typhoid fever from sewage-contaminated oysters and other molluscs, and asking whether they would support a petition to the Local Government Board for legislation giving powers to local authorities to prevent the consumption of molluscs so polluted similar to the powers already in force for dealing with milk, or to take proceedings before the magistrate of the district in which the oysterlayings are situated, for the purpose of obtaining an nrder prohibiting their use until rendered fit for the purpose. Twenty.two answers had been received, nearly all in hearty support of the proposals. A petition on behalf of local authorities generally is to be prepared.
TUBERCULOSIS
OF
THE LUNGS LIFE.
PULMONARY tuberculosis
when
IN
developed
ADVANCED at
a
fairly
motile bacillus which could not be recognised,’, known form. In the remaining seven cases the above. any described forms of saprophytes were found in six and in. the other case only the pathogenic bacilli were found. No definite relationship could be discovered either between,’, the presence of the ’ streptococci and the height of the fever or between the former and the existence of cavities and the course of the disease. In those.
third
as a
as
over sixty years of age streptococci were never found. With the exception of two cases in which the animals died, in two cases of blood-poisoning (streptococcic in fection), the sputum and contents of the cavities when. inoculated were not virulent. The tubercle bacilli, howcaused to death in from four six weeks. Dr. Luzzatto. ever, that concludes, therefore, although, of course, pulmonary tuberculosis in old people has the same specific originnamely, the tubercle bacillus-yet mixed infection is not nearly so common as in younger life, it being present in only4 about half the cases. Further, the micro-organisms which are found show only a slight degree of virulence and are not very tenacious of life; in short, we have to deal with ap attenuated infection, and this explains to some extent thelong and mild course which pulmonary tuberculosis usually exhibits in advanced life.
patients
A DANGEROUS DELAY. AT a meeting of the Uckfield (Sussex) rural council last week one of the sanitary inspectors made a statement which, if it be true, reveals an extraordinary condition of affairs. At one of the railway stations in his district, this office. declared, small-pox had broken out in the house of thestation-master. Six children suffered from it, and at thetime of the inspector’s visit the station-master, not been relieved by the company, could not leave hisAt the time one of the children, in the desquamating post. was stage, actually running about the platform, and it was’ the only upon inspector telegraphing to the authorities that’ the man was relieved. This state of affairs, with passengers through the place daily, was bad enough, but to make matters worse the man was also sub-postmaster! So that by rail and by letter this centre was capable of spreadin6" the disease. It was proposed that the man should be prosecuted, but eventually an amendment to caution him was carried. It seems a case in which, surely, something should’ be said to the railway management-provided, of course, that. the facts are as stated.
having
advanced age, fifty years and upwards, often runs a very chronic course, and the acute form is but seldom met with In the Centralblatt fiir Bakterioloqie, at this time of life. Parasitenkunde und InfektionshrankA6it6n, Jan. 20th, 1897, is The presence a paper on this subject by Dr. A. M. Luzzatto. of other micro-organisms, in addition to those pathognomonic of tubercle, is known to have a marked influence on the febrile phenomena and destruction of lung tissue, and Dr. Luzzatto’s investigations were directed to the isolation of SCARBOROUGH’S SHAME. such bacteria. Fifteen cases were chosen, the patients being all over fifty years of age. In four cases scrapings were A SERIES of admirable articles upon sanitary reform have obtained from pulmonary cavities and the tissue of the recently been appearing in the Scarboro’ Post which reveal. lungs, and in eleven cases the sputum was examined, having a state of matters by no means creditable to the surely, been washed by Kitasato’s method. In each case cover- ironically styled" health committee" of that well-known glass preparations were made, cultivations were made on watering place. From these articles it appears that the agar plates, and rabbits or guinea-pigs were inoculated. The death-rate for the three years 1893-95 was as follows :. following results were obtained. In eight cases colonies of England and Wales, 18-2; Birmingham, 19’9; Hastings, streptococci were obtained on agar plates which always ex- 14-2; Bournemouth, 13-2; Eastbourne, 12-6; Southport, hibited the same characteristics ; the cocci were fairly large, 16’5 ; and Scarborough, 18’2. Of course part of this mornot motile, stained well by Gram’s method, and formed tality is due to deaths of visitors registered in the borough long chains, especially in broth cultures. The colonies were but the same remark holds good with regard to Eastbourne,. small, but often raised considerably above the surface ; in Hastings, and especially Bournemouth. One great cause is only three instances could a broth culture be obtained, not far to seek, but is contained in the following simple stateand sub-cultures were made with difficulty. The virulence ment : Scarborough, 8900 houses-6500 privies. Some of. of the fresh broth cultures was tried on two rabbits; these privies are actually inside the houses, and although the in the first animal there was a slight local reaction ; soil is removed weekly it still has to be carried through the in the second no result followed. The streptococci houses. Several cases of this kind are alleged to exist within. were in two of the cases found to correspond with the a few yards of the Town Hall ; this being so it might urge: staphylococcus pyogenes (aureus, citreus, and albus), and in the members of the health committee who talk about all the cases with three forms of saprophytes ; one was " sanitary fads"to action if the night soil were carried recognised as the micrococcus candicans (Flugge), the through the Town Hall when the said committee were sitting> second as the bacillus fungoides (Tschistowitsch), and the Another crying want is an isolation hospital, the need for ___
OYSTERS AND TYPHOID FEVER. ACTING on the instructions of the Sanitary Committee, the medical officer of health of Brighton, Dr. Newsholme, has written to the medical officers of the thirty-three great towns of England and Wales, drawing attention to the danger of the spread of cholera and typhoid fever from sewage-contaminated oysters and other molluscs, and asking whether they would support a petition to the Local Government Board for legislation giving powers to local authorities to prevent the consumption of molluscs so polluted similar to the powers already in force for dealing with milk, or to take proceedings before the magistrate of the district in which the oysterlayings are situated, for the purpose of obtaining an nrder prohibiting their use until rendered fit for the purpose. Twenty.two answers had been received, nearly all in hearty support of the proposals. A petition on behalf of local authorities generally is to be prepared.
TUBERCULOSIS
OF
THE LUNGS LIFE.
PULMONARY tuberculosis
when
IN
developed
ADVANCED at
a
fairly
motile bacillus which could not be recognised,’, known form. In the remaining seven cases the above. any described forms of saprophytes were found in six and in. the other case only the pathogenic bacilli were found. No definite relationship could be discovered either between,’, the presence of the ’ streptococci and the height of the fever or between the former and the existence of cavities and the course of the disease. In those.
third
as a
as
over sixty years of age streptococci were never found. With the exception of two cases in which the animals died, in two cases of blood-poisoning (streptococcic in fection), the sputum and contents of the cavities when. inoculated were not virulent. The tubercle bacilli, howcaused to death in from four six weeks. Dr. Luzzatto. ever, that concludes, therefore, although, of course, pulmonary tuberculosis in old people has the same specific originnamely, the tubercle bacillus-yet mixed infection is not nearly so common as in younger life, it being present in only4 about half the cases. Further, the micro-organisms which are found show only a slight degree of virulence and are not very tenacious of life; in short, we have to deal with ap attenuated infection, and this explains to some extent thelong and mild course which pulmonary tuberculosis usually exhibits in advanced life.
patients
A DANGEROUS DELAY. AT a meeting of the Uckfield (Sussex) rural council last week one of the sanitary inspectors made a statement which, if it be true, reveals an extraordinary condition of affairs. At one of the railway stations in his district, this office. declared, small-pox had broken out in the house of thestation-master. Six children suffered from it, and at thetime of the inspector’s visit the station-master, not been relieved by the company, could not leave hisAt the time one of the children, in the desquamating post. was stage, actually running about the platform, and it was’ the only upon inspector telegraphing to the authorities that’ the man was relieved. This state of affairs, with passengers through the place daily, was bad enough, but to make matters worse the man was also sub-postmaster! So that by rail and by letter this centre was capable of spreadin6" the disease. It was proposed that the man should be prosecuted, but eventually an amendment to caution him was carried. It seems a case in which, surely, something should’ be said to the railway management-provided, of course, that. the facts are as stated.
having
advanced age, fifty years and upwards, often runs a very chronic course, and the acute form is but seldom met with In the Centralblatt fiir Bakterioloqie, at this time of life. Parasitenkunde und InfektionshrankA6it6n, Jan. 20th, 1897, is The presence a paper on this subject by Dr. A. M. Luzzatto. of other micro-organisms, in addition to those pathognomonic of tubercle, is known to have a marked influence on the febrile phenomena and destruction of lung tissue, and Dr. Luzzatto’s investigations were directed to the isolation of SCARBOROUGH’S SHAME. such bacteria. Fifteen cases were chosen, the patients being all over fifty years of age. In four cases scrapings were A SERIES of admirable articles upon sanitary reform have obtained from pulmonary cavities and the tissue of the recently been appearing in the Scarboro’ Post which reveal. lungs, and in eleven cases the sputum was examined, having a state of matters by no means creditable to the surely, been washed by Kitasato’s method. In each case cover- ironically styled" health committee" of that well-known glass preparations were made, cultivations were made on watering place. From these articles it appears that the agar plates, and rabbits or guinea-pigs were inoculated. The death-rate for the three years 1893-95 was as follows :. following results were obtained. In eight cases colonies of England and Wales, 18-2; Birmingham, 19’9; Hastings, streptococci were obtained on agar plates which always ex- 14-2; Bournemouth, 13-2; Eastbourne, 12-6; Southport, hibited the same characteristics ; the cocci were fairly large, 16’5 ; and Scarborough, 18’2. Of course part of this mornot motile, stained well by Gram’s method, and formed tality is due to deaths of visitors registered in the borough long chains, especially in broth cultures. The colonies were but the same remark holds good with regard to Eastbourne,. small, but often raised considerably above the surface ; in Hastings, and especially Bournemouth. One great cause is only three instances could a broth culture be obtained, not far to seek, but is contained in the following simple stateand sub-cultures were made with difficulty. The virulence ment : Scarborough, 8900 houses-6500 privies. Some of. of the fresh broth cultures was tried on two rabbits; these privies are actually inside the houses, and although the in the first animal there was a slight local reaction ; soil is removed weekly it still has to be carried through the in the second no result followed. The streptococci houses. Several cases of this kind are alleged to exist within. were in two of the cases found to correspond with the a few yards of the Town Hall ; this being so it might urge: staphylococcus pyogenes (aureus, citreus, and albus), and in the members of the health committee who talk about all the cases with three forms of saprophytes ; one was " sanitary fads"to action if the night soil were carried recognised as the micrococcus candicans (Flugge), the through the Town Hall when the said committee were sitting> second as the bacillus fungoides (Tschistowitsch), and the Another crying want is an isolation hospital, the need for ___