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Hospital with very favourable results. Therefore for comparison of case mor- tality with the people treated locally it was considered better to take the period embracing the first half of the epidemic. In that time there were 123 cases of Chinese patients of whom 106 died showing a mortality of 86.17 per cent. In the experimental block 35 cases were reported of which 10 were already dead. The number treated was therefore 25, with 21 deaths, showing a mortality of 84%. I am aware that these numbers are too small to afford a sound basis for scientific com- parison yet it is satisfactory to find that so far as it went, the result of the experi- ment was apparently in its favour to the extent of 1.83%. In noting this result the disabilities of the system of local treatment as tried by me must be considered. I have stated that the prescriptions given by the Chinese doctors are good, so far as they go. But with the administration of medicine the care of the average Chinese practitioner ceases, and the question of nourishment and all the assuagements that come under the head of nursing are neglected. The sufferers in my district would take no medicine save the usual prescription given by the Chinese doctor, which they obtained from the local druggist. The doctor, at my request, prescribed port wine, and beef tea, both of which I had supplied to the druggist, who was one of the most active members of the Kai-fong, and anxious to do anything in his power that might increase the chances of recovery. But the patients refused to take them, and I found them having nothing but rice, or congee, which is water thickened with rice flour. In Kennedy Town I understand that patients take the nourishment ordered for them without difficulty, and I am of opinion that with properly equipped local hospitals under proper supervision and with trained nurses the mortality would be sensibly diminished.
19. We found it difficult to trace the means of infection. The immunity of people living, sometimes for several days, in the same room went far to disprove the theory of contact. With the exception of Chu Kom and Wong Sam from No. 4 Sheung Fung Lane none of the people of that house who were attacked worked together, or partook of the same food. Fourteen days after Sheung Fung Lane had been cleansed out I directed that as many fleas, bugs, &c., as could be found should be sent to the Government Bacteriologist for examination. A number of bugs and a spider were found, and on the 10th June Dr. HUNTER reported that in both bugs and spider were found plague bacilli. At the same time he reported as the result of examination of a number of bugs, flies and fleas from No. 4 Sheung Fung Lane, where several cases of plague had arisen, that no bacilli were found. Again, after the death of the two boys who lived on the first floor of 109 Second Street, bugs were procured from the first floor and from the ground floor. Dr. HUNTER reported that in the two bugs from the first floor no bacilli were found, but a num- of bugs from the ground floor were found infected with several plague bacilli. During a visit to the Plague Hospital at Kennedy Town, I observed a large number of flies in one ward, numbers of which had settled on the patients. I directed that a number should be sent for examination. On the 9th July, Dr. HUNTER reported that the majority of the flies were plague-infected. He reported at the same time. that several cockroaches caught in a stall in the Central Market contained B. pestis. On the 1st June it was reported that fowls from the Western Market were found to have died of plague, and as the poorer classes of Chinese eat the entrails of fowl with their rice in a semi-cooked state, a notice was issued that such food if not thoroughly cooked was dangerous. On examining specimens of various foods exposed for sale, Dr. HUNTER has since found the B. pestis in inferior rice. I have suggested to Dr. THOMSON to find by experiment if mosquitoes which fed on plague patients contain bacilli, and several have been examined by Dr. HUNTER with negative results. The examination is, however, being continued.
20. We have from Professor SIMPSON's report evidence that pigs, calves, sheep, monkeys, geese, ducks, turkeys, hens, pigeons and rats are susceptible to plague, which may be contracted by food or by inoculation direct, or by means of suctorial insects. To this list the examination mentioned above adds bugs, spiders, flies and cockroaches. I may add that quails kept in the market for sale were also found to be infected. In paragraph 22, page 100, Professor SIMPSON points out that domestic animals suffer from chronic plague and surmises that this is probably one of the bridges by which the interval of the attacks in man is connected. I have for a considerable time been of opinion that man is himself subject to chronic plague, which may either pass away after a considerable time, or continue dormant over the winter months regaining activity with the annual movement of Spring when the
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