CO537-(36-37) — Page 78

As Humphrey's

1936.

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The Clash and

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cirgumstances fairly well. I am not absolutely convinced yet, but I am coming round to that view from experimenta.

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Assuming for the moment, for the sake of argument, that

you are convinced, do you think that the limewashing of houses tends to destroy rat fleas, or does destroy the rat fleas in any way whatever ↑

I certainly think it helps to destroy vermin.

Confine yourself to rat fleas ↑

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But then I cant confine my belief iş plague solely to rat fleas. I believe that vermin, whether it is bugs or fiese or cookroaches, are all equally capabis of conveying plague poison, and I dont want to look at any

measure whether limewashing or anything else solely

from the point of view of the rat fiea. I should look

at it from the point of view of vermin generally.

Would linewashing in any way prevent the spread of those

plague strieken rat fleas ? Would the fact of a room

being just newly linewashed, we will say, prevent rat fleas from crawling all over the room?

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The fact of the room having been recently linawashed would not prevent the fleas moving about, but I think

in the process of limewashing a certain amount of fleas would be destroyed.

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Is it not the fact that often oases of plague ocour in

houses that have just been recently limewashed ↑

That question was raised by Dr Harston, I think about

seven years ago. I am not sure of the exact date, and I

went very carefully into the cases with reference to

the dates of limewashing, and I satisfied my own mind

that cases of plagus did not follow linewashing. It was

suggested by Dr Harston that the shaking up of the dust

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