Sessional_Paper_1904 — Page 719

610

Accordingly the existing old Coroner's Court adjoining the Mortuary was so reconstructed that the examination of the animals could be undertaken satisfactorily for the time being. Two rooms were provided-one for actual post-mortem work, the other for microscopic examinations.

Extra assistance was obtained in the month of May. The services of four Japanese Doctors were requisitioned, and the examination of rats was carried on until the month of October.

On the 13th of October, these gentlemen returned to Japan. From this date onwards, the research has been systematically carried on by myself, assisted by Chinese Doctors and Students trained in Western Medicine in the College of Medicine in Hongkong. The opportunities afforded for carrying out these examinations, the bacteriological methods employed, and a short resumé of the results obtained, have already been given in my Report for 1902.

During the year 1902, 117,839 rats, alive or dead, were bacteriologically examined. Of these, 2,015 were found to be plague infected. The number of rats examined daily, counting six days to a week, averaged nearly four hundred.

Charts are attached, representing in the form of curves, the courses taken by the epizootic and the epidemic. In all charts, the epizootic is marked by an uninterrupted line; the epidemic by a dotted line.

As considerable difficulty was experienced in starting the systematic exam- inations. reliable results were not obtained until the beginning of April. All the charts for 1902, show the start of the curves from the 8th of April. The charts are representative of weekly fluctuations in the epizootic and epidemic. My reasons for dealing with the prevalence of the epizootic and epidemic in each district, and in such detail, is that in a general and annual chart many important points bearing upon the intimate relationship between rat and human plague, become lost or

obscured.

WILLIAM HUNTER.

A General Resumé of the Results obtained during 1902.

The results which have been obtained through following the courses of the epizootic and the epidemic, are surprisingly good when one considers the cir- cumstances under which they were obtained.

The research had just been commenced. Difficulties were met with in regard to reliable systematic bacteriological examinations, the routine collection of rats, and the many other duties connected with plague work during the year.

With Professor SIMPSON in the Colony, a large amount of experimental plague work was undertaken, and this in conjunction with my routine duties, partly interfered with the attention which had to be devoted to my investigation into the relations existing between epizootic plague and epidemic plague.

Considerable success, however, was met with, and, notwithstanding the frequent changes in the subordinate staff of examiners, results have been obtained which are, in my opinion, of great value.

The details in regard to rat and human plague are furnished for each Health District in Hongkong. At first it was my intention to confine my researches to a general chart, but on preparation of this, I was so struck by the results obtained, that it was considered necessary to examine the question more thoroughly. Accordingly, charts of each individual district in Hongkong were prepared, and the outcome has been most satisfactory. The more intimate connections between the courses of rat and human plague have been determined in the presence of few numbers. In the majority of the charts, the results are of a very convincing nature. In one or two, the curves are somewhat erratic in their course, but, as can be seen from examination, this is due to the small number of cases which were at disposal. Again, variations in the collections of rats throughout the city have to be accounted for.

Further the rat content of certain districts is subject to variation, according to the sudden advent of a few cases of human plague, which results in sanitary activity being concentrated more or less on this spot for the time being.