250 Professor Sheridan DeUpine [Feb. 13, 



certain infectious diseases such as typhoid fever are liable to occur, 

 and this leads to a more or less extensive infection of the sewage, and 

 of the tidal waters into which the sewage is discharged. 



The tragic events which have lately followed the Mayoral banquets 

 at Winchester and Portsmouth have roughly shaken the public 

 indolence, and the moral of facts which scientific people had pointed 

 out for many years has at last been understood. 



Dr. H. Timbrell Bulstrode, in his able Eeport on Oyster Culture 

 in Relation to Disease, which appeared in 1896 * had clearly stated 

 " that there are cases where the risk of sewage pollution to oysters is 

 so great and so considerable, that nothing short of complete diversion 

 of the sewers or drains, or withdrawal of existing fattening beds or 

 ponds from use, can be regarded as satisfactory in the public 

 interest." 



The Emsworth storage ponds belonged obviously to the category 

 of dangerous ponds, as shown by Dr. Bulstrode's report and by the 

 map accompanying it. The evidence of pollution was so great that 

 the late Sir E. Thome Thorne mentioned Emsworth specifically as an 

 example of much polluted pits. But for six years nothing seems to 

 have been done to remove the danger, and it was necessary that 

 several valuable lives should be lost to cause an action to be taken, 

 an action for which the Fishmongers' Company is to be praised, pro- 

 vided that it does not stop short of a general exclusion from our 

 markets of all the polluted oysters. 



The general condition of things is well indicated by the following 

 statement, appearing also in the report already alluded to : "A 

 superficial glance at the maps with which Dr. Bulstrode's report is 

 illustrated, might lead to the hasty conclusion that sewage is deemed 

 to be of value — ^if indeed it is not actually sought for — in connection 

 with the process of oyster-fattening and storage.j 



Manufacture of Prepared Foods on a Large Scale. 



I must now direct your attention to a danger of another kind, 

 but still attributable to modern modes of living. The supply of fresh 

 food to large cities is a matter of difficulty, which has given rise to 

 the increased use of preparexi articles of food which can be preserved 

 for various lengths of time. Preservation by cooking or other means 

 allows of a more economical utilisation of meat than the simple 

 division of a carcase into joints. 



Derhy Outbreak of PorJc Pie Poisoning. 



During the first week in September 1902, Dr. Howarth, the 

 Medical Officer of Health for the Borough of Derby, was informed 



* Supplement to tlie 24tli AiiDual Eeport of tlie Local Governmeut Board, 

 1894-95, p. 82. 



t K. Thorne Thorne, pp. xiv. and xv. 



