26 Annals Entomological Society of America [Vol. Ill, 



towns. An outbreak amonjj^ 20 sailors upon a private yacht 

 docked in the Delaware River attracted the attention of both 

 the city and the Federal Mealth Authorities. The Surgeon- 

 General of the U. S. Public Health and Marine Hospital Service 

 delegated Dr. Joseph Goldljerger. Passed Assistant Surgeon, to 

 proceed to Philadelphia in order to make an investigation of the 

 disease. 



After examining the 20 sailors who had been sent to a hospi- 

 tal, Drs. Goldberger and Schamberg \-isited the yacht whence 

 they came and made a searching examination of the conditions 

 on board. Their attention was directed to the fact that a num- 

 ber of new straw mattresses had been receix'cd and that the dis- 

 ease was confined to those who had slept upon these mattresses' 

 or had placed their clothes upon them. Eleven officers and mem- 

 bers of the crew who did not sleep_ upon the new mattresses 

 remained entirely free of the disease. 



At about the same period information was received concerning 

 an eiiiptive disease pre\-ailing among the sailors of four other 

 boats, plying along the Delaware River. Investigation disclosed 

 the fact that these boats had also received new straw mattresses, 

 and, furthermore, that only those \\ere attacked who slept upon 

 the mattresses or otherwise came in contact with them. 



In addition to these cases among sailors. Doctors Goldberger 

 and Schamberg examined or received authentic information con- 

 cerning 70 other cases of this disease occurring in twenty different 

 households in Philadelphia and its vicinity. Plate IV. 



In practically every instance they were enabled to deteiTnine 

 that the patient had either recently slept upon a new straw mat- 

 tress or had freely handled the same. Where only one person 

 in a household was affected, it was found that he was the only one 

 to occupy a bed supplied with a new straw mattress. They were 

 able to trace all of the incriminated mattresses to four leading 

 mattress manufacturers. 



Careful investigation warranted them in excluding from con- 

 sideration the ticking of the mattresses and the jute or cotton 

 topping contained therein. The cause of the disease was. there- 

 fore, circumscribed to the straw. Repeated inquiries elicited the 

 information that all of the manufacturers had received at the 

 time the disease-producing mattresses were made \.\\), wheat- 

 straw from a dealer in Salem County, in southern New Jersey. 



