ETIOLOGY OF TYPHOID. 737 



colonies. During 1891 in Plobart, under sanitary conditions 

 apparently precisely identical with those in 1890, there Avere 

 54 deaths registered in the Hobart district ; in 1890 only 14. 

 To-day the fever wards of our hospital are almost empty ; 

 last August and Septeml)er they were crowded and over- 

 flowing. Practically there is no fever in the town beyond 

 the four cases in hospital, two of which are convalescent ; 

 next March or April there may be 40 or 50 cases, the 

 hospital being taxed to its utmost capacity. 



What are the conditions which favour or disfavour these 

 typhoid epidemics ? — Where, and how, is the typhoid poison 

 lying dormant ready to burst out upon thecommunity ? — What 

 are the vehicles of communication by which it reaches the 

 human subject? — How best can it be neutralised, rendered 

 inactive, or innocuous.'* In short, what are the teachings of 

 sanitary science in regard to such a town as Hobart, and in 

 reference to this disease of typhoid f(^ver .'* This is an all- 

 important question from a practical point of view, and 

 although as a busy medical man, and not a bacteriologist, I 

 do not pretend to be able, and indeed shall not attempt to 

 answer all these questions — still I should like to elicit your 

 opinions and your sympathy. As Officer of Health of this 

 city, I should like to take advantage of the visit of this 

 Association to our town and obtain the advice of this section 

 as to the best preventive means to adopt to ward off or 

 minimise our annually recurring typhoid ; and I feel I do not 

 appeal in vain, for Hobart is no exception — the disease in 

 Australasia is ubiquitous, and its cause and prevention must 

 have been a subject of thought to every one present. Let 

 me very briefly refer to a few of the recognised channels by 

 which the typhoid poison has been known to travel, and see 

 how far they are to blame for the annually recurring 

 visitations. Incidentally I shall allude to other points raised 

 in the questions I have propounded, but shall not minutely 

 discuss these, each being sufficient for a single paper. 



Water. 



It is a well recognised fact that water contaminated with 

 sewage to which the typhoid poison has had access, is a 

 frequent cause of the spread of this disease. All impure 

 water will not produce typhoid, or typhoid would be more 

 prevalent than it is ; it is only water Avhich is actully impreg- 

 nated with the typhoid poison which is capable of producing 

 typhoid, Hirsch, in an article on Typhoid Fever in his 



