ETIOLOGY OF TYPHOID. 739 



particular dairy, an inmate of wliicli was suffering from 

 typhoid, has infectod many of the consumers of that milk ; 

 or tliat the milk has beciume contaminated not by a typhoid 

 patient m the house, but by the addition of water from a 

 well, or washing- the cans in the water of a well contaminated 

 with typhoid dejecta. Both in Enghmd and in the colonies 

 many epidemics have been traced to a polluted milk supj)ly, 

 but i am not aware that in Hobart, for many years ])ast, milk 

 is responsible for spreading typhoid. In investigating cases 

 of typhoid I have never come across two cases supplied with 

 milk from one dairy simultaneously attacked. It is jierfectly 

 true that our dairies are not all that they should be ; the cows 

 are often poorly fed, the cowsheds badly paved and badly 

 drained, the milk exposed to effluvia from manure heaps and 

 offensive drains; still, as I said, I do not think that our 

 epidemics are due to milk, although the day is not far distant 

 when those who undertake to provide food and milk sup])lies 

 for the jmblic must be prepared to guarantee the greatest 

 cleanliness throughout their business. As Dr. Gresswell, of 

 Melbourne, aptly says, " The evidence that is accumlating as 

 to the relation of milk to tuberculosis, to typhoid fever, to 

 scarlet fever, to diphtheria, and to other diseases in man, 

 demands the exercise of the greatest care concerning the 

 health condition of cows, and the mode in M'hich milk is 

 dealt with while in transit from the cow to man." 



Oysters. 



In addition to polluted water and milk as possible and 

 frequent causes of typhoid infection, my attention was last 

 winter drawn to another article of frequent consumption 

 which is also generally eaten uncooked — I mean oysters. 

 Case after case of typhoid occurred amongst young men who 

 upon enquiry stated they were in the habit of eating oysters — 

 indeed it w^as owing to the greater prevalence of typhoid 

 among men that my suspicion was aroused. Further enquiry 

 as to the mode of stoi-age and distribution of the oysters 

 showed that after arriving in the port they were stored on 

 trays in the salt water near the new dock, the oysters which 

 had perished in transit being as far as possible picked out 

 from time to time. In close proximity to these storage trays 

 was daily pumped the water which had soaked from the 

 subsoil into the dock then in process of excavation. Into the 

 harbour are also discharged many sewers carrying excreta, 

 perhaps the dejecta of some typhoid patient, which in the 



