THE WORK OF MORGAN'S BACILLUS 21 



infant mortality rose from 173 per 1,000 to 636 per 

 1,000 ; and in the Potteries the distress became so 

 great that provisional hospitals were opened to deal 

 with the sick children. The flies were multiplying 

 rapidly in the slums, because the stables, ash-bins, and 

 other insanitary places contained fermenting food for 

 the fly- grubs, which thrived in the warmth ; and the 

 flies, when hatched, took the disease from one child to 

 the food of another, and the increased death-rate was 

 the result. This train of events was not confined to the 

 cities named. The mischief went farther afield, to 

 the country towns and villages, to the manufacturing 

 districts, to all insanitary communities wherever flies 

 existed and were allowed to breed. Everywhere 

 hospital wards filled up with dying children, dis- 

 pensaries were opened and kept going at full pressure, 

 salt-water cures were advertised as new, when similar 

 cures have been employed by medical men for many 

 years past ; a mayor and mayoress opened a provident 

 fund to allay the misery, to provide accommodation for 

 the sick infants, and to give them proper treatment ; 

 and all this was done to effect a cure for the babies 

 when the prevention of the disease was at hand. 

 Probably, had this fact been realised the children 

 would not have been taken ill ; and the cures, en- 

 larged out-patient departments, overworked doctors 

 and nurses would not have been required. But the 

 public does not realise it ; the few people who do 

 know do not seem to realise the importance of their 

 knowledge. 



The excellent results obtained by Dr. Morgan and 

 by his colleague, Dr. Ledingham, have recently been 

 confirmed by Dr. Torrey of the Cornell University 

 Medical College, New York. He has discovered 



