4(5 



coagulated on the outside, nevertheless retains its juicy soft 

 quality, is not tough or too much shrunk, the latter condition 

 making them unsaleable. Now, I have shown experiment- 

 ally (see Keport of the Medical Officer of the Local Govern- 

 ment Board, 1900-1901, p. 570) that pouring boiling water 

 over a heap of cockles, these at once all open their shells, 

 although the temperature in the course of very few minutes 

 falls below 65 C. ; and, as a matter of fact, I have shown that 

 if cockles previously infected with the B. typhosus are thus 

 treated in a heap, the B. typhosus can readily be recovered 

 from the interior of the fish from the middle of the heap, 

 although of such cockles the shell is widely open and 

 the outside of the fish is coagulated. It must be obvious 

 that, if in dealing in practice with these shellfish the object 

 in view is what it generally is, viz., merely to get the fish 

 readily out of the shell, and to obtain the former in a 

 juicy, not shrivelled, condition, then we must expect that 

 many a consignment of the so-called "cooked" shellfish 

 cannot be considered safe if they happen to be previously 

 contaminated, since the amount of "cooking" as gene- 

 rally practised does not ensure destruction of infective 

 germs. Some time ago, at the request of the Fishmongers' 

 Company, experiments were carried out by me on the 

 premises of the Fishmongers' Company, as also at the 

 instance of Dr. Collingridge at Leadenhall Market, and we 

 have shown that mussels and cockles en masse can be 

 safely "steamed under pressure" without injuring in the 

 slightest degree the proper aspect and condition of the 

 fish, and that, treated in this way, few minutes (three 

 to five minutes) suffice to make them sterile of all infec- 

 tive germs. At Leigh, I understand this method is followed 

 with success, and at no greater cost than formerly by 

 the haphazard methods. Unfortunately, both mussels and 

 cockles are occasionally eaten in a raw state, as, for 

 instance, by tourists, excursionists, and children, and as 

 both mussels and cockles are "dirty feeders," and being 

 found at or near the foreshore, which in some places is well 

 exposed to sewage pollution, it is readily understood that 



