22 SEWAGE-POLLUTED OYSTEES AS CAUSE OF TYPHOID. 



any illnesses at the Minisink banquet. This view was sustained by 

 subsequent investigations. It was shown that the bulk shucked 

 oysters, or the last delivered, were largely served at the end of one 

 long table, where no illnesses occurred, with one exception. This 

 exceptional case was one of the waitresses, seated at the end of the 

 table marked a-b in the diagram (fig. 1), who ate her dinner after 

 serving the men, and the plate of oysters served her was brought 

 by a young man from a portion of the table where the first lot of 

 shell oysters, which some one else refused to eat, were served. This 

 waitress developed typhoid fever, representing the only case of ill- 

 ness at that end of the table, where about 20 guests were served. 1 

 In addition to this evidence, a quart or more of the bulk oysters 

 were left over and taken home by one of the ladies, and were eaten 

 by a number of persons, none of whom developed any illness whatever. 

 Considering the source of these opened oysters and the negative 

 results following their consumption, it is plain that they were not 

 responsible for the trouble experienced. 



Having satisfactorily eliminated the Seaford opened bulk oysters 

 as a factor in the causation of disease at the Minisink banquet, the 

 other two shipments of shell oysters, received on October 3 and 4 

 by dealer C, were considered more in detail. The barrel of 900 shell 

 oysters was received at Goshen from dealer E on October 3, 1911, 

 two days before the banquet. As there appeared to be quite a de- 

 mand for oysters at that time it is probable that these oysters were 

 quickly consumed. This view is taken because the order for 1,000 

 oysters could not have been wholly filled from a lot containing 900 

 oysters at the time of receipt, even though none of the shipment 

 had been sold during the two days elapsing before the banquet. It 

 was shown by dealer C that all of the oysters, opened freshly from 

 their shells in his shop, came from the last shipment he received, 

 and they had been ordered as "special;" thus this fact would also 

 strengthen the position that the oysters from dealer E were not used 

 on this occasion. 



Information subsequently obtained showed that other oysters 

 taken from Great Kills at the same time as the shipment to Goshen 

 were sold by dealer E to other retail dealers in different parts of 

 New York State and no ill effects could be connected with their 

 consumption. 



When the facts became established that oysters were apparently 

 responsible for the diseases following the Minisink banquet, all of the 

 accumulated information pertaining to the quality and the probable 

 chances of oyster contamination along the entire Atlantic coast 

 was considered. It had been recognized for some time that Jamaica 



1 Note the arrangement of cases in the table diagram. The table to the right, from a to &, was served 

 with Seaford oysters and the plates marked "S." 



