24 SEWAGE-POLLUTED OYSTERS AS CAUSE OF TYPHOID. 



brittle tips on many of the shells. Those in deeper waters or in the 

 channels grow less rapidly than those on the flats, or shallow water. 

 The tips of many Rockaway shells can be easily broken because of 

 their brittleness and thinness, and many of these shells give evidence 

 of softening and degeneration. They appear as though some acid 

 or chemical had acted upon the shell, thus dissolving a portion of 

 its structure. The practical oysterman realizes the soft character of 

 the Rockaway oyster shells, as they are nearly all "tonged" by hand 

 from their beds instead of using power dredges, such as are operated 

 in the Great Kills region. 



The Great Kills oysters generally grow less rapidly, their shells 

 are stronger and tougher, the tips are not easily broken by handling, 

 and they withstand shipping as far as the Pacific coast. These facts 

 substantiate the belief that Rockaways, and not the Great Kills 

 oysters, were used at the Minisink banquet. 



An investigation of the kind of oyster shells used at the music hall 

 led to the discovery that they had been buried the day following the 

 banquet near music hall 'beside a telephone pole. About 4 dozen of 

 the shells were recovered and identified by the man who buried 

 them. They were brought to the laboratory, washed, and matched 

 with a similar number of oyster shells taken by the writer on Decem- 

 ber 5, 191 1, from the floating bins of dealer A, at Canarsie, Long Island. 

 A study of Plate I shows the character of the oyster shells and the 

 close similarity of those served at the music hall and those obtained 

 direct from Jamaica Bay. 



This evidence seems sufficient to show positively that Great Kills 

 oysters were not served at the Minisink banquet, which conclusion 

 was reached after taking into consideration all of these facts and 

 the analyses subsequently submitted from these two localities. 



CASES STUDIED AT ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



On October 3, 1911, one barrel of Rockaway oysters from dealer A 

 was shipped by dealer B to a dealer in Rochester, N. Y., followed by 

 one barrel on the llth, two on the 12th, and one on the 14th of Octo- 

 ber. During the year 1911, 76 cases of typhoid fever were reported 

 in Rochester; 1 of this number 48 were reported during the months 

 of October, November, and December, the latter month having 23 

 of the 76, or more than 30 per cent of the cases reported for the year. 

 It is a recognized fact that the typhoid death rate of Rochester is 

 normally exceedingly low. During the year there had been no 

 epidemics ascribed to milk infection, and the water had apparently 

 played little part in the transmission of typhoid bacilli. 



When presented with the facts that certain shipments of infected 

 shellfish had been received during October at Rochester, the health 

 officer of that city admitted the probability of their being the most 



i Report of the bureau of health of the city of Rochester, December, 1911, p. 3. 



