12 BACTERIOLOGY OF THE OYSTER. 



The second instance is cited by Fuller:^ In 1902 at a meet- 

 ing of physicians at Pera, Turkey, it was reported that a large 

 percentage of the typhoid cases occurring in Constantinople could be 

 traced to the consumption of polluted oysters and an examination 

 of the oysters in a few instances showed the presence of B. typhosus. 

 The writer has not been able to obtain the reference to this paper and 

 the characteristics of the species have not been studied. As a result 

 no definite comment can be made upon the findings in this instance. 



The third instance is reported by Johnstone.^ There is not so 

 good evidence to support the identity of this bacillus as in the case 

 reported by Klein. Johnstone's bacillus "formed acid and gas in 

 bile salt glucose broth" and a "a slight discoloration in lactose 

 litmus broth" and "agglutinated — in a dilution of one to thirty — 

 in a serum which gave a positive reaction with a known strain of 

 bacillus typhosus." All authorities are agreed that the typhoid 

 bacillus produces no gas in any sugar medium. In regard to the 

 agglutination in a dilution of one to thirty, the writer is inclined to 

 question the specificity of so low a dilution. The report referred to 

 above does not say what the titre of the serum was with any known 

 strain of tji^hoid, nor whether one to thirty was the highest dilution 

 that would give a positive reaction, though we are led to suspect that 

 this was the case. A dilution of one to thirty cannot be relied 

 upon explicitly, for other organisms closely related to typhoid as 

 some strains of B. coli will agglutinate in a dilution of one to thirty 

 and in the case of a strong serum in one to one hundred.^ 



In 1908 Stiles* isolated four organisms from oysters obtained from 

 Jamaica Bay, Long Island which "resembled B. typhosus biologi- 

 cally, but did not agglutinate typhoid immune serum." In 1911, 

 while investigating an epidemic of typhoid following a banquet given 

 October 5, 1911, at the Music Hall, Goshen, N. Y., Stiles again 

 examined oysters from Jamaica Bay, where the oysters were obtained 

 for the banquet and in this instance he was able to isolate two 

 strains of B. typhosus from oysters "which had been allowed to 

 'drink' under an oyster house at Inwood, Long Island." Besides 



^The Distribution of Sewage in the waters of Narragansett Bay, with Especial Reference to the 

 Contamination of the Oyster Beds, App. to Rep. of Commissioner of Fisheries for year ending 

 June 30, 1901. 



^Routine methods of Shellfish Examination with Reference to Sewage Pollution, Journal of 

 Hygiene, IX. 1909, 433. 



^Hiss & Zinsser; Text Book of Bacteriology, 1912, p. 42. 



^Bureau of Chemistry, Bulletin No. 136. 



