MALTA FEVER, MALARIA, YELLOW FEVER 139 



In June, 1905, light was thrown on the problem 

 of Malta fever : 



" More goats were bought : and before injecting 

 them or before feeding them, their blood was 

 examined, as a matter of routine, to see that the 

 blood was all right. And curiously enough, goats 

 bought at this time showed this same Malta fever 



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reaction. And then the idea struck us, that the 

 goats, the ordinary goats of Malta, might be suffer- 

 ing from this fever. And, on examining the blood 

 of these ordinary Maltese goats, the micrococcus 

 melitensis was found in it : and on going further, 

 and examining the milk of these apparently healthy 

 goats, a certain percentage of them were found to 

 contain that micrococcus melitensis living in their 

 milk. And that, of course, threw a great flood of 

 light at once on the whole question. 



" That was the important discovery, because it 

 at once explained various things in the epidemiology 

 of the disease that seasonal prevalence had little 

 or nothing to do with it: that whether it was a 

 large town or small village, nothing in different 

 methods of sanitation seemed to matter the 

 curious fact that officers were much more struck 

 by this fever than the privates was also explained. 

 And, after more work, the Commission came to 

 the conclusion that the only way that a man takes 

 Malta fever in Malta is by the drinking of goats' 

 milk. Perhaps once in a thousand times, he may 

 take it in some other way ; but you can sweep all 

 that aside : the drinking of goats' milk is the main 

 path of infection. And naturally, of course, it is 

 easy to stop to a great extent our sailors and 

 soldiers drinking goats' milk. So that, when the 



