182 ORIENTAL PLAGUE chap. 



cavity) is not, be it observed, an uncommon feature in 

 the rat and mouse dead of plague contracted otherwise 

 than by feeding ; it is not uncommon too in rodents which 

 have died of septicaemic diseases other than plague. In 

 the guinea-pig, dead of plague after subcutaneous injection, 

 I have not unfrequently found the whole of the intestine 

 showing punctiform haemorrhages. Also I have observed 

 haemorrhage in the testis, whence the effused blood could 

 be traced by the absorbents of the spermatic cord into the 

 pelvic lymph gland. 



On the other hand, it is possible, in view of the experi- 

 ments I have been describing, that Dr. Simpson's view may 

 prove on the whole to be correct, and this mainly for the 

 reason that in the septicaemic form of plague of the human 

 subject the blood and the organs appear crowded with 

 B. pestis, as also in the animals of my feeding experiments. 

 Before, however, definitely pronouncing on this point, it 

 would be necessary to make careful post-mortem examina- 

 tion of septicaemic plague in man for the purpose of 

 ascertaining whether local infection (ileum and Peyer's 

 gland) and changes of the mesenteric glands similar to the 

 conditions described here in regard of experimental animals, 

 has actually occurred. 



Among the many interesting facts concerning the 

 spread of plague in India ascertained by the Indian Plague 

 Commission are those pointing to persistence for some 

 considerable time of the contagium of plague in rooms and 

 streets from which all plague cases had been removed ; 

 rooms or streets, for instance, are cited in which plague 

 broke out afresh on the return to them of the inhabitants. 

 Hankin, however, it appears (see also Report of Indian 

 Plague Commission) had made experiments on the vitality 



