ARE WE IN DANGER FROM THE PLAGUE? 589 



Dr. Ishigami, another of the Japanese commission in Hong 

 Kong, also inoculated himself with the plague while making a post- 

 mortem examination. 



A patient, while delirious with the pneumonic form of the 

 plague, expectorated into the face of an English nurse caring for 

 him. Within a few hours the eye on that side of the face became 

 inflamed; later the parotid and cervical glands became involved, 

 and the nurse died. Other illustrations of inoculation with the ba- 

 cillus of the plague might be given. Dr. Wyssokowitch and Dr. 

 Jobobat believe that the bacillus can penetrate the unbroken skin. 

 In support of this belief they report some experiments made by 

 them upon macaque monkeys. They found that when a needle 

 was dipped in the culture of the plague bacillus and drawn across the 

 palm of the hand of one of these monkeys, without making any 

 visible scratch, the animal speedily developed the disease. How- 

 ever, this does not prove that the bacillus will penetrate the un- 

 broken skin of man. 



(2) By inhalation. That the pneumonic form of the plague 

 results from inhalation of the bacillus can not be doubted. Mon- 

 keys caused to inhale the bacillus develop this form of the disease. 



(3) By deglutition. That the disease may be acquired by tak- 

 ing the bacillus into the alimentary canal has been demonstrated 

 by experiments upon animals of various kinds. 



The sputum of patients suffering from the pneumonic form of 

 the disease is filled with the bacilli. The germs are also found, 

 sometimes at least, in the discharges from the bowels and kidneys. 

 That the infection may be transported in clothing and rags has been 

 long known. The following extract from a memoir by Sir John 

 Hay, then minister from England to Morocco, indicates that the 

 plague was introduced into Morocco in 1826 by means of infected 

 articles of clothing: " The danger from plague by contagion can not, 

 however, to my mind be called in question. That dire disease was 

 introduced into Morocco about the year 1826 by an English frigate, 

 which our Government had dispatched to Alexandria, where the 

 plague was then raging, to convey from that port to Tangier two 

 sons of the Sultan, returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca. . No 

 case of plague or other illness had occurred on board the frigate 

 during the voyage, and the Sultan's sons and other passengers were 

 allowed to land at Tangier. 



" The customs officers, being suspicious that, in the numerous 

 boxes brought by the pilgrims who had been permitted to embark 

 with the Moorish princes, contraband goods were being smuggled, 

 caused some of the cases to be opened. One contained Egyptian 

 wearing apparel, which the owner said he had bought second hand, 



