NON-SPORING BACILLI 271 



isolated at Harbin, the railway cars being drawn into 

 specially constructed sidings. 



Disposal of the Dead. With the ground frozen at 40 C, 

 ordinary burial of such large numbers of bodies was not 

 easy. In spite of Chinese traditions, the Government 

 gave orders for the cremation of the bodies of those dead 

 of plague. This was carried out thus at Harbin : A pit 

 20 feet square by 10 feet deep was made by blasting with 

 dynamite. When bodies were in coffins, these sufficed to 

 aid the burning ; but if they were not, four pieces of 

 round wood 4 inches in diameter by 2 feet long, were 

 added per body. The pit held about 500 bodies, and 

 into it kerosene was pumped from a fire-engine ; about 

 10 gallons per 100 bodies. On being set alight the 

 mass burned fiercely and rapidly, and little but ashes 

 remained. 



End of Epidemic. The epidemic seemed to die out 

 (April, 1911) when the temperature rose to 20 C. 

 ( 4 F.). The total mortality was over 40,000. 



Summary of Conclusions. The disease spread by direct 

 infection from man to man. Whatever may have been 

 its primary origin, there is no evidence that a concurrent 

 epizootic in rodents played any part in its wide dissemina- 

 tion. From Russian sources reports of an epizootic 

 disease among tarabagans have been received, and it is 

 not unlikely that this is plague, but the bacteriological 

 proof is not yet complete. The infection was introduced 

 into towns and villages by persons actually suffering from, 

 or by those in the incubation stage of, the disease. There 

 has been no positive epidemiological evidence to show 

 that the disease has been spread by clothing, merchandise, 

 or other inanimate objects. So far as can be ascertained 

 the only infective agent in the epidemic has been the 

 sputum of the plague patient. In the majority of the 

 cases the disease has been contracted by the inhalation 

 of plague bacilli in droplets of sputum, causing infection 

 of the lower portion of the trachea and of the bronchi. 

 In infection by inhalation the risk to the person exposed 

 bears a direct relation to his proximity to the patient 

 and to the duration of the exposure. In view of this, 

 masks and goggles should be worn by all who come in 



