80 



animals. This experiment was performed twice; but in neither 

 case did the guinea pigs contract plague. It had been proved by- 

 preliminary trials that the flies which had been allowed to come in 

 contact with and to eat from the organs of plague cases had bacilli 

 either in or on their bodies. Flies which had been allowed to come 

 in contact with plague organs were then caught in the trap, 

 chloroformed, picked up with sterile forceps and dropped into 

 slightly alkaline bouillon; in every case a growth of plague bacilli 

 was observed in the media in which they were placed. 



Another observation, which was not made experimentally but 

 under perfectly natural conditions, may here be recorded. The 

 San Lazaro morgue at Manila, a building so constructed as to be 

 insect proof, owing to the inclemency of the weather soon became 

 in such a condition that flies could readily go in and out in large 

 numbers. During post-mortem examinations on plague cases flies 

 generally passed freely from the dissected cadavers to those making 

 the examinations as well as to others present, and undoubtedly 

 also to the outside of the building; yet no cases of plague have 

 occurred in the part of the city where the morgue is located. 

 However, this part of the town is only sparingly inhabited. Hence, 

 no case can be attributed to flies as carriers of the infection. 



When one takes what has been said above into consideration, 

 one is certainly inclined to conclude that insects, as a rule, do not 

 probably play a very important role in the spread of plague. 

 However, the observation that this disease is exceedingly prevalent 

 among that caste in Bombay which is probably more infected with 

 pediculi than any other suggests that certain parasites may be 

 operative in its transmission. As stated in the remarks intro- 

 ductory to this part of the paper, one of the cases here observed 

 strongly suggests that pediculi may be carriers of the infection. 



A CASE OF BUBONIC PLAGUE IN A CHILD, IN WHICH THE 

 INFECTION WAS POSSIBLY CARRIED BY PEDICULI. 



Case No. 10. Cervical Btjbo, 



[Necropsy Protocol No. 910. C. S., a Filipina girl, 9 years of age, from Anda 

 Street, Intramuros, Manila. Post-mortem examination five hours after death, 

 on Saturday, March 5, 1904, at 4 p. m.] 



The body of a female child, 9 to 10 years of age, well developed. 

 Post-mortem rigidity strong. Post-mortem lividity well marked 

 and extending over the sides of the body, being particularly notice- 



