SEWAGE CONTAMINATION OF OYSTER BEDS. 193 
oysters from the same dealer, but these were eaten cooked, while the 
other three lots were consumed raw.’ Two of the remaining three 
fraternities did not have oysters, and the other one obtained its supply 
from a dealer in Hartford. Only one non-fraternity man contracted 
the disease, and the investigation of his case only established more 
firmly the responsibility of the local supply, for this man had eaten 
of the same lot of oysters at the dealer’s shop. Inquiry brought out 
the fact that two of five men from Yale who attended the exercises 
of the societies were seized with typhoid fever some time after their 
return to New Haven. Further investigation showed that the infected 
oysters had been stored at the mouth of the Quinnipiac River, 800 
feet from the outlet of a small drain from a house in which two per- 
sons lay sick with typhoid fever. 
In 1894, Doctor Casey reported in the British Medical Journal a 
case of fatal ‘‘ oyster poisoning,” and since that date the pages of this 
publication contain frequent references to the subject of ‘* oyster 
infection.” 
In 1895, Sir William Broadbent published the facts of a series of 
cases and groups of cases of typhoid fever and other gastro-intestinal 
illnesses, which he concludes were caused by the ingestion of raw 
oysters. There was no bacteriological evidence that the oysters were 
polluted, but circumstances pointed strongly to these shellfish as the 
cause of the disease. The following case is typical of those reported. 
Sir William was called to see a young woman who, ten to fourteen 
days previous, had eaten some raw oysters in company with a cousin. 
She developed a mild case of typhoid, as did also the cousin, who | 
had gone to Italy. Another similar case: A clergyman and _ his 
daughter, living in the country where typhoid was unknown, were 
seized with this disease. Inquiry revealed the fact that they had 
eaten raw oysters in London while on a visit to that city some two 
weeks previous. 
In the same year Sir Peter Eade emphasized the fact that mussels 
and other shellfish, as well as oysters, might become a source of infec- 
tion. Doctor Wilson reported three instances, occurring in Florence, 
where persons who had eaten raw oysters were taken sick with typhoid 
fever, while other persons in the same parties who did not eat oysters 
were not ill. A little later Doctor Johnson-Lavis reported some cases 
of typhoid and gastro-intestinal disorders of a very severe type which 
he encountered in his practice in Naples in 1879. ‘These illnesses were 
most prevalent among strangers who bad eaten raw oysters. Investi- 
gation showed that oysters were brought to Naples from seacoast towns, 
where there was no typhoid, and stored for a long time in the harbor 
in a bed less than 60 feet distant from the outlet of one of the main 
sewers. ‘These oysters were filled with sewage matters, and ‘‘ when 
they were consumed about a tablespoonful of sewage water was swal- 
F. ©. 1904-13 
