196 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
Medical officers of London report that about 8 per cent of the cases 
oceurring in London in 1902 were due to shellfish. 
In 1895, stimulated by the interest awakened by the epidemic of 
typhoid fever at Wesleyan University, which Doctor Conn had shown 
to be due to infected oysters, Doctor Foote, of Yale, brought out the 
results of some bacteriological experiments on oysters. Though the 
aim of this work was to find out the length of time the typhoid bacillus 
could live in experimentally infected oysters, he states, with reference 
to the bacteriological content of oysters from presumably (4) uncon- 
taminated sources, that no typhoid-like organisms were found in these 
specimens; the bacteria present in the juice were nearly all anaérobic 
microcoeci. In another series of experiments he found 2. fluorescens 
liguefaciens frequently in plates made from the juice, and in one 
instance B. gasoformens. He tested the stomach content of 9 oysters, 
and found that 8 were sterile. He isolated in these tests more than 10 
varieties of bacteria, many of which were not identified, but none gave 
the reactions of the colon bacillus. 
Doctor Giaxa states, however, that ‘‘ it is a curious fact that in spite 
of the many varieties of bacteria found in the surrounding water, only 
two varieties (although in large numbers) could be detected in the 
oysters examined.” 
Chantemesse reports the presence of 2. cold in many oysters from 
sewage-contaminated sources; also that oysters placed in water pre-— 
viously infected with typhoid stools for twenty hours contained these 
‘*typhoid organisms and /. col¢ in great numbers.” 
Dr. Cartwright Wood, in his work on the bacteriology of the oyster, 
did not succeed in finding pathogenic forms in shellfish taken from 
unpolluted sources. He also states that ‘‘all species of bacteria found 
in the juice are identical with the water bacteria found in the water in 
which the oysters live.” 
Sabatier, Duchany, and Petit isolated the following organisms from 
oysters: Micrococcus fervidosus, M. flavus liquefaciens, M. radiatus, 
Bacillus fluorescens liquefaciens, B. mesentericus vulgatus, Strepto- 
thria ferster’, and M. luteus. On the other hand, no colon or typhoid 
bacilli were found by these observers in oysters ‘‘ laid down” experi- 
mentally within a few feet of the outfall of a large sewer. 
Herdman and Boyce, in England, were the next to direct their atten- 
tion to the problem of oyster infection by sewage. They have shown 
that the presence of 2. coli in oysters sold in the markets is by no 
means an unusual occurrence. In one series of experiments 48 batches 
of oysters were taken haphazard from the various fish markets of Lon- 
don. From ‘‘one-third to one-half of these specimens were found to 
contain 2. colt,” which was also found in a number of mussels, cockles, 
and periwinkles examined by them. 2B. enteritidis sporogenes was also 
found in oysters, mussels, and periwinkles. These observers are of 
