748 REPORT—1904. 
Another point indicated was the magnitude of the gaseous metabolism ot 
glands. In the submaxillary and in the pancreas, when at rest, about 0-025 c.c. 
to 0:035 c.c. of O per minute per gram of gland substance was absorbed. In the 
kidney, Professor Brodie had given one instance in which the organ was using as 
much as one-fifth of the total quantity of O taken in by the lungs, and it was 
common to find the O consumption of the kidney during diuresis to amount to 
one-tenth of the total taken by the whole body. 
Professor T. Clifford Allbutt suggested that the theories advanced as to the 
part played by oxygen offered some explanation of the fact, often experienced 
clinically, that the administration of oxygen gave relief to patients not only in 
cases where the heart and lungs were affected, but in many others also. He had 
long since given up the idea that oxygen was effective in these cases simply on 
account of the more favourable conditions under which the respiratory functions 
were placed. This was evidenced, for instance, by the tenacity with which the 
patients adhered to the treatment; for example, in cases of the vomiting of preg- 
nancy, where its administration was often of great service. 
Sir John Burdon Sanderson, in bringing the discussion to a close, remarked 
that it had been an exceedingly fruitful one, and none the less so because the 
points under discussion had not been settled, but were still under investigation. 
It seemed clear to him that oxygen played two parts in metabolic processes, one 
of which was prominent in muscle, and was responsible for the final oxidation of 
explosive material, while the other, which was more accentuated in glands, was 
akin to a building-up process, as it was involved in the elaboration of new 
material. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 20. 
The following Papers were read :— 
1. Lhe Spread of Plague. By Dr. E. H. Hanxry, 
In accordance with our views on the origin of epidemics it is necessary to 
believe that the plague which appeared in Bombay in the autumn of 1896 was 
derived from some previously infected locality. Two such localities have been 
suggested. The most obvious suggestion is to the effect that it was derived from 
Hong Kong, which town had been the seat of a serious epidemic in 1894, and 
which in 1896 remained still infected. An alternative suggestion was put for- 
ward, in the Report of the German Plague Commission, to the effect that it was 
derived from Garhwal. The suggestion was to some extent substantiated 
by the fact mentioned in the Report in question that two thousand fakirs from 
Garhwal had arrived in Bombay, on their way to a pilgrimage at Nassik, shortly 
before the appearance of the disease. Plague is endemic in Garhwal (a district in the 
Himalaya Mountains), and this locality is, therefore, a possible source of infection. 
By conversation with a fakir who had attended the Nassik festival Mr. Hankin 
learnt that the Garhwal fakirs only visit Western India on occasions when the 
Nassik festival is being held. This festival is held regularly at twelve-yearly 
intervals. 
It occurred to Mr. Hankin that if Garhwal was the source of the Bombay 
plague, by means of fakirs, it might also be the source of previous epidemics of 
plague in Western India. On counting backwards from 1896 by twelve-yearly 
intervals, one arrives at 1836, the date of the Pali plague, and at 1812, the date of 
the Gujerat plague. That is to say, of the eight occasions on which these fakirs 
visited Western India during the nineteenth century, on no less than three an 
outbreak of plague appeared. This fact may be regarded as strongly substantiating 
the suggestion of the German Plague Commission as to the origin of the Bombay 
outbreak. Further, it is stated by Forbes that the Pali plague originated in a 
village a few miles distant from the town of Pali shortly after the arrival of some 
wandering fakirs, and that it was preceded by a mortality among the rats. It 
