242 The Philippine Journal of Science 1913 



—9° C. and —32° C. However, in considering the above ex- 

 planation one must bear in mind that in most instances infection 

 almost surely takes place indoors, whereas these low temper- 

 atures were measured in the open. Furthermore, a well-heated 

 room with a low outside temperature affords a greater water 

 deficit than a similar room with a high outside temperature. 

 Hence, if the lodging houses in Harbin were well heated during 

 the plague epidemic, there would remain but little basis for the 

 above explanation. 



As no records of indoor temperatures during the epidemic are 

 available, I have endeavored to secure temperatures of inns and 

 lodging houses in Harbin in which plague patients were found 

 at the same season of the year that the epidemic occurred. For 

 this purpose I forwarded blanks to the American minister at 

 Peking with the request that he have them filled out by persons 

 known to be reliable. As a result, the following observations 

 were made at the request of the American consul at Harbin by 

 Dr. T. N. Tang, thanks to the kindness of Dr. Wu Lien Teh,^ 

 director of the North Manchurian Plague Prevention Service. 



From Table I it is seen that 9 (Nos. 23, 24, 28, 29, 35, 36, 

 87, 38, and 39) of the houses investigated showed temperatures 

 of 6° C. or less in at least one of the observations and 5 of these 

 houses were known to have harbored plague cases during the 

 epidemic. In 11 additional houses (Nos. 1, 2, 4, 9, 12, 17, 26, 31, 

 32, 33, and 41) temperatures of 10° C. or lower were recorded. 



Therefore, it is clear that in Harbin there are native inns and 

 lodging houses which during February are very inadequately 

 heated and consequently must contain an atmosphere with a very 

 low water deficit. 



Since the publication of the article by Teague and Barber, 



' Dr. Wu Lien Teh has also furnished the following information, which 

 has a definite bearing upon the subject under discussion: 



"The native dwellings in Harbin are heated by brick stoves after the 

 Russian style (very few) ; iron stoves in which coal is usually burnt; 

 kangs (i. e., large rectangular brick structures 21 feet above the ground, in 

 which the people sit and rest) heated usually by millet stalks; and open 

 charcoal pans without chimneys. 



"The windows usually consist of a wooden framework pasted with thin 

 paper, thus letting in very little light. Beyond the doors and the cracks in 

 the windows, walls, and roofs, there is seldom any ventilation inside the 

 dwellings." 



