SÉANCE DU 16 NOVEMBRE 1023 



influence of cold, in badiy heated cars, a few cases of meningitisoccur- 

 red, and the number of carriers was increased. It was to be feared 

 that, on arriving at the front, the spécifie germ would hâve a tendency 

 to increase very much. As it was, the examinations made showed that 

 the contrary occurred, to what happens in time of peace and contrary 

 to the report of Selter the number of carriers diminishedrapidly and a 

 week after was nil. 



Causes of this lack of frequency. — There seems to be a séparation 

 between the zone of the interior and the army zone. What does it 

 consist of ? 



It seems to consist especially of the absolute difi"erence of life of the 

 soldier in Ihese two zones. 



In the interior, life in cantonments, in camps, where men are much 

 more crowded than in time of peace, time during which such an impor- 

 tant rise in the number of troops had not been foreseen. Dépôts had 

 ^0 be placed in two small buildings much too crowded, where men were 

 simply packed together. 



At the front, the crowding of mec has, of course, been considé- 

 rable; but even if millions of men were together the density at the 

 front, apart from a few local exceptions, wbich were only temporary, 

 as a rule has been rather low, and the trenches were beld by a small 

 number of men and therefore there was not much contact. Further- 

 more, a simple observation shows how évident this is : very exceptio- 

 nally hâve any cases of meningitis or carriers of meningococci been 

 witnessed in the zone of the trenches; their présence has been much 

 more fréquent behind the Unes in instruction camps, where the troops 

 were more crowded, and were the daily contact was greater. 



Even there, in spite of the relative crowding in thèse grous, the 

 carriers were not very numerous. This is due to the fact that contrary 

 to life in cantonments the men were constantly in the open air and the 

 inter-human contact was much smaller than in barracks wei-e men 

 lived in a very limited space, and where they hurried to corne in after a 

 few hours exercise in the yards or training field ; the mess rooms, 'as 

 well as the récréation rooms, sheltered many less men who were thus 

 not nearly so subject to coutamination. 



Finally it is possible to explain thislesser frequency in the army zone 

 by the rigorous spécifie prophylaxis which could be carried out owing 

 to the collaboration of army laboratories and the rational use of them 

 in recording every kind of species that came under observation. 



The small number of carriers of meningococci at the front explains 

 also the scarcity of cerebro-spinal meningitis. For we must not forget 

 the close relation which ëxists betwen the latter and meningitis cases. 

 Meningococci carriers, however healthy they may seem, are neverthe- 



