50 I. IJIMAi 



analogous to the Distoma-disease of the ahove mentioned Ken. Eecently 

 some cases of Distoma-disease have been reported from a certain dis- 

 trict in the neighborhood of Lake Biwa. 



According to Kiyono and his colleagues, there are no less than 21 

 localities in Okayama-Ken and 1 small village in Hiroshima-Ken where 

 the Distoma-disease has been observed. I could visit only a few of the 

 infected villages in Kojima-Göri, about 7 hours' voyage on steamer from 

 Kobe and about 8 miles distant from the town of Okayama. Amongst 

 them a small village by the name of Nakaune was pointed out to me as 

 the place suffering most from the disease. On the authority of Dr. 

 Yamagata and of a local physician, there are about 10 ojo of inhabitants 

 affected with the disease (Baelz gives as much as 20 ojo). The nature 

 of the locality and its situation has been described by Kiyono &c. and 

 also by Baelz. It is a strip of low land along the sea-shore, lying 

 beneath the sea-level during high-tide. The sea-water is kept out by 

 means of a dam, constructed some sixty years ago. The land is traversed 

 by a broad ditch with sluggishly flowing water. The villages in which 

 the Distoma-disease occurs are all situated along this ditch. There is 

 no well in the whole strip of land and drinking water is brought from 

 the adjoining hills. The ditch-water is drunk, according to the in- 

 formation I received, only in exceptional cases, if ever it is so taken. 

 Its main use is for washing purposes. It is important to mention 

 however that amongst other things kitchen-utensils, vessels of all sorts, 

 and vegetables to be eaten half- raw, are always washed in the ditch. 

 Moreover this ditch-water is usually resorted to in watering vegetables 

 growing on farms and also in irrigating rice-fields which remain dry 

 during uncultivated seasons. 



It is a settled fact that the eggs of Distoma endemicum are dis- 

 charged like those of other Distomes together with the fœces of patients 

 In those villages as in other parts of Japan, human excrements are 



