34 



table, which shows the location in percentage of single buboes in each 

 situation: 



Neck. 



Axilla. 



Groin. 



Pelvis. 



Indian Plague Commission, Bombay— 2,923 rats (3) 



Wherry, Walker, and Howell, San Francisco (6)~-8 rats - 

 Federal laboratory, San Francisco— 32 rats 



Per cent. 

 75 

 12 



Per cent. 

 16 

 12 



Pet cent. 

 6 

 76 

 72 



Per cent. 



The American figures are too small to be of much significance, 

 but one is struck with the fact that in Bombay three-fourths of the 

 buboes are in the neck, while ia San Francisco three-fourths of all 

 found are in the inguinal region. We have records of only three 

 multiple buboes found in rats in San Francisco, and in no case was 

 either of the buboes in the neck; while in Bombay, to quote from 

 the report (3), "Of the rats with multiple buboes 54.5 per cent had 

 a bubo in the neck." Striking as these figures are, we have collected 

 further evidence that the inguinal region is the commonest location 

 of the bubo in plague rats in this vicinity. 



Passed Asst. Surg. J. D. Long, Pubhc Health and Marine-Hospital 

 Service, who has had an extensive experience with rat plague in 

 Oakland, Cal., tells me that the majority of the buboes were found 

 in the groin, very few in the neck. Acting Assistant Surgeon 

 Wherry, Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service, informs me 

 that in a series of plague rats examined after the report made in 

 association with Walker and Howell (6), the cervical bubo was very 

 rarely encountered. 



Particular care was taken to look for cervical buboes, as it seemed 

 rather inconsistent to find the other lesions so fully in accord with 

 those found in India, yet to have the location of the bubo to differ 

 so radically. We have not encountered a mesenteric bubo in our 

 work in San Francisco. The Indian Plague Commission found none 

 in over 5,000 naturally infected plague rats. As mesenteric buboes 

 are very commonly encountered in plague infection brought about 

 by feeding, they conclude that the absence of these buboes in natu- 

 rally infected rats is strong evidence that the infection does not 

 enter by the alimentary canal. 



THE GRANULAR LIVER. 



Two lesions of the liver are encountered in plague rats. The one 

 most frequently observed is spoken of by the Indian Plague Com- 

 mission as "fatty" change, though it is explained that this term 

 refers to the naked eye appearance as, microscopically, the lesion is 

 found to be due to a necrosis of the liver tissue. When this change 

 is present the organ is found to be rather yellowish in color and is 



