CORPORATION BACTERIOLOGIST'S INVESTIGATIONS 83 
After consultation with the Medical Officer, a post-mortem and bacteriological 
examination was ordered by the Coroner to be made in each case by the Corporation 
Bacteriologist. 
The result of the examination showed that in all the cases the naked eye 
appearances were identical, and indicated a very rapid and intense infection. In three 
cases the Bacteriologist was immediately able to discover the presence of the bacillus 
enteritidis sporogenes, and in the other two, although this bacillus was not definitely 
proved to exist at the date of inquest, there appeared strong evidence that it was or 
had been present. 
The bacillus enteritidis sporogenes is found in sewage, foul air and water, foul 
vessels and filthy clothes, and in decomposing horse manure, &c. It is very resistant 
to heat, and its spores will survive the action of boiling water for some time. 
The Bacteriologist has also recently found it in dirty feeding bottles of infants 
suffering from acute diarrhoea. 
In the case of the persons who died after eating food in St. Martin's Market, 
there was no evidence to prove how the food became contaminated by the bacillus. 
It may have been in the food before cooking, though in the case of the salt fish that 
is unlikely, or it may have infected the food afterwards. Inquiry showed that the 
food was kept under insanitary conditions by the vendor, at her house, and by 
alternate wetting and drying, cooking, and carrying through the streets, it would be 
in a condition suitable for the growth and development of the bacillus. 
The Bacteriologist carried out experiments with portions of similar cooked and 
uncooked food, and with scrapings of stalls, &c, on which it lay. No examination of 
the actual offending food in these cases was possible, as the deceased persons ate their 
portions in the market, and by the time their deaths were known the stall holder had 
no further sample of the same lot left. She, in fact, stated that she never carried over 
any cooked food from day to day. 
Frequent observations by the Fish Inspectors have failed to show any naked 
eye appearances of diseased food on the stall. 
Besides the five fatal cases, three other cases of illness came under the notice 
of the Medical Officer. These persons ate some of the same food in company with 
one or other of the deceased persons, and afterwards suffered with serious symptoms 
of food poisoning. 
A table giving particulars of all the cases is appended. It is probable that a 
considerable number of persons ate food from Mrs. B 's stall on the dates in 
question without suffering any ill effects. 
