PREVIOUS REPORTS UPON TYPHOID FEVER IN THE 
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
We find the literature upon this subject so ^\udety scattered and 
some of the reports so difficult to obtain that we have brought 
together in brief review a collection of the follovung important papers 
upon the subject. 
We are indebted to Dr. G. L. Magruder and to Dr. George M. Kober 
for papers and reprints from their private collections, and also for 
information upon the history of previous investigations. 
A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ETIOLOGY OF TYPHOID FEVER.® 
[By George M. Kober (1891).] 
In this paper Dr. George M. Kober reviews the part played by soil 
pollution, impure water supplies, etc., and also the peculiar indi- 
vidual predisposition favoring the occurrence of t}^hoid fever, and 
calls attention to the fact — 
that the city of Washington is supplied with Potomac River water, and although the 
distance of the run is nearly 150 miles, it is a notable fact that enteric fever prevailed 
to an unusual extent from December, 1889, to April 30, 1890. Doctor Pool, of the 
health office, informs me that the deaths for these months fi’om tj^hoid fever amounted 
to 75, as compared with 42 for the corresponding months of last year. This can not be 
explained by increased population. Perhaps it is only a coincidence, but it may also 
conffi-m the conclusions of the English River Pollution Commission that “nothing 
short of the abandonment of the inexpressibly nasty habit of mixing human excrement 
with our drinking water can confer upon us immunity from the propagation of 
epidemics through the medium of potable waters. 
REPORT ON TYPHOID FEVER IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
[By G. L. Magruder, W. W. Johnston, and C. M. Hammett, Committee of the Medical Society of the 
District of Columbia, Washington, Government Printing Office, June 14, 1894.] 
This interesting and instructive report first reviews the prevalence 
and mortality of typhoid fever in the District from 1881 to 1893, 
finding an almost uninterrupted increase from 1881 (67 deaths) to 
1890 and 1891 (208 deaths). In 1892 and 1893 there was a decrease, 
the deaths numbering 183 and 186, respectively. 
Mention is made of the large number of deaths reported from 
“typho-malariar’ and malarial fevers in the District, and the opinion 
® Reprint Verhandl. des X. internat. med. Congresses. Berlin, 1891. 
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