4«4 
cases the discharge frequently becomes mucous in character, and is 
sometimes blood-stained. Sometimes the temperature rises, but not, 
as a rule, to any considerable extent. The length of the attack varies 
in different cases; a slight one but for two or three days, the more 
serious for two or three weeks. 
The disorder has been attributed to various causes. The red wine 
of the country, the water, an excess of fruit, too much food, and too 
little exercise have all been blamed. The most superficial examination 
of the available evidence, however, shows that none of these can be 
the usual cause of the disease. Individuals who are teetotalers are 
as frequently attacked as those who never drink water. Those who 
eat a quantity of fruit are no more subject to it than those who 
abstain from fruit altogether. 
Enquiries made with regard to the milk supply showed that the 
dairies in the town of Las Palmas, where the cows are stall-fed, are 
generally remarkably clean. 'I hese dairies do not, however, supply 
enough milk to meet the demands of visitors, and a large proportion 
of it is brought down from the country. The milk supply is generally 
the same in the case of the hotels as it is in the case of the private 
houses, which fact, as we shall see later, is of special significance. 
Also I was able to ascertain that people who drank large quantities 
o milk in private houses were not subject to the disease, while those 
“els w h° never touched milk were subject to it. 
Vith regard to the water supply, there is no evidence incriminating 
’ or P^°pl e who have stayed in hotels with a certain water supply 
su ered from the disease, while people in private houses with a 
at f!j SUpp,y derived from the same source have been free from it. 
VT S1 & n ^ cant fact which was ascertained at the commence- 
cont t j C , enc * uir y was > ^at while visitors at hotels so frequently 
1: • • 6 ^^ sease > it was practically unknown among people 
peonle J I ate k° uses ' Dr. Taylor informs me that among English 
in his ° 1VC m pr * vate houses the disorder is very rare, and that 
coincides confined to visitors at the hotels. This 
Dr. Mill”, lrC Wlth the personal evidence I was able to obtain. 
practic-illv ' ^ * S ° ' n ^ OIms me that the disease, in his experience, is 
practmally confined to the hotels. 
classes of t0 com P ara tively common among the lower 
of natives, but I was able to ascertain the occurrence of only 
