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were distribtued among the Wards as follows (the number of deaths
being in brackets):—
Conduit, 2 ; Grosvenor, 1 ; Knightsbridge St. George, 4 (2);
Victoria, 19 (7). Total of the St. George's Group, 2(5 (9).
St. Margaret, 4 (1); St. John, 17 (2); Hamlet, 0. Total of
group, 21 (3).
Pall Mall, 3 (1); Regent, 5 (2); Great Marlborough, 3 (2);
St. Anne, 8. Total of group, 19 (5).
Charing Cross, 2 (1); Covent Garden, 2; Strand, 8 (2). Total
of Strand Group, 12 (3).
There was a small group of six cases in the Strand and Covent
Garden Wards in the early part of 1901; as five of the cases were
treated in King's College, I made enquiry whether any common
cause had been noted. The Medical Registrar kindly informed me
that four of the patients had some slight gastric ailment before the
proper symptoms appeared, which might probably suggest infection
through food; three of these suffered from extremely toxic symptoms.
A baby, whose mother was removed to another hospital, developed
pneumonia a day or two later, whicli was probably of typhoidal
origin.
Another more definite case was of a girl, aged 12 years, living in
a block of buidings in which there were no sanitary defects. She
was very fond of cockles, and frequently bought some at a certain
shop on Saturdays, on which day they arrived from Leigh-on-Sea.
On 11th May she ate some; she felt ill the next day, and was seen
by a medical man on the 15th, who treated her for congestion of the
bowels. From this attack she recovered, but a week afterwards
again became ill, and on the 26th May the doctor certified that she
had typhoid fever. The fishmonger who sold the cockles gave all
the information he had with reference to the source; in order to
obtain the best quality he paid a little more than the market price
for the cockles. The Public Health Committee deeming the matter
one of peculiar importance, gave instructions that a bacteriological
examination be made of some cockles as supplied by this fish
merchant (which was done), and that a special report be made on
the subject, which is incorporated herewith.
The Jenner Institute subsequently reported that—
" The cockles were examined by culture methods; the typical
bacillus, coli communis, was isolated. A bacillus was isolated,
which in all its characters resembled the typhoid bacillus.
It was an actively motile, non-liquefying bacillus, producing
no gas, and growing on culture media like the typhoid