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in the neighbourhood of the first outbreak of plague in Glasgow, and of which account is given
in my report for the year 1900. At the latter part of October five cases of plague occurred among
the servants of the Central Hotel, Glasgow, and the plague bacillus was recovered from the bodies
of rats found dead beneath the floor. About the same time two children in Liverpool were
reported to be suffering from typhus. When the ambulance arrived one was dying, and another
had become ill; eventually both died. There being some doubt as to the nature of the illness,
inquiry was made in the neighbourhood by Dr. Hope, the medical officer of health, and a young
woman found whose condition was indicative of plague. It was then ascertained that her mother
and sister had died shortly before, after a brief illness, and one at least of them, it was alleged,
had complained of tenderness in the armpits. It was also ascertained that the woman who hod
assisted in washing and laying out the body of the mother had died suddenly. Two other
children and their mother were subsequently attacked, and one of the children died of plague.
Moreover, bacteriological examination showed that the first-mentioned children had plague.
The source of infection was not discovered, and rats were not found to be infected. Dr. Hope,
from whose report these details are taken, states that some of the adults were the employees of leading
firms in the millinery business, and the cases were entirely dissociated from the squalor and
filth with which plague is commonly connected.
The medical officer of the Port of London reports that during the year there have been three
suspicious cases brought by three vessels into the Port of London, but in no case was the plague
bacillus found ; all necessary steps were taken in each case.
On the occurrence of the Cardiff case the London County Council communicated with the
London sanitary officers, expressing the opinion that it was desirable that systematic inquiry
should be made in London as to mortality among rats in the docks, wharves or sewers, so that if
unusual mortality were found to have occurred the bodies of the rats might be examined by a
bacteriologist. The Council invited the sanitary authorities to make such inquiries, and to
inform the county medical officer of the results. No evidence of such mortality was, however,
brought to the knowledge of the Council.
In seven instances during 1901 the services of one of the Council's plague experts was
sought to determine whether a resident in London was suffering from plague and had died of
that disease. These cases were as follows—
On the 12th February Dr. Davies, the medical officer of health of Woolwich, asked that
Mr. Cantlie should visit a man residing at Bamfield-road, Plumstead, who was suffering from
general glandular enlargement. Mr. Cantlie visited him with the Council's medical officer.
Dr. Klein, to whom blood and gland fluid was sent, reported that this was distinctly a case of
splenic leuchæmia.
On the 9th April the opinion of Mr. Cantlie was sought in respect to a boy named B.,
who had been admitted two days before into St. Bartholomew's Hospital from a house in Grahamstreet,
City-road, Islington, suffering from fever and glandular enlargement with a sore on the
foot. Mr. Cantlie visited him with the Council's medical officer the same day. This boy, who
was aged 10, was the child of a woman who dealt in second-hand clothes and nursed and washed
for women in their confinement. He himself went to school and was otherwise employed in
selling newspapers in the neighbourhood of the Holborn Town Hall. On the 23rd March he
complained of headache and pains in the limbs, and on the 1st April he was too unwell to go to
school. The patient's blood and gland juice were examined by Dr. Klein, and on the 12th
instant the cultivations raised suspicion of plague, but later this opinion was negatived. The
suspicion which for the moment existed made it desirable that the inmates of the house where
the boy lived should be removed to one of the Council's shelters, and they were accordingly
admitted into that situated in the Gray's-inn-road. The boy was removed to the South Eastern
Hospital. With the medical officer of health of Islington the Council's medical officer made inquiry
into the circumstances of the case, and watch was kept over all persons who had been in contact
with him. The house and its contents were disinfected by the staff of the Borough Council
of Islington and the clothes and bedding destroyed. Inquiry was also made in the neighbouring
houses by the medical officer of health of Islington as to whether other similar cases had
occurred in them. No such cases were found, and the inmates of the Gray's-inn-road shelter
remained well, with the exception that the mother of the boy suffered from a swollen face, the
result of a decayed tooth. Further examination by Dr. Klein led to the conclusion that the
disease from which the boy suffered was not plague.
On the 5th June the medical officer of health of Islington reported that he had been
informed that a man named R., living in Caledonia-street, Islington, had died the previous
day from a disease which was suspected to be plague or typhus. The man was employed as
a carman by a firm of ice merchants. He was taken ill on the 3rd June and came home at
7 p.m. complaining of pains in the back and left side; the following day he became worse and
died at 12.30 p.m. Mr. Cantlie examined the body on the 5th June in the Islington mortuary
with the Council's medical officer and took material which was sent to Dr. Klein. On the
6th June a post-mortem examination was made, Drs. Klein, Hamer and the Council's medical
officer being present. The post-mortem showed that there was pneumonia of the upper part of
the lower lobe of the left lung, and that the liver was fatty, and bacteriological examination by
Dr. Klein gave no evidence of plague.
On the 22nd October Dr. Parker, of Brockley, asked that Mr. Cantlie should examine a
young man named K., living in Kneller-road, Brockley. This man was a railway porter and he had
been travelling to different places on the railway. For some days before his illness he had been
living in lodgings in Portsmouth. He had been taken ill on the 17th with pains about his body,
and in the evening he had a temperature of 103°. On the 18th he had pain in his chest, was
breathing rapidly and was delirious and sick. On the 19th his temperature was 103° and his nose