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I may here add, that after two days' treatment, the whole of the
patients were pronounced out of danger, although on admittance to
the infirmary, the condition of the whole family was serious, and
that of one boy very critical, but the last improved after the second
day also, and at the time of writing all the patients have regained
their former health.
In enquiring as to the cause of the illness, I ascertained that the
milk taken by this family was purchased from the same vendor
supplyne other households in the street but these customers were
not injuriously affected in any way. The water supplied to this
house was drawn from the main supplying the whole street, so that
both water and milk must be abandoned as probable causes of the
illness. The cause was certainly something taken internally and
confined to /the members of the affected family, and taken in the
morning on Monday, and great suspicion is attached to the mid-day
meal. As stated above, the remaining half of the pie made on
Sunday was then consumed. This had been stored in the interval
in the living-room, on a shelf above the doorway, and close to the
ceiling. The outdoor temperature of Sunday and Monday was
very high, reaching respectively 83.3 and 76.8 Fahr. I also
learned that the drains of this house, were entirely choked on the
Sunday, and that Mr. D. made an attempt to release them on that
day, and that the choked drains at the same time gave out a very
foul smell which pervaded the room where the food was kept. The
walls of this room, together with the other rooms of the house,
were very dirty and dilapidated. In addition the washhouse walls
were damp, the w.c. apparatus defective, and the bust-bin dilapidated.
In a word the house was in a very insanitary state.
After careful consideration of the foregoing facts, I am of
opinion that the cause of the illness of the family, was the half of
pie eaten on the Monday. My reasons for believing so are these.
I was assured by Mrs. D. that the meat purchased on the Saturday
evening was fresh, of good colour and free from any ,bad odour. Had
it been tainted the high temperature of Sunday's baking would have
effectually destroyed any organisms present. But the half eaten
on Monday was only warmed, and its composition has been materially
changed since Sunday. The operation of baking had led to the
formation of a certain amount of gelatine, which is a most suitable
nutrient medium for the growth of organisms. The foul odours
from the choked drain on the Sunday were probably laden with