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patient, 26, St. Oswald's Place, had been disinfected. To stamp
out infection two things were necessary—1st, the disinfection or
destruction of every article or material with which the patient was
known to have been in contact during his short visit to his place
of residence, and secondly, the complete isolation for a period of
six days of the persons living in the infected house. Little
difficulty was experienced in accomplishing the first object. The
bedding, carpets, window blinds, and wearing apparel, indeed
every article appertaining to the sleeping room, the first scene of
Passfield's attack, were removed and destroyed. The floorcloth
of the hall and kitchen and the mats were burnt. His body linen
and the tub in which it lay were carried away and placed in the
furnace. Quicklime was spread over the earth and stones in the
yard where he had vomited. The closet that he had used was
scoured and the drain charged with carbolic, and by the order of
the Surveyor the sewer leading from the house was entered,
cleansed, and disinfected. The paper was removed from the
walls of the sleeping, the living rooms, and the passages of the
house, and the ceilings of these and the walls of the yard were
limewashed. The paintwork and the floors were scoured. The
cistern was emptied and cleansed. It was evident when the work
of destruction, cleansing, and disinfection were at an end. that
infectious material introduced by the patient must have been
rendered innocuous and swept away.
The second object, namely, the isolation of the residents
presented some difficulties. Two families occupied the house,
each family consisting of father, mother and children, 13 persons
in all; 12 since the removal of Passfield to the hospital. It
became at once apparent that most of them must havo used the
closet after the patient had visited that place whilst suffering from
diarrhoea and vomiting, and in the interval between Saturday
night when he was removed to the hospital, and Monday when the
disinfection took place. It was possible that these people, or one
of them, might be infected and capable of conveying infection.
At all risks it was thought desirable to detain the occupiers of the