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232
rate of last year, while the minimum (0.33) recorded
in 1897 was 36 per cent. lower The bulk of the
increased prevalence recorded last year (whether
measured by the absolute numbers or by the rates)
fell on the Northern Sub-District.
There is good reason to believe that the bacillus
typhosus, the specific organism of enteric fever, can
live and multiply in the soil under suitable conditions,
and thence gain access to the human system.
Admitting that and bearing in mind the effect
which warmth has on the growth of the organism,
the experience of last year, when there was a
general absence of any evidence of epidemic outburst,
but rather of sporadic and quasi-independent
attacks not traceable to preceding cases, it becomes
interesting to enquire whether there was any connec
tion between increase of ground temperature and
prevalence of the disease. The earth temperatures (at
3-ft. below the surface) as recorded at Greenwich have
been taken out for the years 1895-98, as well as the
weekly numbers of notification of enteric and continued
fevers in Paddington and London. The results are
summarised in Table 10, and although the figures
therein set out, are based on a very limited period and
the results of any causal relationship between the various
data masked by errors of diagnosis, secondary infections,
importations, &c., &c., there is sufficient evidence
to indicate a possible relationship between the earth