them." "The oysters consumed in Naples and in Rome also are found in different ports where there is no reason to suspect infection from human excreta. They are kept alive, however, in eel-pots, which are sunk in the waters of the port of Santa Lucia, where they remain for weeks and even months. At a short distance from the port a large sewer empties its contents into the water, which is not deep and almost stagnant, consequently when these oysters are eaten a certain amount of the infected water is taken into the system. This infectious

matter contains bacilli of typhoid and cholera."

British Medical Journal for September 12, 19 and 26, 1896, contains a very comprehensive paper entitled "Special Report on Circumstances Under Which Infectious Diseases May be Communicated by Shell-fish, with Especial Reference to Oysters," by G. E. Cartwright Wood, M. D., B. Sc. from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. The report draws the following conclusions: 1, Germs of cholera and typhoid fever can exist, probably in sea-water for at least two months and remain more or less virulent and infectious in character; 2, laboratory experiments show that cholera germs do not disappear rapidly, as stated by De Giaze; 3, so of other pathogenic microbes; 4, it is concluded accordingly that contaminated seawater near oyster beds may undoubtedly lead to their infection with pathogenic organisms; 5, the nature of such infection is obvious, but the degree we cannot estimate; 6, the only safe principle is to condemn all oysters which originate from beds subject to more or less recent contamination.

Reports and Papers on the Cultivation and Storage of Oysters and Certain other Mollusks in Relation to the Occurrence of Diseases in Man: Report of Medical Officers of the Local Government Board. By Dr. H. Timbrell Bulstrode on main paper; Dr. Klein on bacteriological aspects; and Dr. Thorne Thorne, Principal Medical Officer of the Board, who prepares the introduction. Eyre & Spottiswood, London, 1896.

This valuable report has not been directly accessible, but extracts from it are given in British Medical Journal for Novem

ber 28, 1896, as follows: "Dr. Bulstrode demonstrates the danger of contamination which surrounds many of the beds, and Dr. Klein shows that the typhoid bacillus and cholera vibrio retain their vitality in sea-water, and he has found the colon. bacillus, indicative of fecal pollution, in oysters from danger. ous beds, while absent from those taken from places free from risk of sewage contamination. He has also found the typhoid bacillus in the mangled bodies and the liquor of oysters from a sewage-laden dock at Great Grimsby. Dr. Thorne denies that absence of danger can be inferred where analysis has failed to detect the specific bacilli.

Nature, January 28, 1897, and Science, October 11, 1895, give abstracts of work done by Profs. R. W. Boyce and W. A. Herdman, both of University college, Liverpool. The preliminary report was read at the Ipswich meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and the final paper at the Liverpool meeting of the same association in September, 1896. The papers give the account and results of experimental investigations conducted by the authors conjointly for the purpose of determining a number of questions of great importance to the relation of oysters to public health. The observations were made both on oysters laid down in the sea under various conditions as well as in certain conditions in the laboratory.

Some of the results of greatest importance to this inquiry are: The establishment of 1, the beneficial effects of aeration and change of water around the oysters. 2, The deleterious effect of keeping the oysters in stagnant water. 3, The considerable toleration of sewage shown by the oyster and its power of absorbing large quantities of fecal matter. 4, The great increase (e. g. from 10 colonies to 17,000 colonies per sample), in the bacterial contents of the pallial cavity and of the rectum when the oyster is laid down in close proximity to the mouth of a drain. 5, The presence of more bacteria in the pallial cavity than in the alimentary canal of the oyster. 6, The fact that the typhoid bacillus does not flourish in sea water. There is no initial nor subsequent multiplication; on the contrary, it seems to die off rapidly as time.

increases after inoculation. 7, The fact that the typhoid bacillus does not multiply in the stomach or tissues of the oyster. 10, The fact that perfectly fresh oysters contain fewer bacteria than those that have been stored or kept in shops. 11, The enormous number of the common colon bacillus present in very many oysters obtained from shops. 12, The possibility of getting rid of bacterial infection by placing the oysters in a stream of running water. There is a great diminution or total disappearance of the bacillus typhosus under these circumstances in from one to seven days.

Medical Record, October 31, 1896, p. 645: While investigating the outbreak of typhoid fever due to oysters at Sainte Andréde-Sangions before referred to, Dr. Chantemesse bought at the Paris market oysters from Marennes, Ostend, Portugal and other ports. Bacteriological examination showed the presence of numerous germs, especially the colon bacillus. Some of the best and most healthy oysters were placed in sea water purposely contaminated with dejections from typhoid cases and containing the bacilli of Eberth. After twenty-four hours in this water they were taken out and kept twenty-four hours longer; they were then found still fresh and contained numerous coli bacilli and typhoid bacilli living.

An examination of these facts leads unavoidably to the conclusion that oysters grown, laid or fattened in waters contaminated with sewage may become the medium of transmission of cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery and other intestinal diseases to those that consume them. The conditions favorable to this transmission evidently are, 1, that the sewage must contain the specific bacilli of the particular disease; 2, that the bacilli must be taken up by the oysters and retained undigested either in the liquor, the pallial cavity, or the alimentary canal of the oyster, and remain uninjured by boiling or other form of heat application till eaten; and here it should be noted that as "stews" are usually and best prepared the oysters are exposed to a temperature destructive to typhoid bacilli during much too short an interval to secure immunity from the heat application; 3, the individual eating the oys

ters thus infected must be incapable at the time of resisting the disease. Either of these three conditions being wanting, the transmission will fail, but the probability of the concurrence of the three conditions simultaneously is so considerable especially if we insure the second by permitting the pollution of oyster waters by sewage as to amount to certainty almost with some of the many individuals partaking of oysters from any one particular bed.

(b) Fisheries: Considerably more than one-half the area of the bay in the vicinity of Arverne is exposed at low tide; much of this. exposed area is in salt-marsh. The deposition of sludge from sewage on these exposed areas is said by residents to be very considerable and the odors during summer very disagreeable. The fishing stations involved in this complaint are located as shown by the solid red blocks on map No. 2, along the line of the Long Island railroad just north or northwest of Arverne and along channels where the sewage from Arverne must certainly be floated by the tide. I could not learn that the sewage which the waters of this part of the bay contained were detrimental to the particular varieties of fish taken here, or tended to drive them away.

Neither do I know of any means by which persons using the fish could be injuriously affected by the sewage of the waters in which they were taken. I conclude, therefore, that the only injury which the sewage entails on the fishery interests is that arising from the disagreeable smells and possibly unhealthy exhalations from the sludge deposited on the exposed areas at low tide. As these fishing stations are easily accessible from New York and suburbs and quite near extensive summer resorts, the patronage which would be injuriously affected by disagreeable conditions surrounding the stations may easily be very considerable, as the complainants charge. In this particular the disposal of sewage is unquestionably a damage to the fishery interests or more properly to the fishing station proprietors.

3 What action should be taken to rectify the defective conditions found to exist?

It has been shown that the disposal of sewage into the bay from

the village of Arverne and from the Edgemere Hotel injures both the oyster interests and the fishing stations. Are the rights of the owners of the oyster beds and fishing stations superior to the rights of the village and hotel to use the bay as a place of sewage disposal?

The common law as well as the statutory laws of the state appear to protect the riparian owners in the enjoyment of the natural functions and properties of the waters of the state as opposed to the enjoyment of the artificial functions. The claims of oyster culture should, therefore, be paramount to sewage disposal. Section 184 of chapter 974 of the Laws of 1895 prescribes: "Sludge, acid, and other refuse from any oil-works or sugar houses, or from buildings connected with the same, or any substance injurious to oyster culture shall not be placed or allowed to run into any waters within the jurisdiction of the state."

The term "or any substance injurious to oyster culture," if not intended to be confined to substances from oil-works or sugar houses, would be applicable literally to the case in question; even if intended to be applied to substances from oil-works and sugar houses, the general and sweeping term employed would indicate clearly the spirit of the law in endeavoring to protect the oyster interests of the state.

The powers given the State Board of Health to make rules and regulations for the protection of public water supplies, as given in section 70 of the Public health law, are intended to prevent the spread of just such diseases as are communicable through oysters grown or fattened in water polluted with infected sewage. A liberal interpretation of the powers of the Board, as indicated by this section, as well as their general powers, would appear to give them jurisdiction in such cases as the present one; but there appears another ground on which their right to act in this case can hardly be questioned. Section 1 of chapter 545 of the Laws of 1893, providing for the construction of sewers in unincorporated villages and hamlets, and section 3 of chapter 375 of the Laws of 1889, as amended by chapter 202 of the Laws of 1895, providing for the construction of sewers in incorporated vil