iu the
men
three
forecastle,
boys
and the
officers,
complement of 29, available for duty. On the ship reaching Budge Budge, ten of the crew still remaining sick, were sent to the General Hospital for treatment. The three medical officers of that institution were unanimously of opinion that these ten men were suffering from symptoms which enabled them to distinguish the cases clinically from those of true cholera ; the points of difference being chiefly the absence of depression of temperature and suppression of urine, the presence of pustular eruptions or abscesses in a large proportion of the cases; out of a
Jndian Jmdiqal
q.
DECEMBER 1892.
that
THE BACTERIOLOGY OF THE ? CROP" TON HALL TRAGEDY. The painful facts connected with the fatal outbreak of diarrhoea among the crew of the i
only
one
showed the sunken countenance,
breathing, bloodshot eyes, &c., of the reaction of cholera, and that they all recovered ; the death-rate of cholera among Europeans in this part of the country lying between 50 and 75 distressed
require more than recapitulation. This vessel was lying in the Hooghly at Budge Budge on the 20th of January, ou which date the second officer prepared some
per cent. The symptoms were considered to be the result of ptomaine or alkaloidal poisoning
the
the clearest
Hall
Grofton
are too recent to
fresh brine with water taken from the river, the strength of the brine being roqghly gauged by its power to float a potato. The beef for
preservation pared was taken there is it
was
prepared bad.
Budge
board
on
no reason to
first
pickled
aud
was
preat New York, but
think that the meat when
aud
brine iu the
Some of it
this brine
of which
placed "
with this
probably eaten produced no ill effects. was
freshly
harness cask" at
was
Bndge
The vessel
remained in the river until the 2nd of June, and during that time the crew received fresh rations from the shore. During the whole of this time, that is to say, during a period of over four months
of
partially decomposed salt partaken. The exhaustive and elaborate enquiry made by Drs. Forsyth and Simpson, the Health Officers of the Port and Town of Calcutta, respectively, traced in by consumption
meat of which the men had all
this
ship
manner
the illness of the
crew
to the issue of the meat from the "
"
of
har-
exemption of those who esto their not having partaken of it, or only caped, iu small quantity. Unfortunately the remains of the suspected meat had been thrown overboard before the ship came back into port, but specimens of the brine in which it had been soaked were examined by Drs. Simpson and Ranking and by Dr. D. D. Cunningham, whose report we publish iu another column, together ness
cask,
and the
including
the two hottest months of the year this beef remained unused iu the " harness cask."
with the latter's account of his examination of the micro-organisms found iu the stools of those who
This salted beef was, however, issued to the seamen after the vessel left the port on the 4 th, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 12th of June, producing on the
were
admitted
to
the
Hospital
for
papers connected iu the Calcutta Gazette
treatment.
The
quiry
published
were
General
with this in-
fallowing days among those who partook of it, along with Government Resolution No. 96 T? namely, on the 5th, 6th, 8th, 10th, aud 13th of Marine of the 30th September 1892, and form June, symptoms resembling cholera, in twenty- a very clear and complete history of the occurrence. three out of a crew of twenty-nine, and leading to six deaths, among the fourteen men who were attacked during the first four days of the outbreak. No sickness occurred on the intervening dates when other rations were issued. On the 9th of June the ship's course was altered to return to the Sandheads, as there were not enough hands left to work the ship, there being only five
The brine in which the meat which caused this outbreak among the seamen of the Crofton Hall was laid, was found to be of a very
aud acid reaction, and crowded with bacilli of different kinds, but, as might have been expected from the acid reaction, it contained no comma-bacilli. They presented
peculiar foetid odour
Deo.
BACTERIOLOGY OF THE
1892.]
"
CROFTON HALL" TRAGEDY.
different forms of or
truncated
or
they
straight bacteria with rounded extremities, solitary or in filaments, relatively long, slender, straight, or
were
curved. Cats fed with the cultivations obtained by Drs. Ranking and Simpson, suffered in
slightly
consequence from diarrhoea, and one of them from vomiting. The character of the bacilli found in the motions of these cats was not enquired
into,
but Dr.
stools of the
Hospital culi in
Cunningham's examination of the patients treated in the General
showed in
some
one
places
dant and almost pure
comma-bacilli, and
tions, especially
in abundance.
of the
were
cases
that the floc-
very abunof well formed
occupied by
growths
botli^plate
and tube cultiva-
the
latter, gave comma-bacill1 These comma-bacilli, when cul-
tivated in agar
ordinary gelatine media and in agarliquified the gelatine and behaved in the
that group of organisms of the which true are associated with shape cholera do, producing also after 48 hours cholera purple with nitric and sulphuric acids. same manner as same
The
importance
preseut
bacteriology cannot
of these observations in the
state of our
of morbid
knowledge regarding the discharges from the bowels
be over-estimated.
We have here
an
epidemic clearly produced by the use of partially decomposed salt meat, giving rise to symptoms which were clinically distinguishable from those of true cholera; and micro-organisms which presumably gave rise to the alkaloidal or ptomaiue poisons resulting in these symptoms, and
they belong
present is, that
in
showing organisms
The view that is maintained at as to the causation of cholera
the latter.
as
and present features to the same group of
cholera,
with true that
Europe
all the very distinct forms of commas which have been found by Cunningham and others associated with the disease are not to be "
species, but as atypic varieties '? of one and the same organism. This is the view which has been specially advocated by Fried rich of Berlin, but if this be so, we assuredly cannot deny the same place to the commas found in the regarded
as
present instance,
as
well
the
ganism, and,
if so, the
different bacilli. we are placed in
the stools.
It is
nevertheless not at all uncommon to find intestinal discharges in cases of diarrhoea arising from very various causes containing an abundance of morphological comma-bacilli. Dr. Klein has shown specimens of this nature, and a very striking example presented itself during the course of this year in a case of artificially induced diarrhoea in the person of a prisoner in the Presidency Jail. What renders the present instance especially remarkable is, that in it the commas found are cultifiable under the conditions favouring the growth of those associated
con-
mas, not case
sive
only
aud
ordinary differing
observations of this nature* Either these comthose found in the Crofton Hall
by
dilemma.
Prior and
Finkler,
ptomaine diarrhoea,
or
cases
By
a
and distinct of true
commas
this
definition
Crofton
aud MetchnokofF
found in
succes-
are
as
be extended to include
commas
the
among themselves, with cholera cau be aud
specific.
Prior?Finkler,
which
and
peculiar
if they are organism, then or
of one
comma,
commas
in
equally
from those found in true cholera do
Klein,
distiuct species, disease associated
cholera,
must
Hall
and
but the
aud cholera is therefore a with various species of vibrio,
the
in
of the causal
theory
nection between cholera and the comma-bacilli is strained just as much as if each and all of these varieties be admitted to be specifically
bacilli differing in no essential from those found D in true cholera were abundaut in the stools of one of the men admitted to hospital. The imlies in the current portance of the observation belief that true cholera can be diagnosed by the
comma-bacilli
Prior's
so-called type than certain choleraic commas do, and they therefore must be admitted, to be also "atypical varieties" of the same orfrom
merely "atypic varieties"
presence of
to those in
as
and Finkler's cases, and in Gamabia's disease in fowls (vibrio Metchnokovi). These organisms present features departing much less markedly
capable
of producing similar symptoms in cats, consisted of straight bacilli, and yet comma-
375
do not differ
more
than these
the association of 110
longer regarded
men
three
forecastle,
boys
and the
officers,
complement of 29, available for duty. On the ship reaching Budge Budge, ten of the crew still remaining sick, were sent to the General Hospital for treatment. The three medical officers of that institution were unanimously of opinion that these ten men were suffering from symptoms which enabled them to distinguish the cases clinically from those of true cholera ; the points of difference being chiefly the absence of depression of temperature and suppression of urine, the presence of pustular eruptions or abscesses in a large proportion of the cases; out of a
Jndian Jmdiqal
q.
DECEMBER 1892.
that
THE BACTERIOLOGY OF THE ? CROP" TON HALL TRAGEDY. The painful facts connected with the fatal outbreak of diarrhoea among the crew of the i
only
one
showed the sunken countenance,
breathing, bloodshot eyes, &c., of the reaction of cholera, and that they all recovered ; the death-rate of cholera among Europeans in this part of the country lying between 50 and 75 distressed
require more than recapitulation. This vessel was lying in the Hooghly at Budge Budge on the 20th of January, ou which date the second officer prepared some
per cent. The symptoms were considered to be the result of ptomaine or alkaloidal poisoning
the
the clearest
Hall
Grofton
are too recent to
fresh brine with water taken from the river, the strength of the brine being roqghly gauged by its power to float a potato. The beef for
preservation pared was taken there is it
was
prepared bad.
Budge
board
on
no reason to
first
pickled
aud
was
preat New York, but
think that the meat when
aud
brine iu the
Some of it
this brine
of which
placed "
with this
probably eaten produced no ill effects. was
freshly
harness cask" at
was
Bndge
The vessel
remained in the river until the 2nd of June, and during that time the crew received fresh rations from the shore. During the whole of this time, that is to say, during a period of over four months
of
partially decomposed salt partaken. The exhaustive and elaborate enquiry made by Drs. Forsyth and Simpson, the Health Officers of the Port and Town of Calcutta, respectively, traced in by consumption
meat of which the men had all
this
ship
manner
the illness of the
crew
to the issue of the meat from the "
"
of
har-
exemption of those who esto their not having partaken of it, or only caped, iu small quantity. Unfortunately the remains of the suspected meat had been thrown overboard before the ship came back into port, but specimens of the brine in which it had been soaked were examined by Drs. Simpson and Ranking and by Dr. D. D. Cunningham, whose report we publish iu another column, together ness
cask,
and the
including
the two hottest months of the year this beef remained unused iu the " harness cask."
with the latter's account of his examination of the micro-organisms found iu the stools of those who
This salted beef was, however, issued to the seamen after the vessel left the port on the 4 th, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 12th of June, producing on the
were
admitted
to
the
Hospital
for
papers connected iu the Calcutta Gazette
treatment.
The
quiry
published
were
General
with this in-
fallowing days among those who partook of it, along with Government Resolution No. 96 T? namely, on the 5th, 6th, 8th, 10th, aud 13th of Marine of the 30th September 1892, and form June, symptoms resembling cholera, in twenty- a very clear and complete history of the occurrence. three out of a crew of twenty-nine, and leading to six deaths, among the fourteen men who were attacked during the first four days of the outbreak. No sickness occurred on the intervening dates when other rations were issued. On the 9th of June the ship's course was altered to return to the Sandheads, as there were not enough hands left to work the ship, there being only five
The brine in which the meat which caused this outbreak among the seamen of the Crofton Hall was laid, was found to be of a very
aud acid reaction, and crowded with bacilli of different kinds, but, as might have been expected from the acid reaction, it contained no comma-bacilli. They presented
peculiar foetid odour
Deo.
BACTERIOLOGY OF THE
1892.]
"
CROFTON HALL" TRAGEDY.
different forms of or
truncated
or
they
straight bacteria with rounded extremities, solitary or in filaments, relatively long, slender, straight, or
were
curved. Cats fed with the cultivations obtained by Drs. Ranking and Simpson, suffered in
slightly
consequence from diarrhoea, and one of them from vomiting. The character of the bacilli found in the motions of these cats was not enquired
into,
but Dr.
stools of the
Hospital culi in
Cunningham's examination of the patients treated in the General
showed in
some
one
places
dant and almost pure
comma-bacilli, and
tions, especially
in abundance.
of the
were
cases
that the floc-
very abunof well formed
occupied by
growths
botli^plate
and tube cultiva-
the
latter, gave comma-bacill1 These comma-bacilli, when cul-
tivated in agar
ordinary gelatine media and in agarliquified the gelatine and behaved in the
that group of organisms of the which true are associated with shape cholera do, producing also after 48 hours cholera purple with nitric and sulphuric acids. same manner as same
The
importance
preseut
bacteriology cannot
of these observations in the
state of our
of morbid
knowledge regarding the discharges from the bowels
be over-estimated.
We have here
an
epidemic clearly produced by the use of partially decomposed salt meat, giving rise to symptoms which were clinically distinguishable from those of true cholera; and micro-organisms which presumably gave rise to the alkaloidal or ptomaiue poisons resulting in these symptoms, and
they belong
present is, that
in
showing organisms
The view that is maintained at as to the causation of cholera
the latter.
as
and present features to the same group of
cholera,
with true that
Europe
all the very distinct forms of commas which have been found by Cunningham and others associated with the disease are not to be "
species, but as atypic varieties '? of one and the same organism. This is the view which has been specially advocated by Fried rich of Berlin, but if this be so, we assuredly cannot deny the same place to the commas found in the regarded
as
present instance,
as
well
the
ganism, and,
if so, the
different bacilli. we are placed in
the stools.
It is
nevertheless not at all uncommon to find intestinal discharges in cases of diarrhoea arising from very various causes containing an abundance of morphological comma-bacilli. Dr. Klein has shown specimens of this nature, and a very striking example presented itself during the course of this year in a case of artificially induced diarrhoea in the person of a prisoner in the Presidency Jail. What renders the present instance especially remarkable is, that in it the commas found are cultifiable under the conditions favouring the growth of those associated
con-
mas, not case
sive
only
aud
ordinary differing
observations of this nature* Either these comthose found in the Crofton Hall
by
dilemma.
Prior and
Finkler,
ptomaine diarrhoea,
or
cases
By
a
and distinct of true
commas
this
definition
Crofton
aud MetchnokofF
found in
succes-
are
as
be extended to include
commas
the
among themselves, with cholera cau be aud
specific.
Prior?Finkler,
which
and
peculiar
if they are organism, then or
of one
comma,
commas
in
equally
from those found in true cholera do
Klein,
distiuct species, disease associated
cholera,
must
Hall
and
but the
aud cholera is therefore a with various species of vibrio,
the
in
of the causal
theory
nection between cholera and the comma-bacilli is strained just as much as if each and all of these varieties be admitted to be specifically
bacilli differing in no essential from those found D in true cholera were abundaut in the stools of one of the men admitted to hospital. The imlies in the current portance of the observation belief that true cholera can be diagnosed by the
comma-bacilli
Prior's
so-called type than certain choleraic commas do, and they therefore must be admitted, to be also "atypical varieties" of the same orfrom
merely "atypic varieties"
presence of
to those in
as
and Finkler's cases, and in Gamabia's disease in fowls (vibrio Metchnokovi). These organisms present features departing much less markedly
capable
of producing similar symptoms in cats, consisted of straight bacilli, and yet comma-
375
do not differ
more
than these
the association of 110
longer regarded
