nditions cases of the disease became more numerous and when
Col. Strange died of it uneasiness culminated in real alarm.

My proposed trip to Scotland for Christmas was postponed and instead I
was sent up to London to get an expert bacteriologist on the disease
and arrange to start a laboratory. The object was to see what could be
done in locating "carriers" of the disease germ, and thereby keep the
disease from spreading. Accordingly, on the day before Christmas, I
arranged with the Director of the Lister Institute for the loan of Dr.
Arkwright of his staff and for the necessary apparatus to equip a
laboratory at Bulford Cottage Hospital. It was a forlorn hope, but it
was the only thing that could be done to try to get this elusive
disease under control. I spent Christmas day in camp, and it was a
melancholy day indeed. The men were all well looked after, and for
those in the hospitals the day was made as bright as possible. It
seemed years since we had left Canada.

When we brought down the bacteriological apparatus by passenger train
a few days later we paid excess baggage on 780 pounds but we got it
through. It took five men to shove the trucks containing the boxes,
and we held the connecting train for five minutes at Salisbury
Junction until we made the transfer. This saved time, for the London
people would not guarantee delivery for five weeks.

The epidemic of cerebro-spinal meningitis proved to be a blessing in
disguise, for it educated both combatant officers and men as to the
necessity of observing certain simple precautions to prevent the
spread of any contagious disease; and it also showed them that when
disease once got out of hand it would be possible to put whole
battalions _hors de combat_. Col. Mercer kept his brigade moving about
on the sod in tents all winter, and as a result, there was very much
less sickness in his brigade than in the other brigades housed in
huts.

Then nature came to our rescue, and took a hand in the game. The rains
grew less frequent; the sun put in an occasional appearance; training
was begun once more, and a rapid improvement was immediately apparent
in the men. Again the sound of singing was heard in the tents at night
and on route marches; and again one began to see smiling faces. With
the improvement in weather conditions, training went briskly on, and
the division began to rapidly round into shape.

Meanwhile the artillery and cavalry had gone into billets in the
sur