graceful epidemic of typhoid, which ravaged our camps
on our own soil during the Spanish-American War and killed many times
more than fell by Spanish bullets, was spread.

It is also believed that typhoid bacilli may be carried in the infected
dust of streets and camps. Here again we are dealing with a dangerous
public enemy to both health and comfort, which can and ought to be
abated by cleanliness, oilings, and sprinklings. Typhoid bacilli are
also occasionally carried by shellfish, especially oysters, on account
of the interesting modern custom of planting them in bays and harbors
near the mouths of sewers to fatten them. The cheerful motto of the
oysterman is, "The muddier the water the fatter the oyster." And nowhere
do the bivalves plump up more quickly than near the mouth of a sewer.

The last method of transmission is by direct contact with the sick. This
is a relatively rare means of spread, so much so that it is generally
stated that typhoid is not contagious; but it is a real source of danger
and one against which precautions should by all means be taken. The only
method is, of course, by the soiling of the hands of the nurse or other
attendant, and then eating or touching food, or putting the fingers into
the mouth before thoroughly cleansing. If the hands be washed with a
strong antiseptic solution after waiting upon the patient, and the
cheerful habit sometimes indulged in of putting fruit or other
delicacies into the sick-room for a day or so, in the hope that they may
tempt the appetite of the patient, and then taking them out and letting
the children eat them as a treat, be abolished, and the nurse be not
allowed to officiate in the kitchen, risk from this source will be done
away with.

When the bacillus has been introduced into the stomach through food or
drink, it rapidly proceeds to diffuse itself throughout the tissues of
the body. Because the most striking symptoms of the disease are
diarrh[oe]a, abdominal distention, and pain, and the most striking
lesions after death ulcers in the small intestine, it was supposed that
the process was confined to the abdominal organs. This is now known to
be an error, as cultures and examinations made from the blood and
various parts of the body have shown the presence of the typhoid
bacillus in almost every organ and tissue. This process of scattering,
or invasion of the body, takes from three to ten days to accomplish; and
the first sign of trouble is usually