CHAP. II. ] its causes and characteristics. 51
Articles classed
as susceptible in
the Venice
Sanitary
Convention of
1897.
The following is a list of the articles of merchandise classed as.
susceptible by the Venice Sanitary Convention of 1897:-
1. Used linen, clothing, personal effects and bedding.
2. Rags, not excepting rags compressed by hydraulic force which
are carried as merchandise in bales.
3. Old sacking, carpets and old embroidery.
4. Raw hides, untanned and fresh skins.
5. Animal refuse, claws, hoofs, horsehair, hair of animals gene-
rally, raw silk and wool.
6. Human hair.
The articles named in the first three numbers in this list were
included in it as likely to have been in contact with sick persons.
The more important articles named in the fourth and fifth numbers
were included in the list for fear they might be derived from animals
that had suffered from plague. Recent investigation on the degree
of susceptibility of different classes of animals to plague shows that
this precaution may be unnecessary.
There is no evidence to show that a single case of plague has
been occasioned by merchandise imported from the infected portions
of India, although large quantities of wool and other commodities
have been exported from Bombay to England and other countries
since the beginning of the epidemic.
Other possible
sources of
infection.
Other possible sources of infection must be regarded as of minor
importance to those already described. It may be taken as proved that
the microbe does not travel about for considerable distances in the air
or in dust, etc., and that healthy persons cannot carry the seeds of
contagion with them except in the form of clothes, rags, etc., impreg-
nated with infectious matter. The water-supply is said to be a
possible source of danger, and no doubt should be the subject of careful
precaution. Staff Surgeon Wilm lays stress upon this possible source
of infection. General Gatacre gives an instance in which a stagnant
pool of filthy water is believed to have fostered the spread of infection
in a village in the Island of Bombay (see Chapter VII). But it has been
seen that under ordinary conditions the bacillus appears to die rapidly
in water. The drains are also regarded by some persons as a prob-
able means of spreading infection, although, according to Dr. Bitter, it
is not likely that the bacillus can exist for long in sewers. At the
same time a careful attention to drainage is a precaution which should
certainly be adopted, and constant flushing of sewers with a solution
of corrosive sublimate is said to have had a beneficial effect in the
Mandvi quarter of Bombay. Both Dr. Bitter and Mr. Hankin are
inclined to think that graveyards containing plague corpses are not