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755 
AMayv ,1J03 
DANNISH WEST INDIES. 
QViarantimnee 
aaac nst ]Se iidad o aecoCCfnit 
of s&U al/pox. 
The minlister at Copenhagen reports, April 20, through the Depart- 
ment of State, as follows: 
The government of the Danish West Indies has declared a quaran- 
tine of fifteen dayvs against ves-sels arriving from-l Trinidad, on account 
of the appearance of smallpox in that islancl. 
FRANCE. 
D1estruction 
(I rts en t/eeport of 
Jfartseihle. 
Consul-General Skinner reports, April 22, as follows: 
Dr: R. Jacques, one of the plhysicians of the public healtlh depart- 
ment of Marseille, has published a paamphlet embodving the results of 
his labors and studies to prevent the city of Marseille from becoming 
a plague-infected port. 
Although the city is constantly exposed, by 
reasoin of its geographical position and the frequency of its steamship 
comnmunications with the plague-ridden ports of the Levant, India, 
and China, the public health department has every reason to congrat- 
ulate itself upon the success wvhiclh has thus far attended its labors. 
The work is unider the general direction of Dr. Catelan, chief of the 
service, who assigned Dr. Jacques to his inmmediate task. 
In August, 
1900, the first plague-infected ship, the A7iyer, arrived at the quaran- 
tine station of Frioul, upon which occasion Dr. Catelan said: 
It is probable that the epidemic originated in the migration- of rats in one of the 
ports of call in Egypt or Syria, where cases of pest had been noted durinig the month 
preceding. 
In 18X99 the Equ(itevr ha(d one case of plague on board while in the port 
of Beirut, and dead rats had been found in great number upon this steamer. 
The 
Eqptwtteatr 
and the Niger, like all the steamners of the same comlpany, touch the same 
ports in the Levant, anchor at the same wharves, and the rats passing back and forth 
assuredly constitute the greatest danger of dissemination of the plague. 
However 
well the rats mav be destroved upon a giveen steamer, a certain number escape and 
returni, an(d the circulationl between the steameer an(l the land is incessant. 
No abso- 
lutely radical method has vet been found to prevent this. 
In consequence of the danger arising fronm this source, official 
instructions were prepared, prescribing careful surveillance during 
the discharge of cargoes fromn suspected steanmers and mneasures of 
prevention against the exodus of rats fromn the same. 
In 1901 a spe- 
cial sersvice was organized in AIMarseille, and a corps of 10 persons, 
diiectecd by IDr. Jacques, was formed for the exclusive purpose of 
carryinog out these instructions. 
Ir. Jacques says: 
The result lhas beein as follows: Fronm October, 1901, to January, 1902, 133 sus- 
pected steailiers were inspected, of which 15 were noted as having infected rats on 
board. 
Of the 15, 9 containied rats seriouslv infected, and on 6 of theml were rats 
less seriouslv attacked. 
Froiim January to April, of 104 steamers inspected, 2 only 
corntained rats plainly infected, and( on 3 were animals suffering mnore mildly. 
Fromn 
April to July 114 steamners were examnined, 1 of which was found to contaiui infected 
rats, a discovery which was followeed shortlv thereafter by the breaking out of 2 cases 
amoiln the men on board. 
Fromn July to the endl of September 111 steamers were 
inspected, on l)oard 10 of which were infected rats, and on anothler rats less markedlv 
so. 
Fromn October to the enid of December, 1902, 93 steamers were inspected, and a 
very light degree of infection was found am-ong the rats on board 2 of them, and on 
1 rats profoundly iniected. 
The observations throughout the year confirm the first 
idlea of Dr. Catalan that epidemies on boarcd ship among crew and passengers arise 
from infectioin resulting from the presence of rats, an infection dating back a long 
time, perhaps, and coinlmunicate(1 by contact.