TYPHUS FEVER.
This disease was formerly known as spotted or jail-fever, and for many ages has been the scourge of prisons and armies, and all collections of people living in overcrowded and insanitary districts. The history of typhus is the history of human misery. It is essentially associated with filth, overcrowding, and destitution; but when once established by these conditions, it can be carried by infection to others who live amidst healthy surroundings. It generally occurs in winter, when overcrowding is greatest. With free ventilation, the disease cannot be carried more than a few feet. It can be transmitted by clothing. The micro-organism causing it has not been discovered. With the clearance of the rookeries of our great towns, it is rapidly decreasing, and appears likely to become extinct. The means of prevention, in addition to the abatement of nuisances, including overcrowding, are isolation and disinfection (pages 319 and 325).