It has been shown in a previous paper1 that bacillary dysentery is prevalent among infants under 2 years of age and that in the group in which the present study was made its incidence was as high as 10 per cent. The prevention of this disease is therefore one of the most important problems of public health.
From the point of view of infectiousness and mode of transmission, dysentery is in many ways comparable to typhoid fever, but there is no evidence that under usual conditions it is transmitted through milk and water supplies. It is more likely that it is spread directly from patient to patient and from house to house by flies and the hands of attendants. There are many mild undiagnosed cases of dysentery in adults and probably there are many healthy carriers who have previously had the disease and who are a constant source for