372
on the serum side 386 patients of the first 5 days of illness with a mortality of 71.76
per cent., and on the control side 345 such patients with a mortality of 86.08 per
cent. The patients of the sixth and the following days of illness are 60 on the serum
side with a mortality of 45.00 per cent. and 88 on the control side with a mortality
of 51.13 per cent. The serum side had thus 41 more patients who had under the
ordinary treatment a mortality of 86.08 per cent. and 28 fewer patients who had a
mortality of 51.13 per cent. These facts represent a material advantage for the
controls, and they demonstrate at the same time that Dr. Choksy estimated correctly
the number of convalescent patients on both sides. We see, moreover, that the
reduction of the mortality due to the serum was almost entirely obtained in the
patients in the acute stage of the disease.
We come now to compare the distribution according to the manifestation of the
disease which indicates to some extent the mode and virulence of the infection. For
statistical purposes, the manifestations of the disease have been brought in such
groups as show generally a distinct difference of the mortality between each other,
the single femoral or inguinal, or other single buboes of more rare occurrence with
the lowest mortality heading the columns in the following table. Contiguous buboes
are such as femoral and inguinal, femoral and iliac, etc. Only the buboes present on
admission were taken in consideration :—
Manifestation of
disease.
Serum patients
Control patients ...
Single
inguinal,
femoraled
buboes.
170
15.7
Single
Cervical
buboes.
52
46
Single
Axillary
buboes.
88
100
Conti-
guous
buboes.
131
128
Multiple
buboes.
32
20
No.
buboes.
3
16
Pneu-
monia.
4
13
Total.
480
480
The advantage is here on the serum side which has 13 more cases of single
inguinal or femoral buboes, showing the lowest mortality, and 34 fewer cases
with axillary buboes, without buboes or with pneumonia, which have the highest
mortality. Also, without calculating numerically the statistical value of this advan-
tage, this much can be said with certainty that it cannot have preponderated over
the benefit the controls derived from the distribution according to the days of illness
where every second patient of the later days represented a recovery.
The following table gives the distribution according to the temperature on
admission ; for a fraction of a degree the next lower degree has been recorded.
Temperature on admission.
Serum patients
...
Control patients
100° F.
141
127
101° F.
79
78
102° F.
97
112
103° F.
88
95
104° F.
5.4
47
105° F.
and
more.
21
21
Total.
480
480
The temperature on admission gives little information as to the severity of the
attack, high temperatures being frequently due to the excitement of the transport,
whereas low ones in the acute stage of plague are often signs of collapse and impend-
ing death. All we can guess from the table is that there are no differences worth
mentioning.
There are no more items allowing of a statistical comparison and we can review
the facts as follows. The distribution, according to the caste, sex, previous immunisa-
tion and temperature on admission, was practically the same for both sides. With
regard to the age period and the days of illness on admission the distribution has