L ATE in October, 1930, there developed among the inhabitants of Charleston, W. Va., an acute ailment involving the gastrointestinal tract. Without any prodromal symptoms the attacked individual suffered an acute disturbance in the alimentary canal, beginning usually as a sharp pain in the epigastrium with general abdominal discomfort, the severity varying a good deal with the individual. Nausea or vomiting or both soon followed. In the milder cases no further symptoms developed, though in the vast majority diarrhea ensued within a few hours. In the severe cases the diarrhea became an uncontrollable bowel action over a period of several hours. There were no known cases which developed bloody stools. The site of greatest irritation varied with the individual, so that in some vomiting was the most annoying symptom, in others abdominal cramps, and in yet others a diarrhea, while the more severe cases developed all the symptoms mentioned. In relatively few instances was a physician consulted, so that clini-. cal observations were limited. A few temperatures had been taken and these were practically normal in the robust adult. but usually slightly elevated in the aged, the enfeebled and in young children. One of the physicians interviewed had made one or two white counts and found them within the normal range. The duration of the attacks rarely extended over three or four days, with the milder ones lasting only a few hours. With the subsidence of the symptoms the patient again felt entirely well, except for such general weakness as may follow the use of any strong purgative. The writer investigated this outbreak on November 12 and 13 at which time very few new cases were developing. State health officials estimated that in Charleston's approximately 60,000 inhabitants there had been from 4,000 to 7,000 cases. There had been no deaths. A house-to-house inquiry was made of homes in two rather small areas of