Bearing directly on this question is the discussion concerning the distribution of the food poisoning bacilli in nature. Most investigators in Germany, where the majority of food poisoning outbreaks have occurred, or at least have been bacteriologically studied, are of the opinion that _B. suipestifer_ (the same in their opinion as _B. paratyphosus_ B) is much more widely distributed than _B. enteritidis_ and that it occurs, especially in certain regions, as in the southern part of the German Empire, quite commonly in the intestinal tract of healthy human beings. Such paratyphoid-carriers, it is supposed, may contaminate food through handling or preparation just as typhoid-carriers are known to do. A number of outbreaks in which contamination of food during preparation is thought to have occurred have been reported by Jacobitz and Kayser[72] (vermicelli), Reinhold[73] (fish), and others. Reinhold notes that in one outbreak several persons who had nursed those who were ill became ill themselves, indicating possible contact infection. In another outbreak also reported by Reinhold it was observed that those who partook of the infected food, in this case dried codfish, on the first day were not so severely affected as those who ate what was left over on the second day. A bacillus belonging to the paratyphoid group was isolated from the stools of patients, but not from the dried codfish. These facts were interpreted as signifying that the fish had become infected in the process of preparation and that the bacilli multiplied in the food while it was standing.