Another type of isolated place is the closed institution. As early as 1709, Lancisi remarked that the prisons of the Inquisition in Rome remained free from influenza. Twenty-one prisons in Germany in 1889–90 remained entirely free from the disease. This was true of 39 prisons in England, some of which were in cities where the epidemic was most extensive. Linroth, who observed this same phenomenon in Sweden, makes the wise remark that, “the influenza conquers more easily the space of 500 to 1,000 kilometers than it does the small barrier made by a prison wall.” A convent in Charlottenburg housing one hundred women remained entirely free during the 1889–90 epidemic. As a rule institutions of this sort have been unable to maintain a complete quarantine throughout the period of an epidemic, and the relative immunity has been demonstrated more in late invasions, at a time when the restrictions have become somewhat lax. Thus, in 1918, Winslow and Rogers, report that in an orphan asylum in New Haven, Connecticut, which had completely escaped during the month of October when the epidemic was at its height, one of the Sisters and the priest in charge came down with influenza about December 15th. By the 27th of December 127 cases had occurred in the institution within twenty-four hours, and by January 7th there had been 424 cases, with seven deaths out of a total population of 464. The probable source of the sudden outbreak of December 27th seems to have been the Sister first affected who, when convalescent, resumed her duties in the kitchen, which included the inspection and handling of the milk given out to the children. _Crowd gatherings._—Yet another phenomenon which would lead us to conclude that human intercourse is the most potent factor in the transmission of influenza is the fact that there is frequently a high increase in the influenza rate following crowd gatherings. Parkes observed long ago that persons in overcrowded habitations, particularly in some epidemics, suffered especially, and several instances are on record of a large school or a barracks being first attacked and the disease prevailing there for some days, before it became prevalent in the towns around. In England, the weekly market played an important role in the spread of the disease in 1889. One frequently saw such reports as that: “The first case of influenza was a man who went to London daily.” Or, “All the earliest cases were men going to London daily, while their wives and families were later affected.”