swinging valve made of thin tinned copper, but I do not When properly fitted up as shown and described, a water-closet in a house presents no danger from sewage (To the Editor of the SANITARY RECORD.) SIR,-May I submit to Dr. A. Hughes Bennett that having laid down very wide rules, he ought for the sake of those less cognisant of the series of ascertained facts upon which he no doubt bases his deductions, to publish that series of facts, or at least a numerical summary of them. After speaking much of woman 'in the abstract he comes at last to the conclusion, and begins to speak of 'women,' and there he affords or should afford something like a test of the value of his previous speculations. In the world we have to deal with women, it is only in literary essays that we have to deal with woman.' He takes a known class of women, pupil teachers, and a very thoroughly good test case it is in dealing with the question of professional occupation for women. He says, Such a career does not as a rule break down the young man, but in a large number of cases it completely unhinges the woman.' Of course he means us to take that assertion as an ascertained fact, and he has a basis to prove his rule' as against his 'large number of cases.' It is of the first importance that he should publicly state the facts which form his basis. From the tenour of the first part of his communication one might have expected that Dr. Hughes Bennett would have objected to the employment of 'girls between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one' in factories, mines, and workshops. Against these attempts of some millions of women to perform the work of a man without having his organic basis to depend on' I find no protest. If, however, it is proposed to debar women from the more lucrative employments on the ground of their 'organic basis,' it would seem a more charitable, more wise, and more thoughtful issue also to relieve the toiling millions of women who labour for small wages. We have heard nothing of the objections to women being unhinged while 11,000 midwives were doing the hard work of Dr. Bennett's profession among the poorest classes and at COSTLESS VENTILATION. (To the Editor of the SANITARY RECORD.) SIR, I notice in your Journal for January 24 a very favourable notice of the plan of Costless Ventilation,' described so long ago by Dr. Hinckes Bird in the Builder, March 1862, and yet with which the public is so imperfectly acquainted, alluded to in Mr. Teale's book on 'Dangers to Health.' Although so simple, it is most incorrectly described. I noticed that the models were exhibited both at Leamington and Stafford, but no reference, as far as I am aware, has been made to the plan by the Committee on Ventilation.' I observe, however, that a certificate of merit was awarded to this system at the Sanitary Exhibition in connection with the meeting of the British Medical Association at Manchester, 1877. ARGUS. January 31, 1879. 'ANTIPATHY DISPLAYED TOWARDS WATER.' (To the Editor of the SANITARY RECORD.) SIR, --I am somewhat surprised to find there has been no reply to some trenchant remarks against the profession to which I have the honour to belong, and which should not pass unchallenged, in a paper on Sanitary Reform by Mrs. Mark H. Judge (SANITARY RECORD, January 3.) 'Do the members of the medical profession,' she inquires, recognise the importance of sanitary science? It may be that they do among themselves, but why do they not preach it, and teach sufferers the value of it?' Most of the faculty seem to shrink from the use of water as they would from poison.' The antipathy displayed towards water, and the incredulity with which it is regarded as a preserver of health and a power in the cure of disease, is exceedingly difficult to account for.' As example is better than precept,' for myself I may remark that so far from shrinking from water, I take a matutinal cold bath, up to the neck, and often head under, all the year round. No account appears to be taken that now a bath-room is a necessity in modern houses, that tubbing' is a custom, and that public baths are established in every parish presuming to be civilised. I can therefore but conclude that your contributor writes under a wrong impression, as if she were some fifty years behind these non-hydrophobic times. I Norfolk Square, W. P. HINCKES BIRD, F.R.C.S. the smallest wage; nor when it was proposed that ladies Dictionary of Sanitary Appliances. should extensively work as day and night nurses at a wage of 30s. a week. The limit of organic basal objections seems indeed to be fixed at all work earning over, say, 3. a week, or which managing partner at St. Rollox Chemical Works, who stated that while he got gases to pass freely through water in his experiments, yet although he had tried several times he had failed to get ferment germs to pass through. He hopes at a future time, and under more favourable circumstances, to get them to pass. His failures hitherto, however, prove the great value of the water in a syphon trap to keep out germs, and consequently disease breeders, from the inner or house side of the water trap. The molecules of the gases may pass freely between the molecules of the water, especially in improperly ventilated traps, but the germs being many times larger cannot, consider, get through in the same way. BY W. EASSIE, C.E. AIR. -III. AIR INLETS (continued.)—Special Wall Inlets.—Of late the most generally practised method of introducing fresh air into a room, at what is now considered to be the best level-6 to 7 feet above the floor line-is carried out by the erection of what is commonly called a Tobin's tube, having its lower extremity in connection with an opening in the wall. The amount of inflowing air is controlled by a valve situated near the top of the tube. These tubes can be made of any material, and are now largely manufactured by several firms. They are either rectangular in shape, so as to fit anywhere upon a wall ; or quadrangular, so as to fit in the corner of a room. The inlet areas are usually 14 and 21 square inches. Any amount of ornamentation can be introduced into the shafs, capitals, or bases. It does not appear, with a constant introduction of air into a room in this manner, that there is a tendency towards creating draughts, nor, if they have been judiciously placed, is the temperature of the room lowered more than is pleasant, inasmuch as the air undergoes some little friction whilst ascending the tube, and is still further warmed when delivered in sprays towards the ceiling. The air then diffuses itself throughout the room, and is finally conveyed away by means of the flue, or a specially contrived outlet. Corner Tube Inlet Ventilator, with valve at A. A continuous and direct influx of air through a wall, from the atmosphere without, can readily be obtained at any height from the floor line by piercing a hole in the wall at the desired level and fixing therein a Shillito and Shorland ventilating tube. These vertical inlets act in precisely the same manner as the Tobin tubes, and are similarly fitted up,'when required, with a shutting-off valve. They are well adapted for large rooms when the smaller tubes raised perpendicularly all the way from the floor would prove too diminutive or too costly. The areas of the inlets range from 24 to 60 square inches. Lengthening pieces are manufactured so that the tubes can be made to deliver air to any given height, and from any level of intake, at a minimum cost. As far as cheapness is concerned it would be hardly possible to excel them. They are moulded in cast iron as easily as rain water piping, although ornamentally fluted Shillito and Shor- or panelled. They are made either land Inlet Ven- to fit the flat part of a wall or to fill up tilating Tube. its angles. INSIDE HOUSE A lately devised method of admitting fresh air through the wall, and diffusing it throughout a room without causing a draught, is carried out by the patent apparatus of Messrs. Harding, of Leeds, and it is very highly spoken of. In fixing it an opening is made in the wall, about eight feet from the floor line, and the square box-like projection is pushed through to the outside. When fixed in the wall it resembles a box of pyramidal form, perforated with a number of short tubelets having an upward direction. These tubelets direct the inflowing jets of air in the same manner as the barrel of a gun directs the projectile, and the elevation of the mouth of each tubelet varies the line of the delivery of air. Where appearance is an object, they can be set upon ornamental brackets. A stop 000000 Harding's Wall Inlet Ventilator; the part valve is employed A is placed in the wall. for regulating the air supply. The inventors consider that each ventilator is capable of admitting sufficient air for fifteen up to twenty persons; a statement easily tested. A ventilating medium, with an air collecting and dispersing box, was invented by Mr. Robb in 1862. He conveyed the fresh external air by means of tubes terminating in a chamber placed in any part of the room, but preferably at a low level, such chamber being fitted with valves so as to regulate the delivery of air into the room. But he did not seek to direct the air upwards, and herein lies the value of Messrs. Harding's invention. He however endeavoured to connect his air delivery chamber with the fireplace so as to provide warmed air. Sometimes it is found necessary to remove from the entering air the blacks and particles of dust with which it is frequently loaded, and this is effected on a small scale, suitable for houses, in three ways: either by washing the air as it enters; by a mechanical filtration of the air; or by intercepting the material impurities by means of an arresting trough of water. A means of washing the incoming air has been invented by Mr. R. Weaver, C. E., which has been found to act very well in London. This influx ventilator is simply a box containing glass louvres, and it is generally fitted in the fanlight of a door, although it can be used elsewhere. It is fitted up inside with a small perforated tube of metal, which is connected with the water-supply of, for instance, a cistern. The entering air in its passage upwards is met by its spray of water, and is scrubbed free from all kinds of floating dirt. Weaver's Air-washing Influx Ventilator. The air enters at B, and is delivered at c, being washed by the water delivered from the tube A. The second method of cleansing the air from dirt impurities is effected by placing in a vertical inlet tube a bag providing a filtering area which is not liable to choke up, and so arranged that it can be readily taken out and cleaned. An article of this kind is supplied by the Sanitary Engineering and Ventilating Company of Westminster, which from its peculiar form affords a filtering area of about 500 square inches, all arranged inside a tube of some 21 square inches. Inside the bag disinfectants can be placed by those who believe in them. PLOOR The third mode of cleansing the air has been introduced by the same Company, and here the dirt is intercepted without arresting the flow of the air or checking the current, a matter of considerable consequence. It is placed, in connection with the external atmosphere, at the bottom of a vertical air inlet tube, and in consists of a box provided with deflecting plates by which the in-passing air is directed downwards upon a trough of water. The water is easily changed, either by pouring a fresh quantity down the tube from the top, or by opening the hinged grating on the outside of the box. This arrangement of inlet not only arrests the particles of dirt present in the air, but it also moistens the air, rendering it very agreeable in summer or when there is any artificial heat in the room. The entering air can be cooled by placing ice in the box, and may also be disinfected. Dirt-arresting Inlet for placing the wall, etc., at foot of an horizontal air-tube. (To be continued.) Sanitary Invention. PATENT LINOLEUM MURALIS. LINOLEUM has been long known and appreciated for its valuable sanitary qualities as a covering for floors in place of carpet. It is warm and comfortable in appearance, a non-conductor of heat and cold, impervious to moisture, readily cleaned, capable of embellishment with any device, and practically indestructible. Some of these properties of linoleum have been utilised in the production of the Sunbury wall decoration, one in particular being its capacity to receive relief ornamentation of any description. Any design which can be carved upon wood, by the most skilful wood carver may be transferred to linoleum. The specimens of this mode of treating the substance which we have inspected were distinguished by clearness and precision of outline equal to that obtained in wood carving, at a fraction of its cost. It is suitable for any style of wall decoration, neither warps nor cracks, is easily fixed, quickly removed if required, and gives a warm and comfortable appearance to rooms. The sanitary value of the material is, however, a matter in which our readers are most interested. Every person who has paid any attention to sanitary matters knows the danger of arsenical wall papers. Some recent correspondence in the SANITARY RECORD upon the subject proved that nearly all papers are coloured with pigments into which arsenic enters in sufficient proportion to prove dangerous to any person constantly occupying a room hung with them. It was at one time thought that the light and dark-green papers were particularly dangerous on this account, but there is little reason to doubt that many other colours owe their brilliancy to the deleterious substance used in their manufacture. Some fifty or sixty of these wall papers were exhibited at the Sanitary Exhibition, Leamington, a year since. It often happens, too, that careless workmen lay one paper over the other until five or six thicknesses of decomposing paste and paper are on the wall. In linoleum muralis we have a means of covering the walls of apartments with a material which obviates all these objections, and is most desirable from a sanitary point of view; a certain cure for damp walls, easily and thoroughly cleaned with soap and water, not affording harbour to the pests which will infest some houses, however carefully kept, and finally, not likely to prove a carrier of infection. Upon these grounds we believe the new material to be a most useful and valuable sanitary invention. Patterns may be obtained of Mr. F. Walton, Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex, or they may be seen at 9 Berners Street, W. Notes and Queries. COST OF SMOKING AND DRINKING IN AMERICA. JUDGING from the statistical summaries contained in the annual report of the Commissioner for Federal Taxes, the amount spent in the United States on smoking and drinking is enormous. During the fiscal year ended on June 30, 1878, notwithstanding the hard times, 1,905,063,000 cigars were consumed. The report estimates each cigar at, on an average, 10 cents: so that the total value of the cigars consumed in the year would be about 190,506,300 dols., or about 38,101,260. In addition there were also consumed 25,312,433lb. of tobacco for smoking, the value of which is estimated at 15,000,000 dols. (3,000,000l.) But the expenditure on tobacco is almost insignificant when compared with the sums spent on drinks of various kinds. Thus, 317,465,600 gallons of fermented liquors were consumed, or over seven gallons per head of the entire population (estimated at about 44,000,000), including women and children. Fermented and spirituous drinks cost the people of the United States, according to the estimate of the report, 596,000,000 dols. (119,200,000l.), or 13 dols. 25 cents. (27. 135.) per head. The figures of the report show further that during the last financial year the consumption of beer had increased, while that of spirituous liquors had declined, 1,500,000 gallons more of the former and 6,520,000 gallons less of the latter having been consumed than during the preceding year, a fact which, perhaps, ought to be considered an advance on the road of temperance. APPOINTMENTS OF HEALTH OFFICERS, INSPECTORS OF NUISANCES, ETC. ann. ALLISON, Mr. John, has been appointed Surveyor to the Corporation and Urban Sanitary Authority of Manchester, at 1,000l. per AYLES, Mr. Robert Andrews, has been appointed Inspector of Nuisances for the Weymouth and Melcombe Regis Urban Sanitary District, at 100l. per ann., vice Vickery, whose appointment has expired. CAMERON, Alexander, M.D., C.M. Univ. Glasg., has been appointed Medical Officer of Health for the Caistor Rural Sanitary District, Lincolnshire, at Sol. per ann., vice Mackintosh, deceased. CLAYTON, Mr. William Evans, has been reappointed Inspector of Nuisances for the Buxton Urban Sanitary District, at 551. for the year ending Christmas 1879. GRYLLS, William Micheli, Esq., has been appointed Treasurer to the Falmouth Parish Local Board and Urban Sanitary Authority, vice Tweedy. MACHIN, Edmund Spooner, M.R.C.S. Eng., L.S.A. Lond., has been appointed Certifying Factory Surgeon for the Erdington District, vice Harvey. MORGAN, Mr. Charles, has been appointed Inspector of Nuisances for the Monmouth Urban Sanitary District, at 50l. for one year, vice Tippins, whose appointment has expired. JOHNSON, Charles H., M.R.C.S. Eng., L.S.A. Lond., has been appointed Medical Officer of Health for the No. 4 Sub-district of the Basingstoke Rural Sanitary District, vice Sweeting, deceased. ROBERTS, Griffith Williams, L.R.C.P. Edin., L.F.P.S. Glasg., L.S.A. Lond., has been appointed Medical Officer of Health for the Denbigh Urban Sanitary District. WALKER, James Frederick, I.K.Q.C.P. Irel., L.R.C.S. Irel., has been appointed Medical Officer of Health for the No. 6 Subdistrict of the Basingstoke Rural Sanitary District, vice Sweeting, deceased. WALKER, John Davidson, L.R.C.P. Edin., L.R.C.S. Edin., has been reappointed Medical Officer of Health for the Kirkham Urban Sanitary District, Lancashire, at 30l. for one year. WILLIAMS, Mr. Arthur, has been appointed Clerk to the Bingham Guardians and Rural Sanitary Authority, at 60l. per ann., 10. per ann. for conducting the elections of Guardians, and such remuneration as shall be decided on by the Guardians from time to time, as Clerk to the Assessment Committee, the Rural Sanitary Authority, and the School Attendance Committee, vice Stafford, resigned. VACANCIES. ACCRINGTON URBAN SANITARY DISTRICT. Health. Medical Officer of BRADFORD (Yorkshire) CORPORATION AND URBAN SANITARY AUTHORITY OF. Surveyor. BRIDGEND LOCAL BOARD AND URBAN SANITARY AUTHORITY, Glamorganshire. Collector. CAMBRIDGE IMPROVEMENT COMMISSIONERS AND URBAN SANITARY AUTHORITY. Clerk 200l. per ann. CHIPPENHAM RURAL SANITARY DISTRICT. Medical Officer of Health: 100l. per ann. Application, 14th instant, to Jacob Phillips, Clerk to the Authority. EAST BARNET VALLEY LOCAL BOARD AND URBAN SANITARY AUTHORITY. Surveyor and Inspector of Nuisances: 120l. per ann. Applicati on, 8th instant, to the Chairman, Local Board, New Barnet. GAINSBOROUGH RURAL SANITARY DISTRICT. Medical Officer of Health: 50%. per ann. Inspector of Nuisances: 2007. per ann. HAVERFORDWEST. Public Analyst. LYMINGTON URBAN SANITARY DISTRICT. Medical Officer of Health. Application to B. G. Burford, Clerk to the Authority. RURAL MALMESBURY MALMESBURY HIGHWAY DISTRICT AND SANITARY DISTRICT. Surveyor and Inspector of Nuisances: 140l. and 60l. per ann. Application, February 19, to Thomas H. Chubb, Clerk to the Authority. TOTNES, CORPORATION AND URBAN SANITARY AUTHORITY OF. Treasurer. NOTICE. THE SANITARY RECORD is published every Friday morning, Annual and may be ordered direct from the Publishers. Subscription, 175. 4d.; free by post, 19s. 6d. Reading Covers to hold 12 numbers of THE SANITARY RECORD have been prepared, and may be had direct from the Publishers or through any Bookseller, price 35. AIR INLETS (continued.)-Special Window Inlets.-An attempted method of obtaining an inlet of air by the window medium, without causing draughts, and which is mentioned only to show its absurdity, was lately invented, and consisted in making a number of perforations in the rails and styles of the sashes. These holes were filled with Were the idea charcoal and covered with wire gauze. of making such perforations a good one, which it cannot be, inasmuch as the pores of the charcoal would soon fill with the rain or the moisture of condensation; it is not a novel one, for it was first introduced by Mr. Blake in 1849. He however used no charcoal, and covered up the gauze covered orifices with sliding closures. Even in his case the metal filling up would be subject to rust. The same system was brought out by Mr. Wainwright in 1858, but he varied it by filling up the holes with circular perforated cylinders, which admitted air into the room when pulled out drawer-fashion inside the apartment. Such contrivances are, however, the merest makeshifts, and are only resorted to by tyros. A legitimate system of sash perforation may be noticed hereafter. When it appears desirable to supply air to a room at Sash Perforation Inlet. ASH Section of Currall's Bottom-sish Air Inlet. D is the metal piece which is supplied. E Elevation of Currall's Window Inlet above. D represents the metal deflector, and E the level of the window board, the device of Mr. Currall, largely manufactured in Birmingham, will prove effective. The inlet is secured by making a bevelled inlet in the bottom rail of the lower sash of window, and fixing before the opening, and on the top of the bottom bead inside, metal ventilating deflector. The air is delivered in an upward direction. a a cover supplied when desirable. Air is very often introduced into rooms at the level of the window-sill, and the system can work least harm when A the incoming atmosphere is sufficiently broken up. plan in use in London, and known as Jones's Inlet Apparatus, consists of two curved tubes fixed to two sliding boards, and fitted together by means of two regulating screws, which render this inlet contrivance adjustable to any ordinary width of window. The upper extremities of the tubes are covered with a finely-perforated zinc plate, which, to a It is, great extent, prevents the admission of blacks. moreover, fitted up with a valve so as to give control over the volume of air admitted. The tubes are manufactured Jones's Bottom-sash Air Inlet. Both the round and square forms are shown. either round or square. In fixing them the bottom sash of the window is opened, and the ventilators-with the elbows pointing to the ceiling-are fitted in the opening by drawing the two boards apart to the requisite width of the window. After screwing them tightly together the sash is lowered down to the top of the ventilator. It has not often been attempted to admit air through an opening at the bottom of the window, and at the same time to simultaneously withdraw it by lowering the top sash. In 1851 Mr. Cogan tried a method of withdrawing the vitiated air in this way by means of a hopper projecting into the room. In the flat cover of the hopper was a longitudinal aperture, and it was supposed that the outer air entering by the bottom sash and mostly escaping out again by deflecting against the hopper, would suck the foul air along with it through the longitudinal slit in the top of the hopper. It was also sought by Mr. Robb in 1862 to establish a healthy current within a room by covering both the top and bottom openings, made by lowering the top sash and raising the lower, with some perforated material. Both of these devices failed in accomplishing their object, as might have been expected. A plan of inlet as well as outlet contrived in the one window, and at the top and bottom openings provided by the lowered and raised sashes, is very largely patronised in America, and is known as the Protective system. The Lower Protective or inlet ventilator is fixed in any common sash window after the bottom portion has been raised about 5 inches. The air enters direct from the outside, and is passed through a filtering screen of fibrous material, of twenty thicknesses which do not exclude all air. It is also frequently used as a means of admitting air to heating stoves and coils and other warmUpper Protective Outlet Ventilator. ing media. The heated air Lower Protective Inlet Ventilator. is removed by means of the Upper Protective or outlet ventilator. It consists of two moveable screens of fibrous material which are supposed to open by the pressure of the inner impure air, and to close if acted upon by the outer air. To accommodate the upper or efflux ventilator, the top sash has to be lowered some 6 inches. Doubtless in very hot weather, and with a plurality of windows in a room, the system would operate sufficiently well. Section of Lower Protective. Many contrivances have been from time to time introduced for the admission and withdrawal of air at the top of the window by inventors who supposed that both inlet and outlet ventilation could be obtained at that level. For example, the top sash when lowered was made to drag down telescopic or rule-jointed perforated or gauze louvres or hoods. When the upper sash was pulled down the ventilators just covered the openings made. Such artifices were common from 1853 to 1865, and were introduced by Messrs. Palmer, Fast, Tell, and White, but soon ceased to Occupy attention. A curious system of a sought for simultaneous influx and efflux at the level of the top bar of the upper sash was brought out by Mr. Green in 1864. He fitted in the opening made by lowering the top sash, a perforated cylinder, the fresh air being supposed to enter the room by way of the lower holes, and the vitiated air to find a natural exit at the top perforations. All errors of this kind arose from a confusion of inlets with outlets. An opening is frequently made in the lowest part of windows for the admission of air to places requiring it, and a device largely patronised is the introduction into the opening of a box fitted up with gauze and roller. Flush SCREEN WIRE CAUZE Controllable Inlet, with blind. with the outside of the box is a panel of wire gauze, and before it, on the inside, is a self winding-up screen of some semi-airtight material, which is pulled down if the entering air Such prove too cool. ENGLISH QUARANTINE. THE earliest legislative enactment in England on the subject of extrinsic quarantine, with the view of preventing the importation of the plague by arrivals from abroad, was in the early part of last century. Before that time, whenever it was thought necessary by the Government to impose quarantine restrictions on vessels coming from infected countries, the requisite orders had been issued by the King in council, or by municipal authorities acting under a Royal proclamation. These orders were of course only temporary, and ceased with the occasion. They were directed rather against the spreading of the disease in a locality where it should appear, or had already appeared, than against its apprehended importation from without, and they related therefore not so much to extrinsic as to intrinsic quarantine. Such, for example, was the case with the Act passed in 1604 to give legislative force to the orders which had been issued by the Privy Council in the preceding year against the infection of the plague, and the chief provision of which was empowering the justices of the peace to shut up infected houses (the doors having been marked with a red cross), with all their inmates, the sick and healthy together, and to prohibit, under severe penalties, the egress or entrance of any person for a prescribed period, which was usually of forty days, or une quarantaine. Penalties were also inflicted upon all persons going abroad with any suspicious symptom or mark of the disease upon them. To the credit of the then House of Lords, this arbitrary and irrational enactment did not pass without strong opposition from many of the peers; but notwithstanding the repugnance of an enlightened minority of the community, similar measures continued to be resorted to for long afterwards, in seasons of public alarm. After the great visitation of 1665, the plague ceased to reappear in its epidemic from amongst us, and after 1679 no deaths form the disease were recorded. In 1710, however, in consequence of the alarm occasioned by the prevalence of the disease at Dantzic and other ports of the Baltic, the first quarantine enactment was hurried through the Legislature. The Act was soon found to be very imperfect, and remained in force for only a few years. Subsequently other Acts were passed, in 1721, in 1733, 1743, 1753, 1788, 1800, and 1805, the details of which need not here be discussed. In 1819 a select committee was appointed by the House of Commons to consider the validity of the doctrine of contagion in the plague,' and as a result of their labours the Quarantine Act of 1825 was introduced and passed. This Act and the Orders of Council made under it are still in force, and it is hardly possible to repress a smile when perusing the cumbrous and barbarous provisions which, under the old mistaken notions about plague, have been inserted in them. As knowledge progressed and years rolled on, suc | cessive relaxations were made in the stringency of the regulations, and in the Session of 1844 the House of Commons resolved that this House approves of the various relaxations of the laws and regulations which have from time to time been introduced, and desires that such further relaxations may be urged upon the attention of Foreign Governments and adopted at home, as may be found compatible with a due regard to the public health and the commercial interests of the community.' The report published by the General Board of Health in 1849, recommending the abolition of all quarantine restrictions and the substitution of sanitary measures in the ports of arrival and departure, helped still further to bring quarantine into disrepute. The idea of quarantine in England has thus gradually become more and more obsolete, and the possibility of enforcing it has concurrently declined. As successive Governments advanced further and further in relinquishing what probably at its best was only a sham of quarantine, corresponding reductions of establishment have been made, till at the present moment England has not in readiness the means of properly quarantining even a single ship. Even if reversal of our recent policy were ever so much desired, it could not be effected off-hand. Enormous first expenditure of money in creation of proper lazarets would be wanted, as well as subsequent very large annual outlays for maintaining the The time also which necessary establishments. would be required for bringing the organisation into work forbids the supposition that it could ever be done on emergency. Thus, were the country ever so ready to endure those extreme restrictions without which the whole system is fruitless and absurd, the means for imposing them do not exist. To extemporise a cordon sanitaire is simply and totally impossible; and no partial quarantine can for national purposes be relied on. Although the Quarantine Act of 1825 provides for land quarantine and the quarantine of inland waters, as well as for maritime quarantine (internal and external quarantine, so to speak), it does not appear that internal quarantine has ever been enforced in this country since the Act was passed. Maritime quarantine alone has been practised, and this has been applied to three diseases only, all of them infectious diseases of foreign origin, viz., plague, cholera, and yellow fever. Against cholera, quarantine has not been enforced since 1858, its futility as a precautionary measure in this country having then been abundantly manifested. Except at the present time there has been no question of plague in English ports for a considerable period; so that yellow fever is now the sole disease subjected to quarantine in our ports. This is, however, not with any real sanitary object, but solely with the view of relieving our maritime commerce from disabilities which would otherwise be imposed upon it by other countries in which quarantine is regarded as an essential part of their public health administration. The regulation, moreover, of quarantine in England is not a function of that department of the Government which is concerned with sanitary administration (the Local Government Board), but is a function of the Privy Council Office, which, aided by the Board of Trade, deals with it as an international commercial question. Certain duties which, under the Quarantine Act, and some subsequent Acts referring to it, are assigned to the Local Government Board, are not really for |