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official returns for Hungary show that there were 889cases of Asiatic cholera in Budapest last year of which

449 ended fatally. In the whole country there were 2463cases, 55 per cent. of which were fatal.

Intelligence from Rome states that two cases (one fatal)occurred in that city on 30th ult., and one since, and thatcholera still prevails at Leghorn, Palermo and at Pattimarinain the province of Messina. The disease seems to prevailmost at Palermo-32 cases and 20 deaths were recentlyExported. At Naples cholera has broken out on board twoironclads-the Affondatore and Italia-and the despatch ofthe squadron to Taranto has been countermanded for thepresent.From Madrid it is reported that there were 58 fresh cases at

Bilbao and in the surrounding district, with 19 deaths, on the30th ult. By the latest accounts the epidemic shows signs ofabatement. There were 30 cases and 3 deaths on the lst inst.,25 cases and 11 deaths on the 2nd inst., and 40 cases with 18deaths on the 3rd inst.A telegram from Santa Cruz, Teneriffe, reports the arrival

there of a steamer which sailed from Genoa with 1433

emigrants for Brazil. Owing, however, to cholera havingbroken out on board, the vessel on her arrival at Rio Grandewas not allowed to land any of her passengers and was sentack to sea. She accordingly started back across the

Atlantic to return to Europe. On her arrival at Santa Cruz123 of those on board had been attacked by cholera and 64had died; and by the time she had reached the Sardiniancoast 144 persons had died of cholera.

The Times correspondent reports from Lisbon that severalcases of cholera are alleged to have occurred at St. Vincent,one of the Cape de Verde islands.At Constantinople the outbreak in the lunatic asylum at

Scutari has virtually terminated, but cholera is not limitedto that institution. Cases have occurred at the Scutaribarracks and hospital and other places-at Kassim Pasha,Haskeui, Azap Kapou, and in the valley facing DolmaBagteche. The two first-named places suffered severely in1871.

Cholera is decreasing in the Netherlands, but cases stillmake their appearance at Rotterdam. Since the 21st ult.46 cases and 27 deaths have occurred there. According to atelegram from Amsterdam on the 3rd inst. only 8 cases ofcholeraic disease and 2 deaths occurred in Holland on that

day.As regards France, the outbreak at Brest seems to be

virtually over. Since June, when it began, there have been about250 deaths from the disease. The two adjoining villages,Kerinou and Poul Canastroc, have suffered even more

severely, entire households having died of cholera in a fewhours. Four deaths from cholera occurred at Brest on the2nd inst. and 2 cases (1 fatal) at Camaret.A steamer-the JLMMM, from Poti-arrived at Malta on the

29th ult. with a case of cholera on board.

Intelligence from Teheran states that a number of sporadic- cases of cholera have occurred in that city since the 21st ult.and that the disease is increasing in the south.

CHOLERA AT HULL.(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

The First Cases.-The Drainage of Hull.-The Isolation Hos-pitals.-The Hospital Ship.-Tke Sanitary Cod2zm2.-Military Discipline and Promptit1lde.AT Hull, just as at Grimsby, the death-rate from diarrhoea,

has been exceptionally high this summer. Nevertheless, asthe proportion of adults who died barely amounted to 6 percent., there was reason to hope that the diarrhoea was simplydue to the exceptionally hot weather. The practice of feeding

infants from the bottle, always dangerous, is of course espe-cially fatal in its results when the weather is so hot that themilk turns sour more rapidly than usual. Unfortunately thenumber of bottle-fed children annually increases. It will beremembered that, at the French yYorkmen’s Sanitary Con-gress, a resolution was carried demanding that it should beillegal to sell bottles for the artificial feeding of infants.The sanitary authorities at Hull would perhaps be preparedto support such a measure, for they attribute much of theinfantile mortality to the careless and too general use ofbottle feeding as a substitute for mother’s milk. OnAug. 16th a man living in a lodging-house manifested sym-ptoms that seemed to indicate something worse than thediarrhoea so generally prevalent during a hot summer. Effortswere made to obtain bacteriological evidence as to the realcharacter of the illness, but when the town authorities came tocollect material for the examination the patient had alreadyrecovered. The second case occurred on Aug. 24th. A healthy,active lad, who was very fond of swimming, had been bathingin a little stream that serves as a land drain and receivessome sewage. He came out of the water saying that he hadI got a mouthful. " After this bath the boy sickened and diedin a few hours. Bacteriological examination proved this tobe a case of true Asiatic cholera. Other boys who had bathedat the same place and at the same time, but who did notcomplain of having swallowed water, suffered from diarrhoea.Some days later two women, mother and daughter, fell illand died from cholera. They lived in the same neighbourhoodas the boy, but had no communication whatever with him.Nor did it seem that any of these first cases were brought incontact with the port, the shipping, or with persons coming fromabroad. Careful inquiries were made and the impression pre-vails that, if the cholera is not of home growth, then thegerms must have been imported from abroad last year andhave been revivified and multiplied during the late exception-ally hot summer. However this may be, the cholera did notspread ; there have been, if I remember right, only 9 deathsin all, yet Hull has a population of 208,639 inhabitants. Butnow, according to the latest advices, some fresh cases arereported. Not only has Hull about four times as many inhabit-ants as Grimsby, but it labours under the further disadvantagethat its houses are much older and, in many places, denselycrowded together. There are real slums in Hull and thereare apparently much more poverty, squalor and wretched-ness. Nevertheless, the town has made much the betterfight against cholera. This is the more instructive as thetwo towns are close to each other, both lying on the flatshores of the Humber. They are too near to differ in anymaterial manner in climate and in rainfall. In the matter of

drainage both suffer from an insufficient fall. At Hull, as atGrimsby, the sewers used to be tide-locked ; but as far backas the year 1884 the former town spent .620,000 in order tocreate a pumping station. Three engines were purchased,each capable of raising and discharging 14,400,000 gallons ofsewage in twenty-four hours. The rising tide, by closingthe outlet of the old main sewer, displaced, it was estimated,2,500,000 cubic feet of sewer air ; to ventilate the sewers wastherefore a matter of the greatest difficulty. Now that thereis a continuous outfall, this difficulty, this daily displacementand forcing backwards into the town of sewer air, no longertakes place. At the east side of the town, however, works ofa similar description are not completed, and in that quarterthe drainage is not yet what could be desired.

In spite of the sewers there are only a few waterclosets atHull. Most of the houses are provided with privies in theback yards. These privies are small middens, which, how-ever, are emptied once a week. The authorities have pro-vided special carts for the removal of the excreta and seethat this is done regularly; but unfortunately many of thehouses are so poor, so small, and so cramped together that theycannot be approached at the back. As there are no boxesor pails in the closets, the night soil has to be shovelled outinto buckets, and these buckets must be carried through theground floor living-room in order to reach the cart in thestreet. Of course this operation, however carefully performed,must give rise to some nuisance, and particles of dust orcinders that have been in contact with dejecta escape fromthe midden or the buckets and settle within the walls of the

dwelling-house. Thus there exists the same grievance, thesame danger, as that occasioned by the box-closets at

Grimsby. In order to reduce the evil effect of this systemthe town sanitary authority provides a special sanitary pail,devised by Dr. Mason, the medical officer of health, whichcloses hermetically. These pails are sent out in all cases of

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typhoid fever or of choleraic diarrhoea,. They are removed 1every day, and this is a service which occasions considerablelabour and expense. I have seen some of the accounts and Ifind that the cost of providing pails for one single case oftyphoid fever amounted to ,E1 ills. 6d. this was, however,the highest, though not an unfrequent, figure. Altogetherthe service of these sanitary pails costs about ,E40 per month.The pails contain a mixture of sawdust and carbolic acid,and are taken from the patient’s house to the town destructor,in which the contents are burnt. This destructor was erectedin 1881 and cost ;E8000. Here also all the dry dust, marketrefuse and the carcases of diseased animals are cremated.

In 1885, at the cost of E15 000, a sanatorium was erectedhaving accommodation for 150 fever patients, with wardswhere persons in good health can be placed under obser-vation. The Infectious Diseases Notification Act came

into force at Hull in February, 1890, and all classes ofthe community now avail themselves of the sanatorium for

. purposes of isolation. Those who can afford it may pay a

guinea a week and are placed in special private rooms. Thecholera patients are taken to an old wood and brick structure,which served as a cholera hospital in 1866. Here cases ofsmall-pox have been treated, and here the small-pox patientsremain, in spite of the presence of cholera patients. Of course

they are separated, as far as it is possible to separate personsunder a single roof ; nevertheless it does not seem right.This hospital, known as the Garrison Hospital, has an openspace behind where tents can be erected so as to receivenumerous patients, and the authorities have at their

disposal a reserve of 200 beds. These beds cost, allcomplete, 14s each. They consist of a folding ironframe, so that they can be kept in a small space. Acanvas covering is fastened to the framework by a ropeIt can be detached and burnt if soiled, as also can themattress and rugs, and it is easy to disinfect the remainingiron portion of the bed. All cases of cholera found on boardships coming into the port are removed to a hospital shipwhich has been especially prepared for them. Dr. Masontook me to visit this ship, and certainly the preparations theremade are of a most comprehensive character. The ship isan old Norwegian sailing vessel, one of those stolid, old-fashioned, tub-shaped boats. The deck amidships has beenremoved and the space covered over by a deck-house. Fromthe lower deck to the roof of the deck-house there is a heightof two floors, and this forms a lofty, light and well-aired ward.All round there is a gallery which makes a covered walk andalso leads to the baths. Without going to extravagance carehas been displayed in making the ship look cheerful. Bright,light-coloured paint preserves the sides ; there are a fewflowers, and everything that can be polished is made to shinebrightly. On the forecastle deck there is a stove for dis-

infecting by steam under pressure ; but I cannot say thatthis service is well appointed, as there is no separation betweenthe side where the infected articles are introduced into thestove and the side whence they are taken out. It is needlessto say that no dejecta from the patients are allowed to enterthe river ; they are all burnt in the furnace of the boiler thatprovides the steam for the disinfecting stove.On returning from the hospital ship we were informed

that a telegram had reached the town-hall announcing a caseof cholera in one of the poorest quarters of Hull. This affordedme an excellent opportunity of seeing how the service ofremoval and disinfection was organised. Dr. Mason at once

telephoned for his brougham. In less than ten minutes wewere on our way and a few minutes later we had arrived at thenarrow entrance of a small court. On each side of the courtthere was a row of very small red-brick cottages. Dr. Masonhad not terminated his examination of the patient when theambulance was already on the spot. Without losing amoment the patient was placed on a stretcher, and even Ibefore he was removed the disinfectors bad, in their turn,arrived and were preparing to act. The patient, in this case apoor labourer, was sent first ; his wife and children were,at the same time, told to prepare to proceed to the hospital.where they would be kept under observation whilst the housewas being disinfected. The dejecta from the patientwere mixed with sawdust and carbolic acid, carefully scrapedup and placed in pails which were hermetically closed.At the same time, in the back yard, the midden wascleared out and a strong solution of lime was thrown downthe drain ; a hose was affixed to the hydrant in the streetand brought down the court ; the gullies in the court werealso carefully cleaned out by hand, and it was riot till allthe mud and heavy deposits had been taken out and placed

in buckets ready to be conveyed to the town destructor thatthe water was turned on and the drains flushed from the

hydrant. Whilst two men (who are called nusbers) werethus attending to the drains, two other men (called white-washers) had mixed lime and water and were busy white-washing the walls of the closet and the back yard. Two othermen (called the disinfectors) were also busy ; they had putout the fires in the house, had mixed some paste and,had cut long strips of paper. The whitewashing finished,the drains flushed, the soil removed and the house ccm-

pletely evacuated, they proceeded to close up every aperturepreviously to sttting light to the sulphur so as to fumigate theentire cottage. The whole operation was completed withinan hour of our departure from the town-ball. Dr. Masontold me that on one occasion they removed two patients,from opposite ends of the town and brought them to thehospital within an hour and a half of the notification of thecases. For promptitude and thoroughness I have never seenanything so well organised anywhere ; the staff or sani-

tary column, as it is called, is thoroughly trained andrigid military discipline is enforced ; they act like a firmbrigade, work with the same promptitude and each man.is equally well taught the routine of his special depait-ment. Thus, without having to give directions, without.

losing any time in explanations or conversation, flushers,whitewashers, disinfectors, all set to work quietly, simul-

taneously, and stamp out at once all medium of infection.The scene is as impressive as that of a house on fire. There-are the police keeping the eager and curious crowd back :,there are the hose and rush of water and the whitewashers intheir special costume ; and there is the patient borne away on.a stretcher amidst the tears and exclamations of his familyand his neighbours. Then follows the clatter of horses.as the ambulance dashes through the crowd up to the;

hospital. Soon another carriage takes the family awayand still louder lamentations and cries fill the narrow courts; nbut it is soon all over, the house is closed, and throughthe windows the thick fumes of sulphur may be seen. The-officials withdraw from the court, leaving the neighboursgathered in clusters to discuss to their hearts’ content theevents of the day. Long before I had time to drive tothe hospital the patient was already comfortably insta11ed:in a clean bed and in the care of trained nurses. His wifeand family were there also, but in a separate ward. Theywere to be bathed and their clothes disinfected, and a com-fortable meal given them. In all these matters the town;

spares no expense, nor does it consider the possible action ofthe board of guardians or any other body who might be heldresponsible for the cost. The one thought is to preservethe public health by saving time, and the quickest methodto obtain this is to pay for everything. As a result the

sanitary column accomplishes its work without let or

hindrance. The sanitary inspectors are popular and every-thing is done with so much promptitude order and disci-pline that the people concerned have not the time to thinkor to resist. The vigour displayed dispels all doubt, disarmsall resistance, and convinces even the poorest and the most.ignorant that what is done is for the best.

CHOLERA IN THE ABRUZZI.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT IN ITALY.)

"HEAT without sun, wind without air, rain without fresh-ness "-such is the definition of scirocco-weather, which

always aggravates epidemic mischief when such is prevalent,as in the Leghorn of to-day. For the last seventy-two hourfthat detested atmospheric current has been blowing all overItaly from its place of origin in the Sahara, and bringing with it.the enervation, the vital depression and the lowered resisting-power under which cholera spreads. "Una lieve recrudeseerza,del morbo" (a slight recrudescence in the disease) is admitteciby the authorities of Leghorn-a result attested more preciselyby the figures of the bulletin, which states that from noon ofthe 23rd to noon of the 24th inst. 9 fresh cases occurred wih 4.deaths. The medical staff, however, are working with greatvigilance and energy and there is little doubt that the malady-has reached its acme in the town and will tend to diminish

both in the number and the severity of the attacks. MeaR-