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XXVIII] these merely till they could be thoroughly disinfected. Thus inconvenience and loss to travellers and merchants were small, and the temptation to conceal cases of the disease or to evade regulations was proportionately minimized. Any cholera cases were isolated in suitable hospitals, the rest of the crew and passengers, although supervised for a time, being given free pratique. At the same time, attention was not diverted from the sanitation of towns, especially of seaports; this was the measure mainly relied on. Suspicious cases occurring on shore were at once reported to the sanitary authorities and promptly dealt with, fomites being destroyed or disinfected at as little cost and inconvenience to individuals as possible. Every endeavour was made to prevent fæcal contamination of the public water supply.

Of late years in India effort is being directed much 011 the same lines, attention being given to sanitation rather than to quarantine. During the great religious festivals the sanitary condition of the devotees is looked after so far as practicable, special care being given to provide them with good drinking and bathing- water. Many of the large Indian towns now enjoy an abundant and pure water supply; and civilized systems of night-soil conservancy and other important sanitary measures are being gradually introduced, and, in the case of more than one great city, with the most gratifying results. Among the troops in India, on the appearance of cholera in their neighbourhood, special protective measures are promptly instituted, elaborate directions having been drawn up for the guidance of medical officers. For an account of these regulations the reader is referred to the Annual Report of the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of India for 1895, Appendix, p. 189.

Incubation period.— All quarantine and protective systems must take cognizance of the fact that, although cholera may declare itself within a few hours of exposure to infection, it may also do so at any time up to ten days thereafter; three to six days may be set down as the usual duration of the incubation period.