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more than one, as previous inspection of the locality wasmade by the department in 1861, on the occasion of the

prevalence of enteric fever), are, speaking in general terms,defective drainage owing to the want of thorough and fre-quent inspection and repairing of drain pipes, and theexposure of sewage at main outfalls; the want of properprivy accommodation, those existing being bad; the exist-ence of filthy pigsties in too close proximity to dwellings;the exposure of excrement and dung; the dirty state of theslaughterhouses and the exposure of the blood of slaugh-tered animals; the general want of cleanliness in thestreets ; the pollution of the water used for domestic pur-poses, and also the inadequate quantity of the supply ; andthe absence of precautionary measures for preventing thespread of contagion.

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As regards the drainage, Gunnislake and Calstock appearto be provided with drains, and these were intended princi-pally for house slops and surface-water, though they nowreceive sewage. The other villages are reported to be totallydevoid of drainage. Excrement appears to be disposed ofjust as each person fancies; in many cases the contents ofchamber-pots are thrown either over the ash-heaps or overthe garden, and it is not a matter of surprise that the piecesof garden-ground which are attached to the houses shouldbe described as "sodden" with filth. The other villages, thereport says, " are totally devoid of drainage."The water-supply appears to be of the most precarious

description, both in quantity and sources ; and as regardsthe latter, the report appears to say that from one only (anold adit at Calstock town) is unpolluted water obtained.Two notable instances of the use of polluted water are given, one at a place called Crocker’s Cottages, where the inhabi-tants use water from a well which has "pigsties just aboveit, and slops and washings from a slaughter-house coursedown a stony path by the side of it." The other, "Hooper’sWell," near a cowshed, the drainage from which Dr. Blaxall"could trace to the well." Fever and diarrhoea, are re-ported to be "generally present" in Crocker’s Cottages.The local authorities, the Tavistock Board of Guardians

and the Calstock Vestry, according to the report, "havedone literally nothing" towards improving the sanitarystate of the district; and, as is not unfrequently the case,they appeared to be scarcely aware of their respectiveduties and responsibilities. The recommendations madeare, in short, that a proper system of scavenging and ex-crement disposal should be adopted, that cleanliness shouldbe enforced, that the drainage and water-supply should beimproved, and that all nuisances should be removed, to dowhich a paid inspector of nuisances should be appointed.The report also strongly advocates the " appointment of amedical practitioner to advise the local authority in allsanitary questions, especially such as have reference to themeasures necessary to be adopted for the prevention of thespread of contagions diseases."In this recommendation we heartily concur, and we hope

that the authority will quickly act upon such good advice,for experience tells us that in those places which have effi-cient medical officers of health the death-rate is speedilyreduced, and preventable diseases cease to have full sway.

THE DUBLIN MAIN-DRAINAGE QUESTION.

WE have received from Dr. Charles Fredk. Moore, ofDublin, a carefully drawn-up communication, entitled 11 A

Statement and Queries," regarding the proposed new systemof drainage of that city, for which, owing to its length,we are unable to find room. For many a long year the Liffeyhas been made the receptacle of the city sewage, with theeffect of rendering that river more and more offensive, untilits condition has become intolerable, and might, at anytime, prove a source of danger. That the stream should no

longer continue to be polluted by the sewage, and thatsome system should be adopted by which this may bediverted elsewhere, are matters that do not, to our minds,admit of any doubt. The corporation will have to borrowsome £350,000, on the security of the rates, to carry outthe scheme proposed by them. Their plan is shortly toconvey the sewage through the heart of the city, pass it, by

cyphons under the Liffey, through a main, for a consider-able distance to a pumping station on the north side of thecity, and ultimately to carry it by a main sewer within a.

sea wall to the North Bull, a large sandy tract eight milesaway from the commencement of the sewers. At the Bullanother pumping station is to be built, and two large reser-voirs, wherein subsidence of the more solid matters, it is-

hoped, will take place in time to let their contents beemptied on the ebb tide, so as to admit of the solid mattersbeing carted away and buried in the sand. For sixteenhours daily, it is said, there can be no outflow of the sew-age. There are, as is well known, great differences of

opinion as to the relative merits of the water carriage and.other systems of drainage. We are far from shutting oureyes to the defects contingent on the former ; but we holdthat it is, on the whole, to be preferred in the case of alarge city like Dublin. How far it might be practicable toutilise the canals, north and south of the city, which com-municate with the Liffey, for conveying refuse matters tocountry districts, we do not know. Assuming, however, inthe meantime that the principle of water-carriage adoptedby the corporation is the right one, it strikes us that theirproposal involves a very serious defect. No provision ismade in their scheme for the utilisation of the sewage, andthe consequence will be, nnancially speaking, a very greatwaste of money. At Edinburgh, for example, the thriftyScotchman turns the city sewage to good account, and theland that receives it yields a good return in the shape ofrental; then why could not this be done in Dublin ? Surelythere must either be waste land capable of being re-

deemed, or, at any rate, land accessible in position andadapted for irrigation? The outlay involved in effectivelycarrying out the main drainage will be a very considerableone, and it will fall upon persons already heavily taxed,-and seemingly with disproportionate weight upon the leastwealthy part of the city. As far as medical considerations areconcerned, also, the carting away and burying of the solidmatters, amounting to very many tons daily, in sandsaturated with salt water, appear to us a bad method, and,for all we know, may prove a dangerous one if the sewagedecomposes, and there be people residing sufficiently nearto be influenced by the products of the decomposition. Asto whether the mouth of a tidal river such as the Liffeywould be in any danger of being blocked up by thedeposit of sewage, we are unable to form an opinion;but its possible influence in this respect should be borne in.mind.

THE SMALL-POX EPIDEMIC.

PROGRESS OF THE EPIDEMIC.

THE Registrar-General reports that the fatal cases of

small-pox in London, -which in the three previous weekshad declined successively from 267 to 257 and 229, rose againlast week to 245. In seven permanent and temporary hos-pitals for this disease 108 deaths were recorded last week,of which 53, 26, and 16 respectively occurred in the insti-tutions at Hampstead, Stockwell, and Homerton. After

distributing these deaths, it appears that 39 deaths belongedto the West group of districts, 74 to the North, 21 to theCentral, 26 to the East, and 85 to the South. The fatalcases in the North districts were not quite so numerous asin the previous week, while they showed an increase in eachof the other groups of districts. The greatest fatality wasshown last week in St. Pancras, Walworth, and Battersea;in the latter sub-district, of 28 deaths 13 resulted fromsmall-pox, equal to an annual rate of 12 per 1000 of thepopulation.

SMALL-POX IN THE PROVINCES.

Small-pox in Sunderland and Newcastle accounts formore than one-third of the entire mortality for the week

ending June 10th. In Manchester there were 10 deaths,and in Liverpool 41. There is, however, a steady declinein the number of fresh cases in Liverpool, and althoughthe mortality is still high, there is a prospect of the end.

SMALL-POX IN LONGTON.

Dr. Weaver reports that small-pox has been very fatalduring the month, causing no less than 20 deaths, or anaverage of nearly 12 in 1000 of the population. The mor-