746 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION I. 
local authority carried out a systematic inspection of all 
troops and others after embarking at Cape Town. For this, 
Dr. Thomas, who had had a great deal of experience of 
plague in Bombay, was responsible; and I can testify from 
repeated and extensive personal observation to the thorough- 
ness and efficacy of the inspection. 
All invalid-ships, and troopships with returning drafts, 
besides being inspected in the ordinary manner by the 
Embarking Medical Officer, were specially imspected, and 
had instructions given by the Surgeon-General personally 
regarding all possible contingencies relative to the appear- 
ance of plague or other such disease during the voyage ; 
and there is no doubt that the confidence begotten by this 
in the responsible medical officers of the ship was a very 
strong element in the total results. - 
If results count for anything as a guarantee of the effi- 
cacy of a method, then the plague administration by the 
military authorities at Cape Town should have much to 
commend it. Nine months have passed since the time of 
which I write, and although many thousand troops, invalids, 
and others have left Cape Town during that time, I do not 
find that any case of plague has been exported by any 
troopship or invalid-ship from Cape Town, or that any 
suspicious case has occurred on board any ship after leaving 
that port. 
