GREAT EPIDEMICS ASIATIC CHOLERA. 395 



on the quay at ten o'clock in the morning, and the landing- 

 plank was withdrawn. The passengers, guarded by the 

 quarantine soldiers, were obliged to remain, without food 

 or drink, in the hot sun till four in the afternoon. At last, 

 surrounded by lines of functionaries, they were led to the 

 inspection-room. There a physician questioned them and 

 made them undress completely. A coarse shirt and Russian 

 soldier's coat were then given them. Their clothes were 

 not given back until twenty-four hours later, after fumigat- 

 ing. Their seclusion lasted fifteen days, though there was 

 no epidemic either in Russia or in any of the ports at which 

 the vessel had touched. In 1856 these severities were put 

 an end to. They were again put in force, though a little 

 moderated. At present, the cholera prevailing in Odessa, 

 quarantine is in operation, and employs a large force of 

 men. Now De Valcourt, on his return from Russia, as- 

 serts that thirty travelers a day, on an average, land at 

 Odessa and perform quarantine there, while four hundred 

 travelers arrive by rail, and^pass freely into the town. On 

 the side of Turkey it is quite as easy to elude quarantine 

 regulations. This year, the Ottoman Government, to pro- 

 tect the country against the cholera prevailing in Russia, 

 has established a quarantine of ten full daj^s at Sulina for 

 ships going to the Danube, on the Bosporus for those 

 bound to Constantinople, and at Batoum for those coming 

 from the ports of the Caucasus. Besides, it has discon- 

 tinued steam service between Galatz and Odessa. What 

 is the result ? It is this, that travelers leave Russia by the 

 Wolociska Railway to the frontier between Austria and 

 Russia, and reach Constantinople by Vienna and Burrach, 

 as the Russian embassador near the Sublime Porte has 

 just done. The railway joining Kichenev to Jassy will 

 soon be finished and the passage will be very much more 

 shortened. Quarantine, therefore, is futile. 



It must be admitted that the system of quarantines offers 



