GREAT EPIDEMICS—ASIATIC CHOLERA. 295 
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plank was withdrawn.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 days 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 
