omit mention of one or two quaint and unusual methods of disposing of the dead which are practised by the hill tribes in Assanm.
Cremation as ordinarily carried out by Hindus is fairly satisfactory; but there are times wvhen the burning ghats require supervision, especially during epidemics. The experienced civil officer knows very well that there is a good deal of poisoning in India, and that cremation very effectually prevents the detection of many crimes. There is in India very little registration of deaths, and tbe whole matter of death certificates and vital statistics is in a most picions. There are only too many lying tongues to unsatisfactory condition; and it would be quite whisper a hint of poisoned wells, of defilement of impossible to insist on the general observance of regulations, such as those which have been formulated by the Committee of the Home Department, which was appointed in view of the provisions of the Cremation Act, 1902. In times of epidemics cremation in India is often hasty and incomplete, a fact in which Sir Alfred Lyall finds an explanation of the Hindu practice of burying those who die of small- pox. No changes, however, can be introduced save in the way of extending cremation among Europeans and native Cbristians and in gradually insisting that Hindu cremation shall be decently and efficiently conducted. Both the Mahommedans and the Parsis, declare their respective methods of disposing of the dead to be intimatelyassociated with their religion.
The Disposal of Facal Matter and Sewage.-An efficient system of outfall drainage is not maintained, nor is it possible in the vast majority of towns in India; and after all such systems are very costly to provide and to maintain. So many towns in India are inland towns and the central Government would never allow a system of drainage to be introduced to any town which might prejudicially affect their smaller neigh- larly liable to enteric, bas long, weary hours to wile bours. The system therefore imust be self-contained, away, everything should be done to see that he drinks and must provide for the town as an unit without in any degree interfering with the comfort or sanitation of their neighbours. India is still a country of small villages and small towDs. There are two systems in actual force, the Trench system and the Incinerator system.
(1) The advantage of the TRENCH system seems to consist in the fact that it is cheap, and that the “ mehtar " or "sweeper" has no difficulty in under- standing what he has to do. The trenches should be wide and shallow, so that the bactericidal action of the sun may have full effect. This system is, however, practicable only on a small scale aud in places where advantage, but as the following story shows, it is well land is cheap. It is not possible to use it with advant- age in places where the soil is alluvial or clayey and capable of retaining moisture, and in the rains which vary from 680 inches in Chberra Puriji to 15 inches in Ajmere and less, trenches are almost worse than use- less. Light, dry soil is necessary for the proper work- ing of the Trench system.
(2) As regards the INCINERATOR system, it is un- doubtedly much more eficient than its rival, but it must be absolutely simple and there must be complete and said: " Sahib, we have been told that if this is combustion, otherwise the sınell is intolerably disgust- ing. The need for simplicity is absolute, because the incinerator is practically left in charge of the lowest caste and most ignorant of natives. I know from my experience of Imphal, the cupital of Manipur, a town of 30,000 inhabitants, that the incinerator system can be worked successfully if there is constant supervision.
In the villages of rural India " there is as yet no attempt at sanitation. The crow, the kite, the vulture, the pariah dog, the pig, act as scavengers, with very considerable success. destroy what there remains, but the hosts of evil flies and insects pollute the food and water. The first thing to do is to interest the people. It is difficult but it is not impossible. Extreme tact is necessary because they view our innovations with jealous sus- The strong, hot sun must caste and horrors innumerable when sanitary measures are commenced. There is seldom open opposition, and it is almost never possible to track these malicious lies home to their authors. Therefore the sanitary reformer must go prudently and avoid offending native prejudice.
Ěpidemic Diseases.-Cholera, enteric, plague, small- pox, malaria, are the five epidemic diseases, against which the sanitariau bas to devise special prophy- lactic measures. waterborne diseases, and there is a mass of evidence to show that flies and insects also convey the infection. The purity of the water supply must therefore be primarily secured. easy thing in a hot climate, an old servant of mine once remonstrated with me for ordering the servants to clean off the cobwebs, as he said the spiders ate the flies, and destroyed the poisonous ties. There may be something in it, and perhaps some scientist will eventually prove that spiders play a very valuable part as scavengers in the economy of Nature. cantonments where the young soldier, who is particu- Two of these are so essentially As to keeping down flies, not an In wholesome water, plain or aerated. There are soda water manufactories in the slums which take their water from filthy, stagnant tanks, which receive the sewage of the surrounding huts. These tanks ought to be filled up and the manufactories controlled nuch more rigorously than is done at present. I am not able to speak of the value of inoculation as a preven- tive of these two diseases, but in times of epidemic it should be employed as far as possible, if only for its “ moral " effect. In cholera epıdemics prophylactics, such as daily doses of dilute sulphuric acid, or pills of quinine and carbolic acid, can be used with great for the white man to take the lead. A distinguished officer who commanded a Pioneer (native) regiment told me that on return from China his regiment wvas posted to a station in a plague-infected area. He was ordered to get as many of his regiment inoculated as possible. He paraded his regiment and made an earnest appeal to them, concluding his address by inviting auy objector to step forward and state his objection. A white-haired Subadar came forward, done to us we shall all become lepers and impotent." My friend invited the Subadar to pick a tube with which he was immediately inoculated. The British oflieers were all inoculated, and every native soldier but two subnitted themselves to the process. Of
