We do not like the reports which are coming in
about the plague. The epidemic shows decided symptoms of recrudescence in India, especially at Poona, where the resignation which is the Indian form of fortitude appears to have given way, the population flying by thousands a day. It is prevalent at Hong-kong, it is raging, we greatly fear, at Mecca, and it has made a lodgment in Europe at its weakest point, the great and foul city of Lisbon. It is present also in Oporto, and there is every reason to believe that it will shortly be reported from Spain, where they are enforcing strict rules of quarantine a little too late. With a season like the present, hot, dry, and provo- cative of travel, the disease may easily reach Western Europe, where, though sanitary laws are understood and in a measure obeyed, "insanitary centres" still exist in frightfully large numbers. There is much attention given to drainage, but very little to ventilation. Panic is, of course, worse than ageless, but the authorities in the Southern ports of Great Britain will do well to keep a sharp look out on steamers from Southern Europe, to have separate hospital accommodation ready, and, above all, to see that the longshore section of their own towns is less desperately filthy than usual. Crowding should be regarded for a month or two as an offence against the community.
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