QUAKANTINE 129 those of Ancona and the Dardanelles gave ample proof of this during the cholera epi- demic of 1865. At the present day temporary lazarettos are considered the most desirable. Floating ones have lately been used in New York. In England there is no such thing as a lazaretto, though the quarantine act of July 28, 1800, provided for the erection of a lazaret on Chetney hill, in the county of Kent. A rigorous quarantine consists in the sequestra- tion and isolation of both ships and persons for a determined time, with disinfection of every- thing susceptible of concealing morbific germs. A quarantine of observation holds ship, crew, &c., under surveillance for a certain number of days ; it may be enforced against a ship from a suspected port, or a ship in a filthy or un- healthy condition, although there may be no case of actual sickness on board. When a ship is about to sail, she is furnished by the consul of her country or other competent au- thority with a bill of health, which is her pass- port. It shows the sanitary state of the place of departure and of the points at which she has put in. A foul bill is delivered in a port where cholera, plague, or yellow fever prevails; a clean bill, where none of these diseases exist. The duration of quarantine is regulated by the nature of these documents. The declaration of the captain or master of the vessel, upon all incidents of the voyage having reference to the public health, is an act in certain circum- stances of high importance. In 1865, upon false declarations made at Suez and at Constan- tinople, two captains obtained free entry into two ports; and the terrible consequences of these lying declarations are well known. Sev- eral countries where the cattle plague is re- garded as exotic have enacted laws to prevent its spread ; and an act of parliament is believed to have prevented its spread in Great Britain. Legal enactments of the same nature, only more stringent, prevail in France and Holland, and by the Ottoman government peste bovine is equally regarded with the plague, cholera, and yellow fever. An act of congress " to pre- vent the spread of foreign diseases among the cattle of the United States" was approved Dec. 18, 1865, and an act amending this, March 6, 1866. Cattle plague appeared simultaneously a few years ago in England and France, and the most rigorous methods were taken to strike at the root of the evil. In France it sufficed to kill 100 head of cattle to put an end to the progress of the epidemic. In England, owing to difference of opinion and insufficiency of legislation, things were allowed to take their natural course, and as many as 300,000 head of cattle were lost. In the United States quaran- tine is exceedingly defective. Each state has laws of its own, which in many cases are ab- surd and conflict with one another. The law deserving most attention is that of the legisla- ture of New York, Jan. 22, 1873, entitled "An act establishing a quarantine, and defining the qualifications, duties, and powers of the health officer for the harbor and port of New York." The quarantine establishment for the port of New York consists of warehouses, docks, and wharves, anchorage for vessels, a floating hos- pital, boarding station, burying ground, and residence for officers and men. Merchants are afforded facilities for overhauling and refitting vessels while in quarantine. Connected with the warehouses are apartments with appliances for special disinfection by forced ventilation, refrigeration, high steam, dry heat, and chemi- cal disinfection. The boarding station for sus- pected vessels, arriving between the first day of April and the first day of November, is in the lower bay below the Narrows. Vessels are boarded as soon as practicable after their arrival, between sunrise and sunset. The an- chorage for vessels under quarantine is in the lower bay, two miles from shore, and within an area designated by buoys. Quarantine ap- plies against yellow fever, cholera, typhus or ship fever, and smallpox, and any new disease of a contagious, infectious, or pestilential na- ture. The floating hospital, with a capacity sufficient to accommodate 100 patients, is an- chored in the lower bay from the first of May to the first of November ; at other times it is anchored in some more secure place. The hos- pital at "West bank, when so required, is used exclusively for yellow fever and cholera pa- tients. The buildings on Hoffman island are used as a place of reception and temporary de- tention of persons who have been exposed to contagious or infectious diseases, but who are not actually sick. The health officer is the custodian of the quarantine establishment ; his .jurisdiction extends within the limits of the city and county of New York. In ascer- taining the sanitary condition of a vessel he is authorized to examine under oath the captain, crew, and passengers, and to inspect the bill of health, manifest, log book, cargo, &c. Ves- sels liable to quarantine are required to dis- charge in quarantine, and be detained long enough thereafter for disinfection and aera- tion, such detention not to exceed ten days unless the disease occurs or reappears during that interval, in which event the time is x- tended ten days. But no vessel or cargo which has been in quarantine is allowed to proceed to New York or Brooklyn without the ap- proval of the mayor or board of health of those cities respectively. Filthy or unhealth- ful vessels are subject to quarantine for purifi- cation, not exceeding ten days. On Infected or suspected vessels all clothing, personal bag- gage, cotton, hemp, rags, paper, hides, skins, feathers, hair, woollens, and other articles of animal origin, are subjected to an obligatory quarantine and purification. Molasses, sugar, and live and healthy cattle are subjected to quarantine at the option of the health officer. All other merchandise is exempted from quar- antine and admitted without delay. The effects of persons who die in quarantine are taken in charge by the health officer, and if not claimed
