In December, 1898, a case of plague developed on the Golconda while at Marseilles, on her way from Bombay to London. The ship proceeded immediately, the patient was landed at Plymouth, proper disinfection was carried out, and no other cases developed. This is a proof that the assumption that a vessel is safe from infection after ten days have passed since leaving an infected port is fallacious, as this time was exceeded between Bombay and Marseilles. The report that the Nippu Maru recently arrived at San Francisco with the plague on board has proved to be erroneous. In September, 1896, a Portuguese-Indian steward died at the Seamen's Hospital, at Greenwich, England, very suddenly. This man was in the hospital for only forty-eight hours, and no one suspected the plague at that time. On the last day of October of the same year another patient in the same hospital was taken ill and died with symptoms of the plague. Bacteriological examinations of the glands of the body of the second man were made, and a bacillus which presented the well-known characters of the plague bacillus was found. The vessel on which the Portuguese steward came to England left Bombay about the end of August, 1896. There was at that time no official knowledge of the existence of the plague in Bombay, but it probably existed there. This is another evidence of the fallacy of the belief in the ten days' period of incubation. It seems quite evident to me that the English authorities lay too much stress upon the period of incubation. A man leaving Bombay or any other infected port may carry the bacillus under his finger nails, elsewhere on his person, or in his clothing, and may not become infected until many days after leaving the infected place. Careful inspection and thorough disinfection of all vessels coming from infected ports should be insisted upon. It has been abundantly demonstrated by the history of the plague, as well as that of other infectious diseases, that the old plan of detention in quarantine is a relic of bygone times. Detention is cruel, dangerous, and inefficient; inspection and disinfection are rational and efficacious.