One of these little incidents, due to sheer laziness and direct neglect of duty, cost nearly fifty lives, for it more than decimated the wing of the corps in which it occurred. The method in which this terrible catastrophe was brought about is worthy of record, as an instance of the way in which lives are sacrificed by a lack of attention to such details. The water supply of the station was excellent and all water used in the dairy was supposed to be drawn from a standpost. Unfortunately, there was a well on the dairy premises, and the soldiers in charge were too lazy to prevent its being used. One of the native dairymen lived in a village which was attacked with cholera, and like all Hindoos, had a special vessel for drinking water. This vessel he used, of course, at home, and also during the day, to get himself a drink from the well in the dairy. He remained himself free from disease, but the germs of cholera were carried, adhering to his lotah, or drinking cup, from the infected village well, to the dairy well, and this, in its turn, infected the milk stored in vessels which had been washed in the well water, with the terrible results already described. The remote fault, of course, in this case lay with the authorities, who should have seen that no alternative, and more easily obtained, water supply was available; for no one who knew much about either the native, or Tommy Atkins would have any doubt of the less laborious source of water supply being used the moment the eye of authority was off them. As a matter of fact, the quality of the well water was usually excellent, and its only fault, that it was not guarded against contamination, so that not understanding the subtle mechanism of infection, both soldier and native naturally regarded the journey to the more distant standpost as a mere unreasonable infliction. The piped water supply ought, of course, to have been brought into every room of the dairy, but “spoiling the ship for a pennorth of paint” is a very common cause of failure in attempts at sanitary reform in India. I have given this incident at some length, because it affords a good example of the way in which lives are sacrificed by a want of attention to the details of sanitary management, and because, although it occurred in a public institution, and the fatality was on a correspondingly large scale, it is an equally good illustration of the way in which infection finds its way into private households. Let us now proceed to the consideration of the various articles of supply, commencing with water.