In the city of Mayence about thirty cases of small-pox were reported in the year 1870 before the war broke out. ‘Shortly after the beginning of the war,’ say Reissner and Neidhart, ‘numerous prisoners were interned in Mayence, and among them cases of small-pox had not infrequently been observed beforehand. Notwithstanding the admonitions of the military physician, a barrack inside the city was set aside as a lazaret for them. At first in the near-by streets, but later on throughout the entire city, an epidemic now began to rage such as Mayence had never before experienced in the memory of man. It lasted throughout the entire year of 1871 and did not come to an end until the middle of the following year.’ The epidemic reached its climax in Mayence in January 1871, abated a little until March, started up again in April, and then slowly decreased in fury until it finally disappeared altogether. In the garrison at Mayence 190 men contracted the disease in the years 1870–2 and nine succumbed to it; of the prisoners of war 934 contracted the disease and seventeen per cent of them died. The pestilence was disseminated in all directions from Mayence, partly by people from the surrounding country who visited the city, and partly by other means. Thus, for example, the disease broke out with unusual severity in Bretzenheim, a village situated a mile or so away from the barracks where the prisoners were confined; the inhabitants of the village in many instances used the contents of the ditches in which the defecations of the prisoners were thrown to fertilize their fields, and they also bought straw and other waste products in the city. In the city of Giessen no cases of small-pox occurred in the year 1870 prior to the outbreak of the war. The first cases observed there were in September, but the epidemic, which reached its climax in December, did not become very widespread. In Darmstadt 50 cases of small-pox were reported in the year 1870 prior to the outbreak of the war, and after the war began some 50–60 cases were observed before the end of the year. The epidemic, which became only moderately widespread, lasted throughout the entire year of 1871 and did not disappear until the middle of the year 1872. _(g) General Observations regarding the Epidemic of Small-pox in Germany in the Years 1871–2_