So far, only one country, the United States of America, has taken steps to prevent the importation of the disease of anthrax, although most countries have issued regulations in regard to the precaution to be taken to avoid infection by anthrax in those factories where imported hides, wool, hair, and bones are treated. It would seem that the most rational method would be to disinfect the hides before they are shipped, as it certainly appears to be unwise to import any form of disease; unfortunately, the first regulations issued by the American Government proved to be impracticable, as the suggested method had the effect of lowering the quality of the hides, and making the preliminary operations troublesome. Their second scheme, consisting of baling a certain number of hides in canvas disinfected with a 0.02 per cent. solution of mercuric chloride, is more satisfactory, for, although it may not sterilise all the anthrax spores inside the bale, it should prevent them reaching other goods. This Government order only applies to hides, skins, hair, and wool coming from countries where anthrax is known to be prevalent. The disease of anthrax is generally contracted by workers through sores or cuts in the hand; the bacilli multiply rapidly in contact with the blood, and the first sign of disease is usually shown by a red swelling or pimple in the neck. If treated at this stage by anti-anthrax serum a cure is often effected, but if treatment is delayed the disease quickly proves fatal, the patient dying in awful agony. The germs of the disease may also be swallowed and the disease develop internally, but cases of this kind are rare. Besides the danger to workers, there is the risk of cattle being infected. The effluent from tanneries where anthrax-infected skins are treated contains millions of bacilli, and it is doubtful if the latter are sterilised even when the effluents are precipitated and aërated before they are run into streams or municipal sewers. In any case, the sediment may be infected, and this ultimately finds its way to the land. Until the various European Governments insist on imported hides from anthrax-infected areas being sterilised before shipment, the use of a disinfectant such as lysol or a similar cresylic compound, or bichloride of mercury, seems imperative in the first process of soaking. The use of these disinfectants would make the waste liquors fit for discharge into sewers or streams.