respects, was fearfully slow in adopting the first principles of house and municipal sanitation. It was only toward the end of the nineteenth century that London, the birthplace of the finest types of house and municipal sanitation, began to give serious attention to this subject. During the early part of the eighteenth century, however, even this great metropolis was very backward in manifesting any marked desire to improve the sanitary condition of its dwellings; for, was it not the Earl of Chesterfield who, at this very period of time (about 1750) made the statement, in a letter to his natural son, that “the lanes or narrow passage-ways in Holland are cleaner than the houses are in London?” It was in Germany, many of my readers will doubtless be surprised to learn, that the first really serious attempt was made to present to the world a scientific treatise on this subject, a work which was published in several consecutive volumes and which even to-day is consulted as a most trustworthy and remarkably complete authority on municipal and private-house sanitation. The work referred to was written by J. P. Frank. * * * * * JOHANN PETER FRANK, more commonly spoken of as Peter Frank, was born in 1745 at Rothalben, a village located in territory which at that time belonged to the Grand Duchy of Baden. He received a good preliminary training at the High School of Pont-à-Mousson, and then afterward took courses at the Universities of Heidelberg and Strassburg. His medical degree was bestowed upon him in 1766 by the first of these institutions, the subject of his thesis being “Medical Police.” Two years later he commenced the practice of his profession at the city of Baden-Baden, and in 1769 was appointed Court Physician at Rastatt. During these early years of his career he did not lose interest in the subject which he had chosen for his thesis, but continued to work upon it until, in 1768, he was ready to submit to a bookseller the manuscript of Vol. I. The latter, after receiving from a so-called medical expert an unfavorable report on the quality of the text, expressed his unwillingness to publish the work. Frank’s discouragement over this result was so great that he proceeded without delay to throw the manuscript into the fire. Then, after further reflection, he decided to begin work afresh on the same theme, and thus it came about that he devoted the following eleven years to the preparation of a new text for Vol. I. In 1779 this first volume was published. In 1780, 1783, 1788 and 1813 four more volumes were issued. Volume VI and two supplementary volumes were issued between the years 1817 and 1819. “Notwithstanding its defects,” says Puschmann, “this work is one of the most important, one of the greatest and most creditable pieces of medical literature of which the Germans may rightfully boast. Blumenbach called it a classic, the first treatise of its kind and indeed possessing a unique character.”