EXTRACTS FROM “BERICHT DES MEDICINAL-INSPECTORATS DES HAMBURGISCHEN STAATES FÜR DAS JAHR 1892.” The following are translations from Dr. Reincke’s most valuable report upon the vital statistics of Hamburg for 1892. I much regret that I am unable to reproduce in full the very complete and instructive tables and diagrams which accompany the report. =Diarrhœa and Cholera Infantum= (page 10). “It is usually assumed that the increase of diarrhœal diseases in summer is to be explained by the high temperature, especially by the action of the heat upon the principal food of infants—milk. Our observations, however, indicate that a deeper cause must be sought.” (Tables and diagrams of deaths from cholera infantum by months for Hamburg and for Altona with the mean temperatures, 1871-1892.) “From these it appears that the highest monthly mortality of each year in Hamburg occurred 7 times in July, 13 times in August, and 3 times in September, and substantially the same in Altona. If one compares the corresponding temperatures, it is found that in the three years 1886, 1891, and 1892, with high September mortalities, especially the first two of them, had their maximum temperature much earlier, in fact earlier than usual. Throughout, the correspondence between deaths and temperatures is not well marked. Repeated high temperatures in May and June have never been followed by a notable amount of cholera infantum, although such periods have lasted for a considerable time. For example, toward the end of May, 1892, for a long time the temperature was higher than in the following August, when the cholera infantum appeared. “The following observations are still more interesting. As is seen from the diagram, in addition to the annual rise in summer there is also a smaller increase in the winter, which is especially marked in Altona. In 1892 this winter outbreak was greater than the summer one, and nearly as great in 1880 and in 1888. The few years when this winter increase was not marked, 1876-7, 1877-8, 1881-2, 1883-4, were warm winters in which the mean temperature did not go below the freezing-point. It is also to be noted that the time of this winter outbreak is much more variable than that of the summer one. In 1887 the greatest mortality was in November; in 1889 in February; in other years in December or January, and in Altona, in 1886 and 1888, in March, which is sufficient evidence that it was not the result of Christmas festivities. “Farther, the winter diarrhœa of Hamburg and of Altona are not parallel as is the case in summer. In Hamburg the greatest mortality generally comes before New Year’s; in Altona one to two months later.