he government found itself with this institution
on its hands.

The epidemic came soon after the close of a long-continued war,
and there were at that time in Manila not a few evil-intentioned
persons, both foreign and native, who welcomed every opportunity
to make trouble. The difficulties arising from the claim advanced
by a number of reputable but ignorant medical men that the disease
was not cholera at all were sufficiently great. They were enormously
increased by false and malicious stories to the effect that "contacts"
were killed at the detention camp; that patients on arrival at the
cholera hospital were given a drink of poisoned _vino_ [500] and
instantly dropped dead; that the distilled water distributed free of
charge was poisoned, and that the Americans were poisoning the wells.

The necessary use of strychnine as a heart stimulant at the cholera
hospital was made the basis for a story that the sick were being
poisoned with this drug.

These silly tales were widely circulated and quite generally believed,
and as a result of the fear thus engendered, and of the desire on
the part of relatives and neighbours of stricken persons to escape
disinfection and quarantine, strong efforts were often made to conceal
the sick and the dead, and when this was not possible the "contacts"
usually ran away. There were not wanting instances of the driving of
cholera victims into the streets.

In spite of the generally hostile attitude of the public and some
grave mistakes in policy, the measures adopted sufficed at the outset
to hold the disease in check to an extent which surprised even the
health officers themselves.

On May 15 there began a rapid and quite steady decline in the number
of cases.

In June, however, it increased. During July it grew steadily larger,
and on the 25th of that month there were ninety-one cases, the
largest number which has ever occurred in Manila on any day since
the American occupation.

Throughout the early months of the epidemic Major Maus had laboured
unceasingly to check it, displaying an energy and an indifference to
fatigue and personal discomfort which were highly commendable. The
long-continued strain ultimately began to tell on him severely. On
May 17 orders were received from the Adjutant-General's Office
providing for his relief on or about July 30, and stating that Major
E. C. Carter, of the United States Army Medical Corps, would be
available for detail as commissioner of