Subsoil Water

In March, last, Drs. Cunningham and Lewis put ia motion experiments to test the value of Professor Pettenkofer's theory of the propagation of cholera, in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, by daily measurements of the level of subsoil water: they a^s0 caused similar experiments to be undertaken in Oudh. The measurements are now ordered by the Government of India to be carried out in every military cantonment, and most civil stations, throughout the Bengal Presidency. The end of next year should give us some very curious results, or, at all events, a good insight and knowledge of this subject, which doubtless will be very instructive as regards the drainage of the country and stations, though we doubt if it will add much to our knowledge as to the cause of cholera. The following memorandum has been prepared, showing what the Professor's theory really is, and the means that should be employed for testing it:? A.?Pettenkofer's theory? 1. The infecting matter of cholera is developed from a germ, which, as long as it remains a germ, is not capable of producing the disease.