8
due merely to the disinfection of the lines will be mainifest to anyone studying
the occurrences during the second epidemic from July to December 1898, now
to be described.
The second epidemic in Belgaurn town began in June, reached its height in
October, and thereafter declined till January 1899, when it ceased. The table
given below shows the number of deaths from plague (the attacks wore, of
course, many more, but no accurate figures are forthcoming on this head) report-
ed in the City and Cantonment, month by month, contrasted with the attacks
and deaths in the Regiment.
Dates.
June
1898 ... ... ...
July ,, ... ... ...
August ,, ... ... ...
September ,, ... ... ...
October
November
December
Deaths reported from
City and Cantonment.
14
215
304
698
999
275
65
Attacks in the
Regiment.
1
2
2
4
2
1
Numbers of those
attacked who died.
1
1
1
2
1
From the above it is manifest that the numbers attacked and the subse-
quent fatalities in the Regiment kept pace exactly with the severity of the
epidemic in the neighbouring town, rising and declining with it. The conclusion
is therefore inevitable, that the same infection that was producing such havoc in
the civil population was equally present in the lines of the military, yet they
suffered in proportion from 10 to 31 times less month by month during the course
of the epidemic. In the City and Cantonment 2,570 persons died of plague, or
1 in every 17 of the population, while in the sepoys' lines, with a population of
1,801, but 6 died, or at the rate of 1 in every 300 only. It has been shown how
heavily the Regiment suffered during the first epidemic, why, then did they not
again produce cases to the same extent during the more severe second visitation ?
The only measures taken by the authorities were, placing the Cantonment and
City " out of bounds " for the troops after 4th July, and disinfection of the few huts
that became infected. But both these measures had been taken in the first
outbreak and had proved totally inadequate to stay the ravages of the disease,
until the men were removed from the infected locality. A very practical answer
to this question was given by the sepoys themselves, who volunteered to undergo
a second inoculation, which was duly carried out during July and August.
Practically no one was left in the lines unprotected by inoculation, so that a"
comparison cannot be made with an unprotected population living in precisely
similar circumstances as was possible in the first experiment in the Byculla Jail,
for instance, yet, in the opinion of the sepoys and their officers, there is no doubt
that the inoculation saved them. Nine out of the 12 cases of plague in the
Regiment occurred in the persons of inoculated people, and 3 amono non-
inoculated. Of the former, 6 recovered and 3 died, among the latter a?l died.
The history of the 3 un-inoculated persons is interesting. The first case was
that of a sepoy who was believed to have already suffered from plague in the
first epidemic, and who was not inoculated on the presumption that he would
prove immune. From a study of the history of his case as recorded in the
hospital case-book, it appears probable that a mistake in diagnosis had been
made, during the hurry and stress of the first epidemic, and that the man
had not suffered from plague previously. The second case occurred in the
person of a sepoy's wife who had just joined her husband and who was attacked
before she could be inoculated. The third was a European Officer who probably
trusted to the comparative immunity of his race, and had therefore omitted to
protect himself.
6. Major Forman's statistics.—Two very striking instances brought to notice
by Major Forman, K. A. M. C., Senior Medical Officer at Belgaum, may here
be stated. The men of the Army Hospital Corps, with their families, numbering
83 individuals, were living close to the European Military Hospital under co-