( 2 )
total number of deaths registered amounting to only 56,711, or 1.12 per mille,
compared with 268,908, or 5.32 per mille, in the preceding year. The season-
able rainfall and the better agricultural outturn were responsible for this satis-
factory result. Sixty-one registering circles were entirely free from the disease,
as against six such areas only during 1908. The use of permanganate of
potash for disinfecting wells used for drinking-water is beginning to be
appreciated, and in several cases is reported to have had an excellent effect in
arresting the progress of the disease.
6. Small-pox and Vaccination.—The mortality due to small-pox has been
steadily on the increase since 1905, and a further increase was observable in
the year under report, the number of deaths being 38,609 as compared with
35,966 in the preceding year, and 21,108 the average of the years 1904—1908.
In spite of the general increase in the death-rate from this disease, the
mortality among infants and children, for the second year in succession,
showed a decrease, clearly proving the value of the protection afforded by
vaccination..
7. The total number of vaccination operations performed during the
year was 2,053,773, of which 185,188 were re-vaccinations, as against 2,019,531
original cases and 209,318 re-vaccinations in 1908-1909. The system of
realizing vaccinators' fees through the village panchayats has not been a
success, in the absence of any legal power possessed by these bodies to
enforce payment.
8. Plague.—It is satisfactory to record a still further decrease in the
mortality from plague, the total being the lowest on record since 1901. Only
11,779 deaths occurred, as against 15,948 in the preceding year. As in that
year, 13 districts were free from the disease, which was not severely prevalent
in any town or rural area. The mortality was nowhere above 5 per mille,
except in Monghyr town. Only 704 anti-plague inoculations were performed
during the year under report, of which more than half (363) were in Calcutta.
This prophylactic is still looked upon with disfavour, though no cases of
plague took place among those inoculated. Evacuation continued to be the
most popular preventive measure. Disinfection with kerosine oil emulsion
was carried out to some extent, but it is expensive and requires careful
supervision. The efficacy of rat-destruction as a preventive measure is said
to show signs of more general recognition, and it was carried on in Bihar
on a considerable scale, noticeably in Monghyr and Saran. The work was
generally done by organized rat-catching gangs.
9. Fever.—The mortality from this disease showed a satisfactory decrease,
the number of deaths being 1,056,237 as against 1,184,704 in 1908, and
1,145,195 the average of the five years 1904—1908. The reduction was
shared by both rural and urban areas, but was especially noticeable in the
former. The most affected district was Darbhanga, with 33.14 deaths per
mille, and, as in the preceding year, a noticeable feature was the prominence of
non-water-logged districts among those returning a high death-rate. Among
towns, Sahibganj, in the Sonthal Parganas, again returned the highest death-
rate. Anti-malarial operations were confined to the North Barrackpore Muni-
cipality. The measures taken, so far as can be ascertained, were a success,
though in the absence of scientific investigation this cannot be definitely
asserted.
10. The enquiry undertaken by Captain Foster, I.M.S., in the preceding
year into the prevalence of malaria was continued on a smaller scale during
the year under report. The principal conclusions at which Captain Foster
arrived were that—
(a) there was a definite relationship between splenomegaly and the total
mortality of the test areas;
(b) the total mortality in the test areas was largely the result of the
operation of the causes of splenomegaly;
(c) measured by the endemic index, the test thanas were not strikingly
malarious;
(d) there was not the relationship between spleen rates and endemic
indices which might have been expected if the spleen rates were
entirely due to malaria; and
(e) the spleen rates were not entirely due to malaria.