5
cooking pots, money, &c., ample time being allowed them to collect these arti-
cles and make arrangements before they were conducted off.
On arrival at the camp the people were desired to take a carbolic bath
which there was no trouble in their acceding to. All clothes and other articles
which were not liable to be injured by the process were at once boiled for the
period of 15 minutes, a temperature of 100°C. being sufficient to kill the plague
bacillus, and were afterwards spread out in the sun to dry. Other articles were
sprayed with perchloride of mercury and exposed to sunlight.
The sheds occupied by the segregated were separated from one another by
ample space, each contained two rooms, and on a case of plague occurring could
be evacuated without inconvenience. The whole shed was disinfected with
perchloride of mercury solution 1—1,000, the floors removed and re-made and
the shed allowed to remain unoccupied for 10 days. No cases re-occurred in
these huts. The clothes of the Police burying parties were also treated at the
segregation camp in a similar manner.
Disinfection of Ambulances.
The ambulance carts used in the operations were kept in a separate part of
the Military Camp at Párwati, and each day on their
Ambulances.
return were subjected to a thorough disinfection and
washing with carbolic lotion (1—20). Strict orders were enforced to prevent any
one, other than the sick, from riding in those carts. Public conveyances, which
by any chance were used to convey patients to the hospitals, were detained
there and thoroughly disinfected either with perchloride of mercury solution or
carbolic.
Precautions taken with regard to the Troops employed on Plague duty.
Only those men who were temperate and in good health were selected. A
medical inspection took place every morning, and those
Precautions with Troops. who showed signs of ill health, fever, debility, or who
were suffering from cuts or abrasions were retained in camp until well, their
places being taken by others.
On return of the troops they were again inspected and required to im-
mediately change their clothes, which were then hung up in the sun for the day,
and to take a bath. After this they had a good meal and rested for the remain-
der of the day. Before starting in the morning, also, each officer and man had a
substantial meal. Should any man receive a cut or an abrasion whilst working,
he at once bathed it in carbolic lotion, some of which was carried by each search
party.
Each Medical Officer in charge of the search divisions was provided with
some disinfectants wherein to rinse his hands after examining a plague case or
corpse.
It is not claimed that these precautionary measures were absolutely the cause
of there being no case of plague among the whole body of troops engaged in the
plague operations, but there is no doubt that they went a long way to prevent
contagion, and I would be sorry to put any men into actual contact with a highly
contagious disease, such as plague, and in plague environments, without these
precautionary measures being strictly enforced. It was a source of gratification
that during the whole of the operations these precautions were never relaxed,
which reflects the highest credit on both the officers and men.
It is to be regretted that in a large city such as Poona no steam disinfector
existed such as is in common use in almost every town
Remarks. and village in England and most of the colonies. Had
there been one, it would have been of immense value in the treatment of infected
clothes, saving time and labour.
Fortunately there was a sufficient supply of disinfectants, and it is as well
to avoid multiplying their kind, as there is a tendency to. The disinfectants
which were practically sufficient for all purposes were perchloride of mercury,
carbolic acid and bleaching powder. The experience of such disinfectants as
creasotine and phenyle is not of the exact scientific value to justify their sub-
stitution for either the corrosive sublimate or carbolic acid. Carbolic powder,
so frequently seen used, should in plague operations be replaced by the use of
bleaching powder.
W. W. O. BEVERIDGE, M.B.,
Surgeon-Captain, A. M. S.
Β 1641 2