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EPIDEMIC CHOLERA OF INDIA OF 1875 AND 187G.
[ Section IV.
CHAPTER IV.
THE CHOLERA OF THE MONSOON OF 1875.
In the third week of June the south-west monsoon set in fairly over the Central Provinces
and Upper India. Regarding the Central Provinces, Dr.
Townsend writes: "In many of the districts north of the
Satpuras, no rain fell either in March, April or May.
The monsoon rains commenced in the second. week of June. In that week south-westerly winds,
with heavy falls of rain prevailed over the districts south and east of the Satpuras, but it was
not until the following week that heavy rain fell in the northern districts."
As regards Bengal Proper, it is remarked that in May the easterly direction of the wind
was much more strongly marked than usual, and this feature was accompanied by a rainfall
much in excess of the average ; and the reporter for the north-west notes, that easterly
winds brought many showers during May. At the end of the first week of June the monsoon
current began to set in from the east, although up to the end of the month the distribution was
still partial.
The monsoon in Northern India was good and normal. Mr. Planck observes:—"The
deficient fall of June was amply compensated for in July, August and September, and a larger
rainfall was recorded than in the same months of any of the past five years."
The week from 20th to 27th June is the week that will frequently be found noticed in
my reports as associated with the renewal of energy
in a threatened epidemic of cholera. The phenomenon
is studied under the head "The Break between the
Spring and Monsoon Cholera."
In the Punjab the districts newly involved in June were—Gurgaon, Sirsa, Umballa, Simla,
Kangra and Amritsar. The cholera then appearing was an invading cholera, and in each case
originated an outbreak in the district.
"The first registered death was on 2nd May; it was
solitary. The first known outbreak occurred on 12th June
In the city of Rewari, the first registered death occurred on 28th June.”
Out of the six towns of Gurgaon affected in June, the cholera commenced in five between
the 23rd and 28th.
Delhi,
City
. First case was recorded on June 26th.
"
Rural Circles
,,
,,
"
23rd.
Hissar,
,,
,,
,,
„ 17th.
Sirsa,
"
.
.
"
"
"
14th.
Simla,
Town
.
.
"
"
„ 26th.
"
Rural Circles
.
"
"
"
26th.
Kangra,
"
.
.
"
,,
17th.
Amritsar,
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.
.
"
"
"
20th.
Lahore,
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.
.
"
"
„ 16th.
Rawalpindi— Pindigheb
.
"
"
"
15th.
On the 11th June, cholera appeared in the hamlet of Somalki, and on the 15th in the town
of Sohana, and before the end of June 31 villages had become
infected. In one village of 242 inhabitants 20 deaths were
registered between 24th June and the end of the month.
The native States of Sirmoor, Pattiala, and Mundi were also simultaneously affected.
This analysis implies that in June, with the exceptions quoted, the Sanitary Commis-
sioner for the Punjab did not register even one solitary case
of cholera before the middle of the month, and that within ten
days this province was occupied by cholera from Amritsar and Kangra in the west to Umballa
and Simla in the east. The area covered was a distinct geographical area, and was not the area
which would have been affected had cholera travelled by the highways of the province.
Carrying on the history, we find that the presence of cholera should have been recorded
in the Karnal district, an undoubted case having been observed
on 23rd June. To the cholera of the last week of June we
may add that of the two first days of July, which saw the commencement of cholera in the
Loodianah* and Jullundur districts.
Rural circles of Karnal, Hissar, and Hoshiarpur reported cholera on 11th and 13th July.
But out of 783 deaths of July in the Punjab, 4 only were
recorded in districts not mentioned above as receiving cholera
after the middle of June—a single death in the Gurdaspur
district on 5th July, in the Lahore district on 15th, in Mooltan on 29th the solitary death
of the year, and in a rural circle of Peshawar on 10th, possibly erroneously recorded. In a
word, there was throughout July no further movement of cholera into any new tract of the
province. The August culmination of this cholera, universal from Lahore to Madras, I shall
not now allude to.
Meteorology of the third week of June over
Central and Upper India.
First appearance of the cholera of 1875 in
Northern India was with the monsoon.
Gurgaon.
Umballa.
Invasion of the Punjab Proper.
K a r n a l , L o o d i a n a h , a n d J u l l u n d u r .
July cholera of the Punjab showed
no geographical extension.
* In the Sanitary Commissioner's printed statement the date given is 25th June, which is more probably correct.