200 STATISTICS OF THE JAIL POPULATION OF BENGAL FROM 1859 TO 1876. [Section III.
"Mr. Whyte remarked that every case admitted into his hospital had the symptoms
of pneumonia.
"At the end of the season the disease wore the form of a mild continued fever.
"The resemblance which some cases shown and of others described to me, bore to the
West Indian fever struck me very forcibly."
The typhus fever of 1864 was introduced into the Demerara emigration depôt at the
end of the year. Six vessels left Calcutta between 18th November
and 15th March, carrying 2,700 souls. Out of these, 868 died
during the voyage or in hospitals after landing. The disease
was typhus. There was no overcrowding to account for the
outbreak, and enquiry failed to show that the fever originated on board spontaneously.
The Sanitary Commissioner investigated the history of this calamity with the greatest care
(Proceedings, February 1866, pages 100-127). Only 258 emigrants were from Lower Bengal;
the rest were from Upper India where typhus was raging, and they were in the depôt a few
days only before embarkation. Men of the same gang who had not sailed, died in the depôt
at the date at which the fever appeared on board the ships that had left.
The fact put forward, that contagious fevers might originate on board ship, only served
to obscure the great truth, that in this instance they did not so originate, and that the
subtile nature of the typhus poison prevented the recognition of this fever before embarka
- t i o n .
In the same year (1865), I was asked by the French Consul for information regarding
this fever, which had made great havock in Réunion, and was said to have been imported with
coolies from Calcutta. Acknowledging the information sent, the chief medical officer writes,
dating Saint Denis, December 5th: "I fear the fever will recommence in 1866, although now
extinct. * * * In the course of the epidemic the disease has
varied much; in some cases it was not to be distinguished from yellow fever. One location has
lost 64 out of 400 employed. The disease is the same described by Dr. Walker (whose report
was forwarded). It is eminently contagious, and three medical officers have died."
In the early months of 1865, the same fever seems to have broken out among the emigrants
to Assam, although the depôt agents did not recognise it in Calcutta. Writing to me in
December 1865, Mr. White of Debrooghur says—
Within the last 18 months, I have seen numerous cases of true typhus. Some
of the best-marked cases were introduced by the steamer Agra, about six months since.
They were brought prominently to my notice by the fact that a party of my regiment
came up in the vessel from Gowhatty, and lost 6 out of 30 men in ten days. The
survivors were landed in various stages of typhus, exactly similar to what I had seen at
home in the Irish workhouses, and, on the other hand, entirely dissimilar to any form of mala
-rious fever. The fever was low and continued without any distinct remissions, and was attend
- e d w i t h g r e a t p r o s t r a t i o n . I n m o s t c a s e s , t h e s k i n o f t h e f a c e , s h o u l d e r s , a n d c h e s t , w a s c o v e r e d
with petechiæ, and in a few cases, there was hæmorrhage from the nose and gums. A large
number of the coolies by the same steamer were landed in a similar condition, and, as far as I
remember 75 were lost out of 600 embarked."
The history of the typhus of India of recent years is calculated to throw much light on
points in early records which are now obscure. The etiological
relations of the varieties of typhus being recognised, and the
attributes of each variety being viewed as proper to the variety,
the history of any epidemic period may be studied taking typhus
as an object in natural history.
The old records of India frequently allude to plagues wbich were evidently of the same
nature as those which have prevailed in our time. It has been suggested that at this distance
of time these cannot be separated from outbreaks of cholera. But, keeping in view the natural
history of the two diseases, and the seasons of prevalence, a very few distinctly-given details
suffice to indicate the nature of the epidemic; and the truth that cholera and malaria stand at
one end of the scale, and typhus and smallpox at the other, cannot be too often repeated.
How unvarying is the law of extinction with season, the table which follows shows; and
the fact that the earlier the appearance of the fever the wider will be its spread before its
annual decay, is also apparent from several examples contained in it.
Typhus and smallpox obey the same law of extinction. This is here illustrated by the mor
- tality front smallpox in the European Army—
Deaths from Smallpox in the European Army of Bengal 1860 to 1869.
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apl. May. June. July. Augt. Sept. October. Nov. Dec. For the period.
19 12 17 28 23 12 6
2 0
0
4 9
132
Typhus in vessels leaving Calcutta
during typhus periods. Typhus of
Réunion.
The natural alliances of typhus.
The importance of the study of
these alliances.