No. II. ]
II.—PRECAUTIONARY
MEASURES.
47
Query No. 12,—continued.
Cuningham, J. M., Surgeon, Ben. I.—The Nusseeree Battalion, of which I had medical
charge, marched from Jutog on the 24th of May 1857, and halted the first night at Subathoo.
Cholera was then very prevalent in the depot of the European regiment at that station, and
also among the coolies. We passed six dead bodies of the latter on the road from Subathoo to
the plains. One of our men was attacked with suspicious symptoms near Kalka, but no real,
or rather fully developed, cases of cholera occurred till we had gone as far as the second or third
march from Umballa on the road to Seharunpore. The epidemic then commenced and continued
in the regiment for some three weeks. There was no cholera in the Seharunpore District when
we arrived, and none occurred in consequence of our arrival. The disease \vas exclusively
confined to the Goorkbas.
DeRenzy, A. C. C., Surgeon, Ben. I—The number of deaths in the city and suburbs from
this disease was about 500 ; there was not a single case in the jail. This fortunate result is
due, there can be no doubt, to the high standard of health of the prisoners, and to the efforts
made to prevent the introduction of the germ of cholera through the agency of new prisoners,
or of the jail establishment.
Durant, J. J., Assistant Surgeon, Sen. I.—It has often occurred to me that the disease in
Lower Bengal is chiefly propagated in this way, the water consumed by the people being
generally out of tanks and ponds, or very shallow wells entirely surrounded by habitations of all
kinds, and into which sewers and drains of every description empty themselves. What greater
facilities could exist for the contamination of water by the poison of cholera in a country where
the disease is known to be endemic at all times ?
Elton, H. N., Surgeon Major, Ben. I.—Of 48 pilgrims who reached Pashroor, 6 got the
disease ; of these 3 died, and the rest recovered. The shopkeeper who supplied them with all
the articles of diet took the disease and died on the next day. At Seeramwallee (a town nearly
22 miles south of Sealkote), a pilgrim by stealth returned home while he was suffering from,
this disease (cholera), and died within a short time after his arrival. The son and daughter
of the hakeem who treated him got the disease three days after the return of the above pilgrim,
and died within 24 hours.
Fasson, S. H., Surgeon Major, Mad. B.—To exclude affected individuals as far as prac-
ticable is very desirable : affected clothes should invariably be excluded.
Gardener, E. B., Assistant Surgeon, Ben. I.—At the village of Besabat, two men who had
returned from the Hurdwar fair died of cholera on the 30th April 1867, and their clothes were
not burned according to orders given, but were washed in a pond which was inside the village,
the water of which was used for domestic purposes. On the 1st and 2nd of May, in the same
village, 16 attacks occurred.
Harris, W. P., Assistant Surgeon, Ben. I,—The disease first appeared (at Budaon) with the
Hurdwar pilgrims in April 1867. For nearly two months the disease was scarcely felt, and
then all of a sudden it broke out, assuming a virulent form, and caused dreadful havoc among
the population. It appears to be very evident that the cholera poison lay dormant for the
period for want of some favourable circumstance for its growth, and that when this was sup-
plied, either by the changes of the atmosphere or habits of the people (probably the former),
the poison became fully developed, gained strength, and spread in different directions.
Jackson, J. R., Surgeon, Ben, I.—Not one case occurred in the Meerut jail. From the
known fact of its transmissibility from individual to individual, we may reasonably come to the
conclusion that the separation of the prisoners and the system of quarantine may have had
something to say to this favourable result.
MacLeod, A. C., Surgeon Major, Mad. I.—There can be no doubt that large bodies will
carry the disease along with them, infecting the towns and villages through which they pass.
No regiment, therefore, or other concourse of human beings affected with cholera, should be
allowed to approach within some miles of a town. It should be made to halt, or to make a
detour. To exclude the entry of solitary individuals, especially at night, would be almost im-
possible. I should not, however, be apprehensive of much danger on that score. It is by
masses of humanity, as I have before observed, that the integrity of the cholera poison is pre-
served. Break up the mass and disperse the fragments, and the disease is at once at an end ;
or in the same way, detach from the mass solitary individuals still unaffected, and they will
themselves escape having the disease and lose the power of infecting others. The only danger
would be in the conceivable case of an individual who, having taken the infection outside,
should be seized, after entering the town. With a view to adopt every possible precaution, such
a case should be isolated, if practicable.
McRae, D., Deputy Inspector General, Ben. I.—The first case of cholera in this circle occurred
on the 23rd April 1867, at the ferry over the Beas river, on the grand trunk road ; a hospi-
tal had been established at this place under the charge of a sub-assistant surgeon. On the
24th, two cases were reported in the town of Umritsur, and on the 26th, Dr. Smith reported
a case in the city of Lahore in a child. Ten thousand pilgrims had in the meantime reached
the city. The disease continued to follow the course of the pilgrims, and was carried by them
far and wide into every province of the Punjab Government.
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