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Of the measures taken to induce its acceptance Assistant Surgeon Vidya N6tha
Singh writes :—
" In order to enlighten the understanding of ignorant mass with regard to the pre-
ventive effects of inoculation, a few meetings were convened in Kasur Town and lectures were
given by Assistant Surgeon Kidar Ndth Bhandari and other educated Municipal members and
residents of the town. In villages also attempt was always made to collect them in one
place and preach on the good effects of inoculation."
As to the effects of inoculation but few statistics could be collected. Of the 16,023
persons inoculated in rural areas 100 were known to have been attacked with plague, o£
whom 14 died. In the town of Kasur only 6 persons of the 934 inoculated were attacked
with plague, of whom 1 died. Most of the persons inoculated in Kasur were occupants or
neighbours of infected houses.
No ill effects were known to have followed inoculation, though during the hot
weather the people complained that much fever followed the operation.
Infection.
(k) Both the Deputy Commissioner and the Plague Medical Officer record that the
infection of plague was almost invariably con-
veyed by human intercourse either in the bodies
of persons suffering from the disease or in clothing or other personal effects. The Deputy
Commissioner remarks that there was no reason to think that plague is conveyed in grain or
food or articles of merchandise, and speaking of rat mortality he states that it was usually
noticed after plague had broken out in a village, so that rats have not apparently been the
usual means of conveying infection.
In this connection however the following extract from a report written by Assistant
Surgeon Kidar Nath Bhandari of Kasur is of considerable interest, as it indicates that the in-
fection of plague was conveyed by some other means than direct human intercourse. It will
be noticed that he considers that infection was not brought to his house by rats as it was at
some distance from the town, but that it was conveyed in some ' bhoosa' from an infected
village.
It should be stated, however, that the Assistant Surgeon's house is only separated
from the town by a few hundred yards.
The Assistant Surgeon writes as follows : —
" I myself and my family had a narrow escape from plague. I discovered two dead
rats in my house on 22nd February 1902, which made me vacate the house and take up my re-
sidence in tents. Next day I found 24 dead rats in the house and others on subsequent days.
The house was disinfected by mercury lotion, was white-washed and was kept vacant for
about two months. My house is at a distance from the town and the infection was not
brought by the rats. The infection was brought to my house through ' bhoosa' which
I received from a village which was not declared infected at the time, but on subsequent
enquiry I found out that there had been a few cases of plague in that village. I discovered-
dead rats in my house five days after the arrival of the ' bhoosa'."
That when the infection of plague has been ever introduced into a town or a village
it is disseminated by rats appears to be well established by the experience of the Lahore
District. The Deputy Commissioner remarks :—
"Mortality among rats usually occurred, or was reported, after the plague had
appeared, but before the disease became general in a village."
The Plague Medical Officer writes :—
"That rats migrate from an infected village to a non-infected one has not been
observed by any one, but that when one house becomes infected the rats from this one, infected
all the adjoining and neighbouring houses, is a matter which there is reason to believe is of
daily occurrence."
And Assistant Surgeon Kidar Nath Bhandari records that in Kasur—
" The infection was also conveyed by the rats from one house to the other and several
rats used to be found dead in the streets and the infected houses every day. It has been
found that the rats began to die first and the human beings were attacked afterwards."
Of the manner in which plagi&e is contracted by human beings or other animals, little
mention is made. Assistant Surgeon Vidya Natha Singh, however, notices that it is appar-
ently not ingested as officials on plague duty had to get most of their food including
milk and water from infected villages for some months, but that none contracted plague.
Influence of local conditions.
(/) The Plague Medical Officer remarks that the spread of plague in the Lahore
District was 'retarded by the extreme cold of
December and January, and the extreme heat of
June.-