96
B.—Examples of rat infection.
Ralyoke
...
Rájoke
Sáhibke
Bhunanwáli ...
Ghukal Khurd
Chak Chando
Kot Ani Singh
Name of village.
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
... ...
...
Date of infection.
19th March 1902
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
23rd March 1902
...
24th March 1902
...
Cause of in-
fection
given.
Rats
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
—
Do.
Number of
days rats
dying previ-
ously.
5-6
5-6
10
15-18
15
10-15.
Dr. Jones does not adduce any facts in evidence of the manner in which plague
is contracted by human beings and other animals, but in the case of human beings he
surmises that infection may be introduced into the body by pediculi and other body vermin
which in his opinion would soon leave a dead body for a living one.
He also considers that infection may be introduced by means of infected food or may
be inhaled especially in the dust of dried-up sputum of pneumonic plague cases or may enter
the body through cuts and abrasions, especially of the hands and feet".
Influence of local conditions.
(l) The influence of climate and season upon the course and extent of the epidemic in
the Siálkot District has been immediately
noticed already.
Of the influence of soil and water-supply Dr. Jones writes as follows :—•
" Plague was as virulent in Daska if not more so than in any other tahsil. Yet it is
an interesting fact that it only attacked the upper two-thirds of the tahsil, the lower
third and adjoining territory of Pasrur Tahsil south of Satrah entirely escaping. Now, was
this only chance this one-third of the tahsil escaping because infection was not carried there ?
I am inclined to think that there is a peculiar factor, and an important one, here, causing
' absence of overcrowding,'
"The soil of this part is of quite a different nature to other parts and is only able to
be used to cultivate rice. Wells are sometimes miles apart, and water is very scarce.
Thus each zemindar possesses very large tracts of land in order to get sufficient to eat
and pay his way, and moreover the villages are small and far between.
" Hence the nature of the ground forbids overcrowding, and thus tends to check the
spread of plague. Moreover, distance from village to village is another important factor
against plague, which, owing to the nature of the ground we have here and not elsewhere in
the tahsil."
It will be seen in the instance quoted that, although the immunity from plague of the
third of Daska Tahsil was probably due to the difference between the conditions of its soil and
water-supply from that of the remainder of the tahsil, the influence executed was an indirect
one, and acted by restricting the density of population and the amount of houses in towns.
With reference to the effect of country surroundings of the people upon the epidemic,
Dr. Jones calls attention to the immunity from plague of the numerous missionary com-
munities scattered throughout the Siálkot District. He remarks that the only difference
between the native converts at Daska, Pasrdr and other places, and their unconverted relatives
in the surrounding villages, is that the former pay more attention to cleanliness, both of the
persons and the dwellings, and that their dwellings are better ventilated and less crowded
than that of ordinary villages. Yet while plague was raging in the surrounding villages
the Christian converts remained unscathed.
Without, however, in any way deducting from the value of personal cleanliness and
sanitary surroundings as protection from plague, it should be pointed out that Dr. Jones has
overlooked another and perhaps more important cause of immunity of these missionany
communities from plague, namely, the. almost complete absence of intercourse between
them and the plague-stricken population by which they were surrounded.