27
two villages completely and one partially in the Naráingarh Tahsíl. The operation consisted
in washing down the inside of the rooms and furniture with acidulated mercury solution
coloured with green aniline dye. Clothes and articles likely to be damaged by the solution
were dipped in strong phenyle solution. The effects varied in direct ratio to the completeness
of the operation. When a whole village was disinfected, after evacuation, it remained free
throughout the remainder of the epidemic. Where, as in Kálka and Ambala City, it was
only possible to disinfect the actual house, and in some places only the actual room in which
the patient lay, the result was small and the disease reappeared either there or in the near
vicinity.
Objections to disinfection.
"Some Hindus objected to green, as a Muhammadan colour. Many Muham-
madans objected to the perchloride of mercury
altogether, until a " fatwa " was obtained from
the local theologians and circulated on lithographed broad-sheets commending perchloride
as unobjectionable. The theologians declined to make a pronouncement with regard
to the phenyle. Phenyle leaves a slight odour and the Prophet forbade the faithful to
worship with clothes that smell of onions or anything similar. So boiling in plain
water was substituted for phenyle in the case of those who raised the religious question.
Practical objection to the use of perchloride of
mercury.
" Disinfection with perchloride is totally unsuited to operations on a large scale
in rural tracts. It is extremely expensive, it
requires supervision by a skilled agency, and
therefore can only be done very slowly, and it
is impossible to persuade people to stay out
of their houses for long after the disease appears to have stopped, so that whatever is done
ought to be done at once. Under the voluntary system, moreover, some corners will always
remain untouched, even if the strength of the staff is sufficiently increased to get round the
large number of villages that await their coming ; and an incomplete operation is likely to
fail and discredit altogether the means employed. In one or two villages in Rúpar there
were complaints that the cattle died from licking the disinfected walls."
Other methods of disinfection.
(k) Of the methods of disinfection adopted
by the people themselves Mr. Maynard notes :—
" The making of holes (mogás) in the roofs of kacha houses is a practice which
the people understand. Left to themselves, they make the holes too small, and close them
up too early ; but it is not difficult to school them on these points.
"The burning of nim leaves and wheat straw over the floors was carried out in
some villages which could not, or would not, wait for the skilled disinfectors.
" The notion of killing germs by sunlight and fresh air commended itself to
many : because it is a regular native practice to sun the best clothes of the family at certain
seasons in order to keep out the moths.
Desiccation.
" Some experiments were tried in Ambala
City with a desiccator. The results, however,
are not reported.
Equifêx Disinfector.
" An Eauifex Disinfector was in use for a time in the city of Ambala, and people
seemed willing enough to have clothes disinfected
in it. A returned Háji said it was like the
machine in use at Kamrán, and this made it popular among Muhammadans."
Both the Deputy Commissioner and the Plague Medical Officer emphasize the
desirability of some methods of disinfection which, besides being efficacious, should also be
cheap and harmless and suitable for application by the people themselves.
The Deputy Commissioner also notes the popularity of phenyle. He writes :—" One
is frequently asked for ' falain ' or ' lassíwáli dawái,' the medicine that turns water white as
milk."
Inoculation by the District staff.
(l) The total number of inoculations performed in the Ambala District by the District
staff was 48,350 Of these 37,722 were perform-
ed up to the end "of July 1902, and it is to these
that the remarks given below refer. In this number are included 1,381 inoculations of resi-
dents in Patiála territory and 1,381 of inhabitants of the Kalsia State and of other British
districts. 489 inoculations were performed in August and 10,147 in September 1902.
These last formed part of the inoculation operations undertaken in connection with
the plague epidemic of 1902-03.
Of the inoculations carried out up to the end of July 1902 Captain James writes :—
" The great feature of the measures carried out against plague in this district is undoub-
tedly the anti-plague inoculations. It has been extremely popular in the western part of the
district. Wherever plague has been most prevalent, there inoculations have also been
largely resorted to. Morinda Thána suffered most with 10,277 cases. In this thana 6,931
persons were inoculated. Then follows Kharar Thána 6,892 cases, 8,340 persons inoculated :;
Amba-la Thána 5,728 cases, 5.527 inoculations ; Rúpar Thána is exceptional in having only
2,010 cases and as many as 7,427 inoculations. The .people came in here from villages
before the disease had reached them.''