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were appointed ; arrangements were made for house-to-house inspection ; segregation
camps were established ; and orders were issued to have the towns and villages
disinfected and put into as sanitary a condition as possible. The Inspector-General
of Police sanctioned the enlistment of 110 extra Police for the District, and these
were posted for duty to the different towns, with a view to establishing a thorough
inspection of houses for information of fresh attacks. All infected houses were
vacated on the occurrence of cases of plague ; the houses were then disinfected,
limewashed, and the tiles or thatches removed to allow of free entrance of air and
sunshine ; the streets and gutters were also flushed and sprinkled with carbolic
powder. On the 3rd March Professor Haffkine, at the invitation of Mr. E. W. Carrol,
went to Uran and inoculated 110 persons with his prophylactic serum; and, again, on
13th March he inoculated and re-inoculated in all 192 persons, including 34 Kolis,
73 Parsees, and 5 Europeans,
The plague now began to increase and spread rapidly ; at Alibag, Panwel,
and Theronda it assumed alarming proportions; The latter place is divided
into North, Middle, and South In North Theronda there were 400 deaths, out of
a population of 700 inhabitants ; while in South Theronda there were 100 deaths out
of a population of 400 ; strange to relate Middle Theronda which, as the name
implies, is situated between the other two divisions of the town, completely escaped
the ravages of the epidemic. The maximum intensity of the outbreak was reached
at the beginning of May, the returns for the week ending 7th May showing 227
attacks and 162 deaths. From this date the plague began to decrease steadily until
the present time ; the number of attacks and deaths for the week ending 2nd July
being three and six respectively.
Visit of Bom-
bay Plague
Committee.
The Bombay Plague Committee visited the district at the end of April.
They first came to Alibag, where they found that out of a population of 7,000 inhabit-
ants only some 400 had remained in the town, the remainder having fled panic-
stricken into the surrounding villages ; a few days later Rewadanda, Theronda, and
Choul were visited, also Panwel, Mora, Uran, and Karanja. As the result of
these visits it was decided that all the towns in the district should be thoroughly
limewashed and disinfected on scientific principles with a view to putting them in
a sound sanitary condition, and the following disinfecting staffs were despatched to
the different places :—To Theronda and Rewadanda, Inspector Brady and 100 coolies ;
to Alibag, Inspector Stazza and 150 coolies ; to Karanja, Inspector De Sa and 50
coolies ; to Uran, Inspector Jan Saheb and 25 coolies ; and to Panwel, Inspector
Jenner and 50 coolies. The whole of the operations were placed under the superin-
tendence of Mr. T. G. B. Atkinson, The disinfection was begun early in May, and
completed in a satisfactory manner by the end of June. The benefits to the district
of this thorough cleansing are incalculable. All the towns that were in a very filthy
condition have now been brought to a condition of average cleanliness.
Throughout the epidemic the difficulties in the way of combating the
evil, owing to the prejudices of the masses and the scarcity of labour, were enor-
mous. Great trouble was experienced in getting people to disclose the occurrence of
cases of plague, and then in inducing them to remove the plague-stricken patients
and their families to the hospitals and segregation camps. These difficulties were
more especially experienced in dealing with the Brahmins, who all through gave
us very little assistance in quelling the disease, though in almost every case patients
who recovered in hospital expressed their regret that more of their fellow-sufferers
did not avail themselves of the hospitals, and invariably spoke very highly of the
manner in which they were treated.
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