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out at Dandúwál. Clothes were brought to a house in this village from Shahkot in the cold
weather of 1901-02. In November 1903 the clothes were taken out of the cupboard in which
they had been lying. Rats died in the house shortly afterwards, and about five days the first
case among human beings in the village occurred in this house.
Several clear cases of double infection were made out. Outbreaks were in many
instances attributed to recrudescence, but it was very difficult to prove such an origin.
Rats.
Mortalitv of rats was verv common throughout the Tullundur District, and. as has been
seen, it frequently preceded outbreaks of plague
in villages. The people were instructed to
burn dead rats whenever found, but this was very seldom done. The finder of a dead rat
usually threw it into the street or on to the roof of his neighbour's house, whence it was taken
away by kites or crows to form a fresh focus of infection. None of the methods of des-
troying rats by traps or poisons gave any hope of success. Experiments showed that even
when fed exclusively on the mixture of plaster of Paris and " ata " rats lived from varying
periods up to about a week.
Poisoning by a mixture of tar and sulphuric acid was not a success. It was impos-
sible to find all the rat holes, and the rats instinctively avoided coming in contact with the
mixture. The mixture, moreover, was difficult and dangerous to handle.
Destruction by traps was tried in Jullundur Cantonment, but without success.
Destruction by drowning the rats in a sunken chatti covered w r ith dough was tried
extensively. It is sometimes practised in this district for the purpose of destroying field mice.
The method was successful to a slight extent when an officer was present to see it carried
out, but otherwise it was not tried.
Type.
The bubonic type of plague prevailed : it is
mentioned that a good many fulminant pneu-
monic cases were seen.
The mortality in the Nawashahr Tahsil was lower than in the more recently affected
parts of the district Most of the villages in this tahsil had suffered from annual epidemics
of plague, and in recent years the population has been inoculated and in many cases re-inocu-
lated.
Medical Staff and Establishment.
The following Medical Officers and subordinates were emploved on ülague dutv
in the district :—Captain W. E. Scott-Moncrieff,
I. M. S., District Plague Medical Officer.
Dr. F.L. Dickson, Dr. J. W. Miller, Dr. B. M. Bond, Dr. J. F. Northcot, Dr. R. W. Gray,
Inoculating Medical Officers, Dr. Karm Singh, 6 Hospital Assistants, 8 Compounders and
1 Dhái,
LUDHIANA DISTRICT.
Epidemic.
'U. This was the third year in which the Ludhiána District had been infected. The
present epidemic was much less severe than the
previous one ; for, while in the previous year
there had been 65,390 cases with 48,028 deaths, during the present season only 8,048 cases
with 4,929 deaths were recorded.
Ten villages were infected at the beginning of October, and the epidemic steadily grew
until the middle of December, from which time until the middle of February it remained
almost stationary. The epidemic then increased again, and was most severe during April
and May. The disease then rapidly declined and disappeared in the last week of July,
only however to reappear during the last week of August.
Preventive measures.
With the exception of inoculation practically nothing was done in this district to
combat the epidemic. No surveillance was
exercised over arrivals from infected places,
and the villagers never refused access to such persons. Occasionally the Hindus would
evacuate in a partial fashion, but the Muhammadans never did so. Chemical disinfection was
never done, and only a trifling amount of desiccation was attempted. The results of desic-
cation were not observed.
Information.
The prescribed returns were submitted by Patwárís and were checked whenever
villages were visited.