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of the period for which persons who lived in infected places were required to stay in special
observation camps before they were permitted to leave the town or village ; this privilege
could of course only be offered when restrictions were placed upon the movements of resi-
dents of infected places, and the number of persons who availed themselves of it was so
small in comparison to the number of persons inoculated that it was evident that the induce-
ment was a very feeble one.
With the abandonment of compulsory measures the possession of an inoculation
certificate was of no advantage to its owner, and the fact that 821,226 inoculations had been
performed in the Punjab during the four-and-a-half years following the first appearance of plague
in the Province was due solely to the confidence, based, of course, largely upon the advice
and persuasion of Civil and Medical Officers, but also upon their own experience, of the
people in the benefit of inoculation. In inoculation therefore lay a measure—indeed the only
measure—of proved efficiency which was sufficiently acceptable to the people to render
likely its adoption by them to an extent great enough to exercise any considerable check
upon the spread of plague.
Inoculation thus afforded to the Punjab Government the only hope of protecting the
Province from further epidemics of plague as terrible as that which during the cold weather
of 1901-02 carried off, as has already been stated, over 200,000 of its inhabitants
Speech by the Lieutenant-Governor.
57. In his speech at a Darbár at Jullundur in March 1902—held for the purpose of
presenting rewards to officers and others who
had rendered conspicuous services in connec-
tion with measures for dealing with plague—the Lieutenant-Governor in reviewing these
measures dwelt strongly upon the advantages of inoculation and urged its acceptance. His
Honour said—
" But in the present circumstances the measure which Government is prepared to press most vigorously
is inoculation. You must understand that inoculation is in no case compulsory It has been proved by
scientific enquiry that inoculation, though it does not absolutely prevent an attack of plague or avert death
from that disease, has considerable power to protect from attack and to diminish the risk of death in case an
attack occurs. Moreover, the effects of inoculation last for some time, though the period for which protection
is afforded has not yet been determined and may not be very long, so that persons who get themselves inocu-
lated should not neglect to be re-inoculated later on I can assure you that the operation does no harm, and
I ask you to make your own enquiries in the villages as to its effects and to come to your own conclusions.
* * * * I earnestly advise you all to be inoculated if possible now, but, if not, later on when I hope there
will be a lull in the virulence of the disease. I am sorry that at the present moment in districts where inoculation
is in favour it is difficult to provide sufficient staff for the prompt inoculation of all who come forward, but
those who arc convinced of the value of the operation will have the opportunity of getting themselves
protected, as the people of Nawashahr have done, in the season when plague is at its minimum. I w ill do
my best to offer every facility for inoculation both now and in the slack season, and I trust that these facilities
will not be neglected.
" I again assure you that you have nothing to fear from giving information to Government officers of
the occurrence of plague You understand well that no compulsion is used to force you to take measures
which you do not wish to adopt, but Government is not indifferent to your sufferings and is bound to watch
the spread of plague and to warn and advise those who are in danger of infection so that they may be able
to take the necessary precautions and to make preparations for the disinfection and inoculation which may
be required in infected areas-
" If you accept the advice which I have thus offered you, and adopt the precautionary measures which
I have mentioned, we may confidently hope that, although we cannot expect to get rid of plague all at once
still by the mercy of Providence, the Punjab will not be afflicted next year with so severe a visitation as it is
undergoing at present, and that gradually plague will die out and disappear."
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Preliminary considerations.
58. Before the advantages of inoculation had been thus impressed upon the people and
facilities for its performance promised, con-
sideration had been given to the extent of the-
operations necessary in order that the inoculation might be brought within reach of all who
might desire it, and that it might be so widely adopted as to afford a reasonable hope of
appreciably diminishing the severity of the epidemic of plague that was to be expected
during the next cold weather.
As the epidemic of 1901-02 began to decline, further consideration was devoted to
the possibility of carrying out inoculation operations on an extensive scale before plague
should have again become severe.
It was considered that in order to insure a reasonable prospect of sensibly diminishing
the ravages of plague by inoculation it was necessary that about two-thirds of the
population of districts in which the disease had been widespread should be inoculated
before any future outbreak had attained ascendancy.