5
cholera to districts beyond, and we notice the same thing in regard to the great
mountain chain of the Western Ghauts, a range of but moderate elevation, that
a cholera on one side has great difficulty in getting over to the other. During the
latest invasion in 1869 we have had the spectacle of a cholera moving down to the
extreme south of India on the eastern side of the ghauts, while the tract on the
western side was unaffected. Having travelled down to Cape Comorin, cholera
turned round the mountain barrier, and began a northerly progress up the Western
Coast in 1870. We may remark too, how, in the invasion of the Kurnool District
in 1869, cholera never passed the hilly tracts of the Eastern Ghauts which divide
the Cumbum Talook from the other parts of the district. I shall have occasion to
refer hereafter to a phenomenon which Dr. Bryden has pointedly alluded to,
viz., that cholera is often manifested in extreme virulence along the bases of
these natural barriers, and in the river basins and ravines that lie in between
great mountains. Whatever may be the explanation, I believe there is no doubt
whatever of the fact, that cholera getting into such localities is particularly
virulent and prolonged in its visitations.
The reluctance of cholera to overstep a mountain barrier, and especially when
that barrier is a wild tract, the people of which hold little or no communication
with those of the plains, is doubtless the reason why Vizagapatam is not directly
invaded from the adjoining districts of Ganjam and Cuttack, where, along the
coast line, cholera is a true endemic. The hill tracts of Orissa, Goomsoor, and
Jeypoor offer obstacles to the direct southern progress of cholera except on the
narrow strip of coast line, where it is opposed by the winds from the Indian Ocean
—winds, which along the Coromandel Coast, are nearly always effectual in repress-
ing cholera, even where epidemic invasion or reproduction is in progress.
The invasions of 1818,
1859, 1864, and 1869
compared.
9. With these observations I may now reproduce the official narrative
of the 1818 epidemic invasion of Southern India, and
describe the history of three modern invasions, occurring
respectively in 1859, 1864, and 1869. The two latter of these
correspond with Bryden's years 1863 and 1868, but the 1859 invasion, so far as
Southern India is concerned, has not been recognized by that author.
CHAPTER II.
THE CHOLEEA INVASIONS OF 1818, 1859, AND 1864.
Mr. Scott's narrative
of the cholera inva-
sion of 1818.
" The history of the origin and progress of cholera in the establishments of Bengal and Bombay
has already been given to the public in the reports of the Medical authori-
ties of those Presidencies. During the period between the months of
May and September 1817, it appears to have, for some time, prevailed in the
districts of Mymensing, Behar, Nuddea, Jessore, Calcutta, Rajshaye; and, shortly afterwards, to have
reached Balasore and Cuttack. In November it prevailed at Mirzapore, Rewa, Sheergur, and other
northern parts of Bundelcund. Jubbulpore, Saugor, Ougein, and Nagpoor were under its influence
before the end of May 1818. It reached Jaulnah, Aurungabad, and Ahmednuggur early in July.
During that month it extended to Seroor and Poona, and to the Presidency of Bombay about the
middle of August. In the following historical sketch, the dates and local progress of the disease in
the territories of Madras have been determined with due attention to the authority of the reports
consulted ; and for the convenience of geographical reference, it has been successively traced along
the eastern, middle, and western districts, from the northern to the southern extremity of what is
called the peninsula.