120
Upper
or lower
stories.
the woman on 23rd March) came from up-stairs rooms, and
two only from the ground floor. Of the five men attacked at
the Red Hills four had come from the D. barracks upstairs.
Particular condition
of barracks K. and D.
disturbance of soil.
145. On inspecting the barracks K. and D. on their vacation, there was no
insanitary condition evident to which the outbreak might
fairly be attributed. In the ground floor, or K. barrack, the
granite flooring had been lately disturbed, and a trench, about
two feet deep, dug in the soil across the width of the barrack to lay a gas pipe, and
the opening had been continued to the open courtyard in the square of the
barrack, where the rainfall of the 1st March must have had access to, and wetted,
the surface soil beneath the pavement. One of the men seized with cholera had
his cot within a couple of yards of the open trench in the barrack floor, but,
as by far the greater number of cases occurred amongst the occupants of the
upper storey, it seems very doubtful whether this disturbance of the soil on the
ground floor could be regarded as a possible cause of the outbreak. It could
have had nothing to say to the first cases of the East Indian woman and soldier's
wife who occupied the upper storey of a married quarter, more than 300 yards
distant, and who were the first persons to be attacked. It is a fact, I understand,
that old and unused drains underlie the buildings in the neighbourhood of the K.
and D. barracks, but they are not shown in any plan of the Fort drainage.
Water-supply.
* Total solids per gal-
lon of filtered water 59
grains, 5·6 removeable
by incineration.
0·28 oxidizable, 24·55
chlorides.
The water-supply of the K. and D. barrack-rooms is from the same source
as all other barrack-rooms and public offices in the Fort, viz.,
the general reservoir which is filled by water from the Seven
Wells. I could not ascertain that it had been subjected to
any special pollution. The chemical analysis of the Fort water-
supply, made some years ago, shows it to hold a large
per-centage of organic matter and salt.* It has been reported
as unsuitable for use, and on the completion of the new water-works, a better
quality of water will be available.
Drainage,
146. The Fort drains, and the main drain of the town which debouches into
the sea a little to the north of the Fort, were no better and no
worse than they generally are, at the time of the outbreak.
Their condition is at all times most foul, and the emanations from them generally
most offensive. The heavy storm of the previous day must have stirred up the
deposits which occur in badly constructed drains after a long drought, and the
Fort ditch must have received a considerable addition of fresh water from
surface drainage. The actual condition of this Fort ditch, in a sanitary point
of view, is most unsatisfactory. It receives most of the drainage of the Fort, in
addition to the storm waters and washings of the laterite roads, and year after
year, accumulations of silt and mud from these causes increase. The D. and K.
barracks are nearer to the town drain than most of the rooms.
No extension to the population.
—
Chintradripettah
Triplicane ...
Do.
Poodoopaukum
...
...
...
...
Date.
Feb.
29th
Marc h
5th
11th
15th
Case.
1
1
1
1
147. There does not appear to have been any extension of the outbreak to
the native population, either in Madras or at
the Red Hills. The cholera deaths in the native
population of Madras, as registered from the
month of March, are shown in the margin. The
disease was much below its mean prevalence at
this period of the year, and can hardly be said
to have prevailed at ' all, except in sporadic form.