109
B.
Table sliowing the Ratio per 1,000 of Population, of Deaths from Cholera in, each Talook, &c., of the Dis-
trict of Coimbatore during the year ] 870.
Talooks.
Collegal
Sattimuugalum
Perindorai
Coimbatore M. T. ...
Coimbabore talook...
Palladum
Caroor
Dlmrapooram
Pollachy
Oodoomala Pcttali...
Bhowany
January
0.61
0.05
0.5
February.
001
0.4
0.03
0 07
0.007
0.l
0007
003
0 1
0.1
0.01
0.2
0.4
0.1
002
April
0.01
0.1
02
0.09
002
0.3
0.2
0.04
0.04
May
003
0005
0.06
0.1
0 09
June
0.005
• • .
0.007
0.007
0.01
0.007
001
0.005
0.02
...
0.01
August.
0 007
0.04
0.04
004
0.01
0.2
003
September.
002
0.1
0.07
0.4
0.2
0.1
0.09
0 4
0.02
October.
0.05
0 03
0.3
0.08
1.3
0.5
0.6
0.2
0.4
November.
0.02
0.3
01
0.6
0 3
0.2
0.4
04
0.1
December.
001
0.1
0.3
0.3
0.4
0.2
0.1
0.08
Total
0.1
0.6
1.6
0.1
1.7
2.3
2.1
2.4
1.7
1.4
0.8
Particulars of out-
break in the town.
124. The only talooks in which there was any noticeable prevalence of the
epidemic were Pulladum, Dharapooram, and Caroor. The
town of Coimbatore had only five deaths, although the disease
was prevailing for some time in the surrounding villages. I arrived at the town
on inspection duty on 6th September. Cholera at that time had got up so far
as a village on the Noyel river, about three miles south of the town, where it
continued for nearly a fortnight. On the 16th September a man was seized with
cholera, who lived in the old fort. I had an opportunity of inquiring into the
facts, in company with the Civil Surgeon.
First case.
125. The first patient was a weakly man, a tailor by trade, who had been
working in company with other tailors at a house in the town,up
to the date of attack. He had not been to a cholera-stricken
village, nor could we trace any communication between the people he had worked
with and any affected village. The house in which he lived was built on old and
fouled soil. A cess-pit privy in the backyard was in an offensive state, and the well
from which water was obtained was sunk within a few yards of the privy. The well
water was decidedly contaminated by putrid organic matter, which I estimated
by the potassium permanganate test to be in the proportion of .560 grains
per gallon, and the " readily decomposable" matter much larger still. This
case rapidly died. Every precaution was taken to disinfect the privy and building,
but the other inhabitants could not be induced to vacate the house, and two
Other cases following
in the same house.
of them were attacked two days after the first case, and
recovered. The second death in September was not reported
until the body had been buried. I inspected the house in which it occurred, and
found cess-pit privy and well in close contiguity. I am not convinced that the
case was really cholera. No other case occurred in the house, and the disease,
for the time, ceased in the town of Coimbatore. This town is kept in good order
Sanitary condition
of Municipal town.
by the Municipal officers, who take a lively interest in all that
relates to public health. I have made suggestions for some
improvements that would tend to better the water-supply and conservancy of
dwelling houses, and I am quite satisfied that the energetic President, II. E.
Sullivan, Esq., will lose no opportunity of giving them effect. The old fort
is the most unhealthy part of the town ; the soil is saturated with nitrous
earth, evidencing organic decay in past ages. The well waters of this portion
of the town are abundantly charged with organic matter in a state of decay, and
when cholera breaks out in the town it usually begins in the Fort.* The new
* In January 1871, cholera again broke out in this part of the town, and the first case occurred in the houss next
to the one I have described as the locality of the first fatal case in September.—(W. R. C.)