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being kept very much cleaner than formerly. I might mention that while I was
in charge o£ A Ward in March 1901 it was reported to me that some Goanese
in Frere Road had said to the subordinate staff "You, give us some bother but
you do clean our rooms well for us."
Disinfection as carried out now in Bombay under the careful supervision of
Staff Corps officers is a most effective measure, but I doubt, much of it would be
so effective if handed over to non-military control.
Dr. Fazl Ahmad reports upon the disinfection work carried out
amongst the Mahomedans of Umarkhadi and Chukla sections as follows:—
All orders on the subject of disinfection were complied with without a single excep-
tion. Every endeavour was made to take prompt action and secure ready disinfection. This
could easily be done in Hindoo houses which were almost all flushed within 24 hours.
Ziarat Ceremony—The disinfection of Mahomedan houses was not an easy one. The
"Ziarat " ceremony came in the way of prompt action being taken in these houses and we had
to wait for three days before the disinfection could be taken in hand the "Ziarat" being a
religious ceremony, observed throughout the Mahomedan world, was unavoidably recognised by
the Plague Authorities in the last three epidemics. Accordingly three days' time was allowed
in case of every Mahomedan house to complete the ceremony, and then the disinfection was
carried out. This had become an established rule of practice in our dealings with the Maho-
medan houses, and Mahomedans looked on this allowance as a right. An attempt has of
late been made to restrict the time-honoured practice, though not to eliminate it altogether.
Conservatism as is generally admitted reigns no where perhaps more supremely than among
the Indian Mussalmans and the religious susceptibilities of these people are very acute, over
and above this, their staunch belief in fate and weakness of human devices make the interfer-
ence in the Ziarat still more serious. Taking all these circumstances into consideration the
question appeared to be delicate and one that required very skilful handling. Any rashness in
this matter may defeat the purpose in view, and might be the cause of serious disturbance.
We have been able to carry out the disinfection of some of the Mahomedan houses within 24
hours in the last two months. In every case the best and most benevolent intentions of the
Government were fully explained, and it was plainly made known to the parties concerned
that it was in the interest of their own welfare that an early disinfection was proposed. The
progress in this direction would be gradual, and slow, and in time we may be able to disinfect
more and more of Mahomedan houses soon after the occurrence of deaths, but an immediate
disinfection of respectable and Parda-houses will ever remain a difficulty. Many improve-
ments were introduced in the procedure and details of disinfection during the year under
report.
The disinfection of kit by steam sterilization was very freely done. This part of
the disinfection received its due importance in this year for the first time. In order to avoid
disinfection the people tried every sort of trick, they could think of, and did their best to
secrete the kit. The work was very hard in the beginning, but the steady and judicious
way in which the District Officer pushed this work on, week after week and the persuasive
policy pursued throughout, smoothed the way to a large extent. In consequence the
number of bundles disinfected in this year exceeded those in the past 3 years put together.
Considerable attention has been paid to the minute details and the modus
operandi of the process of disinfection, especially, since the arrival of Dr. Fraser in
this District. The process has been divided into a number of stages and instructions and
lines of action definitely and distinctly laid down for the various steps and stages. These
were fully explained and practically demonstrated to the gangs of our sections by the Doctor
himself. Thus the disinfection became methodical and more like a scientific operation than
it used to be.
The use of phenyle and carbolic powder was very much objected to in several instances.
Most of the very ignorant people have been given to understand that the odour of phenyle or
carbolic powder is in itself a source of many diseases. Some of them hated the smell of these