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as they are finished they should be replaced, and as soon as the rooms are dry, the
inmates should be allowed to return. It is unnecessary to whitewash the rooms or
to keep them subsequently vacant.
6. The recommendations contained in their 6th para. do not apply to
Bombay City.
7. The aversion of the people towards disinfection of their effects and their
practice of secreting or removing clothes, &c, in order to avoid it, have often
resulted in the spread of infection. It is therefore of the utmost importance to
consult the feelings of the people as much as possible. It' is of little use to give
compensation for goods destroyed; and the difficulty should be met by proscrib-
ing all destructive methods of disinfection : in particular nothing which could
by any possibility have any value for its owner should be broken up or destroy-
ed by fire.
8. As regards the disinfection of the clothing and effects found in an
infected room, the Commission recommend either momentary immersion in
boiling water, or steeping in a disinfecting solution. They point out that an
acid solution of perchloride of mercury would be injurious to clothing, and if
this disinfectant was used a neutral solution would have to be made up as well
as the acid solution. Complications of this nature, however, lead to error and
confusion unless the work is carried out under the immediate supervision of
trustworthy Europeans.
9. The Commission do not recommend the procedure of conveying clothes
to a steam sterilizer, because in India it is difficult to secure that intelligent
and perfectly trustworthy supervision which is essential for this form of disinfec-
tion.
10. With regard to valuable silks and other articles likely to be injured
by other form of disinfection, the Commission recommend a prolonged exposure
for several days to the direct rays of the sun.
11. Stocks of corn, which may have become infected through the agency
of rats, they recommend should be spread out in a thin layer in the sun.
12. This recommendation does not concern Bombay City.
13. The disinfection of drains and cesspits they consider unnecessary as
filth disinfects itself by ordinary processes of nature. The case of latrines is
different, because there infection might be spread before these processes had
time to operate : latrines should therefore continue to be disinfected.
The Government of India strongly commend the advice of the Commission
summarized above. They call for reports regarding the better training of the
disinfecting staff. They support the opinion of the majority of the Commission,
that chemical disinfection is a far more efficient measure in towns and places where
trained disinfectors can be employed, and efficient supervision exercised over the
preparation of the disinfectant and its application. They direct the continuance
of experiments as to the cheapest and best disinfectant and draw very particular
attention to number 6 of the above recommendations regarding measures which
may be taken to lessen the objections of the people to the disinfection of their
effects.
With regard to number 3 of the above suggestions, however, Government
observe that the practice in Calcutta tends to show the advantages of disinfecting
not only the house or room actually infected, but also houses adjoining infected
ones : and Government are therefore unable to agree with the view that disinfection
should be restricted to the houses in which either plague cases have occurred or
dead rats have been found.
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