69
occurred at Seoreenarrain before the coolies left for Simgah. It is therefore
possible that they brought the disease with them ; on the other hand, it is ascer-
tained that none of them have died, and they have remained till the last. The
coolies among whom the disease first made its appearance were the Lown
coolies, who had all along been working on the Lown road. Cholera appeared
among the villages of Baheera almost simultaneously with the out-break among
the coolies."
242. That cholera was in this instance communicated to the Raepore coolies
by the gang from Seoreenarrain, there can I think be little doubt ; but there is
also as little cause for doubt that at the time when they communicated the
disease it had not become developed in them ; they had left the infected locality
from which they came eight days previously, they had marched 60 miles in the
interval, and no symptoms of the disease had appeared among them.
243. In this instance it is probable that if the Seoreenarrain coolies had
been subjected to a prolonged quarantine before they were permitted to join the
main body, the out-break of cholera might have been for the time averted. It
would appear, however, that in order to ensure safety against the communication
of the disease, a longer term of quarantine is required than is commonly thought
necessary, and the difficulty of enforcing quarantine is proportionately increased.
When it can be carried out with a chance of its proving efficient, as in the case
of jails, and perhaps military cantonments, it is a precautionary measure that
should not be neglected, but to apply it as a protection in the cases of gangs of
coolies extended along a main line of communication, is obviously impossible, and
any attempts to check by such measures the spread of cholera among the general
population must I believe always prove futile, for, as has been shown abund-
ently in this report, cholera is diffused over a district rather by the daily inter-
course between village and village than along the main lines of communication.
244. Until the nature of the contagion can be discovered, and its first
development prevented, we must look to checking the ravages of the disease
by investigating and, as far as practicable, removing the conditions that favour
its manifestation, rather than by attempting to limit the diffusion of the choleraic
influence. Early in the present year, when the first out-breaks of cholera were
reported, I recommended the establishment of quarantine at certain points.
Afterwards, however, in the course of my tour, on arriving at a point on one of
the main lines of communication where quarantine had been established,
I found that, although a large number of foot passengers, a drove of pack bul-
locks, and some 60 carts had been stopped from two to four days, and the progress
of important railway works in the neighbourhood greatly interfered with, no
passengers of the better class had been detained; moreover, cholera had passed
the barrier, and had already appeared in villages behind it. The uselessness of
quarantine of this kind was so obvious, and the obstacles in the way of rendering
it more stringent and effectual so great, that I recommended that the general
traffic of the country should no longer be interfered with by attempts of the
kind.
245. With reference to the effect of states of the atmosphere on the diffu-
sion of cholera, the evidence afforded in the report is so far imperfect, that the
only observations recorded were not taken within the tract of country over
which the disease prevailed with the greatest intensity. Subsequent observa-
tions, however, show no great difference between the climates of Nagpore, Seonee,
and Jubbulpore. Seonee, from its greater elevation, has a mean temperature 3
degrees cooler in May. At Jubbulpore, probably in consequence of its soil, the
atmosphere is drier. Allowance being made for these differences, Table Γ.
fairly indicates the meteorological conditions prevalent over the area described.