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Jaisur.—Cholera of a sporadic character, but neither very violent nor
very formidable, visited all parts of the district at the usual seasons for such
outbreaks. The police of the district suffered most, as they generally do in
the low swampy districts of Bengal, from fatigue, privation and exposure
to the vicissitudes of weather.
Murshidabad.—Cholera pervaded the entire district during this year,
and it was noted that the number of cases and deaths had fallen off from 700
and 659, respectively in 1871, to 645 and 442 during 1872; that the disease
prevailed with the greatest severity in the south-west, south, and south-east por-
tions of the district, in which 382 casualties (70 per cent.) of the total mortality
of the year, occurred; and that along the main roads and river banks, where
traffic was greatest, the disease prevailed with less intensity, continuity, and
fatality than in the country west of the Bhagirathi, which is the high, open,
and better drained, and as a rule free from rank vegetation. Of the 14
registration circles in the district, only one was free from cholera, three had
but one case each, and in seven the cases reported were those remaining over
from the close of the previous year." With respect to the causes and patho-
logy of the disease in Murshidabad, Dr. Coates writes:—" Cholera is endemic,
but more prevalent in the cold and early hot seasons. Anything that disturbs
digestion is liable to induce it. New rice, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, all
urcooked food, foul water, and indigestable substances give rise to it. In
no case has its been observed to be contagious. I cannot state the effect
of caste, age, sex, and habits, except that females are less subject to it than
males, and that irregular eating and living seem favourable to its onset."
Dinagepur.—Generally endemic in this district, cholera assumed an en-
demic form this year. The disease commenced in Birganj, 18 miles north
of the station of Dinagepur, and spread gradually to the south, affecting
lastly, so late as the end of December, the station itself and Rajbanspur,
three miles distant from it.
Rangpur.—The very severe epidemic of cholera that prevailed during the
close of 1871 in the eastern portion of this district lying between the rivers
Brahmaputra, and on that lying between the junction of that river with the
Dhazla and the Tista, until the end of February. The returns show the
disease to have been prevalent throughout the year 1872, and with marked
increase of mortality in the last three months of the year, which was owing
to two outbreaks of cholera—one in nine villages within a two mile radius
of the Bhowaniganj police station, where within the nine weeks of its preva-
lence 513 cases were reported, the other in the north-east of the district,
where it persisted with great intensity to the end of February (1873).
While cholera is epidemically present in this district throughout the year,
and often causes great mortality, it also prevails epidemically in certain
localities and at certain seasons.
Maldah,—Cholera, sporadic in character, is said to have prevailed
throughout the district in almost every month of the year. The month of
August was the most fatal for those attacked in the town of Maldah, and out
of 49 cases that occurred throughout the district, 49 terminated fatally.
The returns show only 52 deaths in the district during the year, the highest
number being 14, 11, and 9 in February, August, and January, respectively.
Rajshahi.—The cholera which had broke out at Nathor in 1871, and still
prevailed at the close of that year, appears to have continued in the district in
an active form during the first four months of 1872. The months of October,
November, and December; when there is generally an epidemic of cholera,
are noted as having been singularly free of the disease this year.
Bogra.—Cholera of a sporadic character occurred in this district
monthly in the cool months. * * *
Pubna.—No mention of cholera in the sanitary report of this district.
Darjeeling.—In 1872 cholera of a severe epidemic character pervaded the
entire district of Darjeeling, chiefly exhibiting its virulence among the cooly
lines of the tea estates, the terai, particularly the crowded tracts, and the hill
country. It extended its ravages also to the tracts beyond the river Tista.
The cooly corps that accompanied the Lushai Expedition, and which cholera
had attacked previously, was diminished at Jalpaiguri between the 15th and
20th April, and on the 19th the disease broke out in the terai. In May
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