( III )
before medical aid could reach it. Dr. Bird, the Civil Surgeon, remarks :—"It
is noteworthy that the disease has during the past hot months proved most
deadly in Howrah, where sanitary improvements are being speedily pushed
on."
24.Parganahs.—The cholera, which visited this district with epidemic
intensity in the winter of the preceding year, continued to prevail with varying
degrees of severity up to May of 1876, and resumed its winter character in
November and December leaving the months of June to October markedly
free from the disease. January, April, and December were the worst months;
but in the greatest portion of the district the disease prevailed with less in-
tensity and fatality than in the preceding year. In the Basirhat, Baduria,
Harwah, and Hasanabad circles, the disease prevailed with marked sever-
ity. It is said that when the cold-weather commences, and the wind changes
to a northerly direction, very dry and chilly at night, cholera appears here.
At this time the poorer classes tap their date-trees, and make use of the juice
with newly reaped rice and half-boiled goor. This, it is said, causes bowel
irritations and predisposes the sufferers to cholera. * * *
Naddia.—This district is, as a rule, affected with two distinct epidemic
outbreaks of cholera; the first beginning in March, especially after the storms,
when the days are hot and nights chilly, and lasting with more or lese intensity
till the rains have fairly set in, when it disappears ; the second beginning with
the dry north winds and chilly foggy nights of October and November, and
continuing to prevail with more or less severity till the end of December. If
the cold-weather is mild, and evaporation is slow, the disease extends in the
January following, and to this rule 1876 was no exception, although cholera
prevails much less severely and fatally than in 1875 ; for the cold-weather of
1875-76 being particularly mild, and of short duration, the winter epidemic of
1875 continued to prevail during the first half of January 1876 in 17 out of the
31 circles of the district; the summer epidemic commenced in the first week
of March, was at its height in April, began to subside in May, and was very
low in June ; the winter epidemic of 1876 commenced in the third week of
October, reached its height in the second week of December, and then rapidy
declined to the close of the year.
Jaisur.—This district suffered very severely from cholera, the sub-divisions
of Magura, Bagirhat, and Khulna mostly so. Bagirhat, in the south-east
close to the Sundarbands, had been submerged by the cyclone inundation of the
31st October, and the bodies of many human beings and cattle which had
been drowned were left by the receding waves in the rivers, tanks, fields,
and ditches, and generally polluted the water. In Khulna in the south-east
and Magura in the north-east a very fatal diarrhoea also prevailed ; in the
latter the disease was attended with vomiting and long round worms were
voided in the purging. The disease was attributed to the use of raw fruits and
vegetables and decomposed fish infested with worms.
Murshiddbad.—Cholera passed on into 1876 in this district from the
epidemic which prevailed in December 1875, and prevailed with greater severity
than in the preceding year. From January the disease commenced to decline,
but in March it broke out with epidemic intensity, and in this month and
April was severest in character. From May it declined till September, when
it again began to increase, and prevailed epidemically from October to Decem-
ber with almost equal severity as the March outbreak. The disease followed no
regular course, but broke out almost simultaneously in most of the circles.
Dinagepur.—Cholera was present throughout the year, though it prevailed
with somewhat less severity than in the preceding year. April, May, and
December were the months of greatest prevalence ; in the remaining months
the disease was in sporadic form. It was present in several places far distant
from one another at one and the same time.
Malda.—The cholera of November and December 1875 in this district
continued to prevail through January and February, gradually extending ; in
March it covered a wider area, and in April, May, and June became quite
general, no circle being free from its presence. From July to October there
was a great lull, but in the latter part of October the disease revived and
prevailed throughout November and December ; it was nowhere epidemic, nor
confined to one locality. The Medical Officer is of opinion that although