NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
45
the coast between Karachi on the north and Bhatkul on the south
were examined on board the steamer on arrival off the Prince's Dock.
At the close of the monsoon, early in September, Messrs. Shepherd
& Co. ran their usual number of ferry boats and coasting steamers,
in all about 28, weekly. Country craft began to arrive, and to meet the
extra work the staff was increased to 7 qualified Medical Practitioners,
4 Assistant Surgeons, 20 Students, 2 Lady Doctors, and 1 Lady
Hospital Assistant.
To facilitate the examining of native craft, as well as of the large
number of boats which bring vegetables in the early morning for the
Bombay market, barges were put out, as before the monsoon, at
Tucker's Beacon, Free Anchorage, and Dutiable Anchorage. These
anchorages were assigned to the students.
From the 26th September 1897, in consequence of Plague at
Cutch Mandvi, Janjira, and the Kolaba District, all arrivals from
such places were sent to the Observation Camp. All passengers, no
matter from what coast port, were examined on arrival, and all
suspicious cases and those suffering from fever were sent to the
Observation Wards attached to the camps. The names and temperatures
of all these suspicious cases were written down for future reference,
Passengers from slightly infected ports were examined and allowed
to depart. Only such cases as were suspicious were detained in the
Observation Camps, and then only until their temperatures became
normal. Passengers from coast ports who were bound for places
outside Bombay were, if free from suspicious symptoms of plague,
allowed to proceed without detention on the surveillance system. Passes
were issued and the counterfoils sent to the Plague Authority of the
district to which the passenger was bound.
Owing to the recrudescence of plague in Bombay towards the end
of December, the number of passengers from coast ports began to fall
off, and many steamers ceased to run.
Detention in Observation Camps of people arriving was given up
on 25th January. The staff was reduced to 3 qualified Medical
Inspectors, 1 Lady Doctor, 1 Lady Hospital Assistant, 4 Assistant
Surgeons, and 4 Students.
Since the middle of March, coincident with the fall in the Bombay
Plague mortality, the number of passenger arrivals is steadily increasing,
and has reached a rate up to date of over 8,000 a week
46
Results.
The following table shows that from July 1897 until March 1898
35,935 steamers and native craft and 481,250 crew and passengers
from ports on the coast of Western India were inspected:—
Months.
1897.
July
August
September
October
November
December
1898.
January ...
February ...
March
TOTAL...
Vessels Inspected.
Steam-ships and square1,
rigged vessels.
89
100
189
158
156
160
181
102
121
1,206
Native sailing craft.
043
1,639
3,772
4,749
4,943
5,263
4,249
4,793
4,878
34,729
Total.
1,032
1,739
3,911
4,907
5,099
5,423
4,430
4,895
4,499
35,935
Persons Inspected.
Passengers.
Steam-ships
and sqare- rigged vessels.
9,152
15,344
37,773
31,630
33,464
33,282
11,311
13,279
21,595
206,830
Country craft.
973
2,139
4,584
992
649
1,013
335
209
663
11,557
Crew.
Steam- ships and
square-rigged vessels.
3,228
4,287
5,506
5,309
5,429
5,439
3,427
2,852
3,919
39,396
Country craft.
6,517
9,956
22,606
28,849
31,382
34,290
28.097
82,089
29,681
223,467
Passengers.
10,125
17,483
42,357
32,622
34,113
34,295
11,646
13,488
22,258
218,387
Total.
I
9,745
14,243
28,112
34,158
30,811
39,729
31,524
34,941
33,600
263,863
Crew and
Passengers.
19,870
31,726
70,469
66,780
70,924
74,024
43,170
48,429
55,858
481,250
Passengers.
Segregated.
489
919
3,565
10,548
9,692
9,148
2,986
415
461
38,223
Plague cases.
...
...
4
4
15
5
...
1
6
27
Twenty-seven cases of plague were detected or developed among
the suspicious cases which were sent to quarantine. These 27 cases
came from the following ports :—
Goregaum
...
...
... 1
Cutch Mandvi
12
Jaffrabad
...
...
... 1
Verawal
...
...
.. 1
Malwan
...
...
... 1
Baukoti
...
...
... 1
Karachi
...
...
... 1
Revdanda
...
...
... 2
Calcutta
1
Nagotna
...
...
... 2
Dabhoi
1
Mandvi
...
1
Other ports ...
...
... 2
27 Plague Cases.
Outward Sea Inspection.
The above statistics do not apply to the outward inspections, which
were under the direct control of Government and were carried out by
Government servants. During the period from July 1897 until March
1898 inclusive, the Government Medical Staff inspected 35,816 outward-
bound vessels and native craft—268,882 crew, 322,051 passengers, or
a total of 590,933 crew and passengers. The inspection of outward-
bound crew and passengers continued to be very rigorous, and owing
to this being known very few eases of fully developed plague were
found at the time of inspection ; but 84 cases of Plague broke out
among the rejected crews and passengers who were sent to the hospitals
for observation.
47
So far as is known no ship bound for a European or a
Foreign port had a case of plague on board after her departure from
Bombay.
Combined
results.
The combined results of the Inward and Outward Inspections are
therefore as follows :—
71,751 Vessels and native craft,
531,745 Crew.
540,438 Passengers.
} Inspected from July 1897 to
March 1898.
The inspection resulted in a detection of 115 plague cases.
Staff.
These inspections were controlled up to the middle of October
1897 by Surgeon-Major MacCartie, C.I.E., and afterwards by his
successor, Surgeon-Major T. Crimmin, V. G.
The following is a list of the staff who served the Plague Com-
mittee from the 30th June 1897 until 31st March 1898. The list shows
the date on which each officer was first entertained :—
NAMES OP OFFICERS.
I. — COMMISSIONED ME-
DICAL OFFICERS.
fiurg.-Lt. E. F. E. Baines.
„
Sealy
II. — LADY DOCTORS.
Mrs. J. Walker
Miss Brennan
„ Seraphina Dias
Mrs. M. M. Murzban
„ Dadina
III. — PRIVATE MEDICAL
PRACTITIONERS.
Dr. P. D. Hormusji
„ James Munday
„ H. J. Khambatta ...
,, A. F. Fernandez
„ H. C. Munji
„ R. M. Nanji ,
Asst. Surg. E. 0. Fen-wick.
Mr. B. B. "Vijaikar
Dr. M. K. Munshi
Asst. Surg. M. G. Carroll
Mr. J. B. Munsiff
,, K. M. Munsukh
Asst. Surg. H. S. Tanner
Dr. D. B. Naik
PERIOD
From
21st April 1897
24th December 1897
16th May 1S97
13th September 1897
16th September 1897
1st October 1897
8th October 1897
4th April 1897
5th April 1897
12th August 1897
6th September 1897
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
7th September 1897
13th September 1897
1st October 1897
7th October 1897
1st November 1897
9th December 1897
To
23rd December 1897.
31st December 1897.
12th September 1897.
5th October 1897.
31st March 1898.
31st March 1898.
31st January 1898.
31st March 1898.
Do.
26th December 1897.
Do.
6th. October 1897.
4th February 1898.
31st October 1897.
31st March 1898.
28th December 1897.
30th October 1897.
31st March 1898.
Do.
15th January 1898.
Gth January 1898.
REMARKS.
Transferred to Govt.
Transferred to Plague
Committee.
Resigned.
Services
dispensed
with on account of
reduction.
Transferred to. Plague
Committee.
Do.
Resigned.
Transferred to Govt.
Resigned.
Transferred to Plague
Committee.
Resigned.
48
NAMES OF OFFICERS.
Mi. S. B. Gadgil
9
„ Elijah Moses
„ "W. R. Bhat ...
„ F.S.Joshi
„ Ghandhi
„ B. A. Contractor
„ P. K. Kanga
„ B. K. Patel
„ H. K. Madkekar
IV.— MEDICAL STUDENTS.
Mr. J. DeQuadros
„ J.F. DeMello
,, H. C. Hildreth
„ J. De Souza ..„
„ F. D. Gomes ...
., K. M. Pardhy
„ L. M.Bhatt
„ B. S. Sahasubudhe ...
„ S. G. Paranjpe
,, B. B. Khandekar
,, M. N, Desai
„ P. K. Babrawalla ...
„ A. A. Bastia ...
„ L. N. Purohit
,. H. K. Banade
„ B. D. DeMello
,. F. Lander ...
„ M. G. O'Za
,, G. S. Thadani
„ A. Fielding ...
„ J. Apte
„ Mackenzie ...
,, M. A. Lalvani
V. — OTHER STAFF.
Mr. Blakeman
„ Bamrao G. Kamala-
kar, Head Clerk to
H. 0. P. ...
„ G. B. Kulkarni, Clerk
to Plague Committee
VI. — MENIAL STAFF.
Two peons...
PERIOD
From
)th December 1897
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
L3th December 1897
28th December 1897
1st January 1898
17th January 1898
3th September 1897
Do.
Do.
5th September 1897
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
7th October 1897
Do.
Do.
5th October 1897
1st April 1897
1st October 1897
1st April 1897
To
31st March 1898.
12th December 1897.
28th February 1898.
31st March 1898.
31st December 1897.
31st March 1898.
Do.
Do.
Do.
7th December 1897.
Do.
Do.
7th December 1897.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
6th October 1897.
6th October 1897.
I2th October 1897.
30th November 1897.
7th December 1897.
Do.
Do.
31st January 1898.
31st March 1898.
Do.
Do.
REMARKS.
Resigned.
Resigned.
Services dispensed
with on account
| of reduction.
J
1
j
Services dispensed
with on account
of reduction,
1
Resigned.
Services dispensed
with on account
of reduction.
Transferred to Plague
Committee.
49
All these officials did excellent work and deserve the thanks of the
Committee for the conscientious manner in which they performed an
unpleasant duty. All the students worked cheerfully and well for long
hours in the harbour.
The Health Officer of the Port brought to the notice of the Committee
for special recognition the names of the following officers :—
Dr, (Mrs.) Murzban.
„ (Miss) Dias.
Surgn.-Lieut. Baines.
Dr. Munday.
Dr. Hormnsji.
„ Nanji.
„ Khambatta.
„ Fernandez.
Dr. Gadgil.
„ Munsiff.
„ Vijaikar.
j, Munsookh.
The Police and Customs Officers, although not on the Plague Com-
mittee's staff, devoted much of their time to duties in connection with
the Committee's inspections. The Health Officer of the Port especially
mentions the names of Mr. Ingram, Superintendent of the Dock Police,
Inspectors Lee-Smith and George, Constables Wheatley, Walton, Hurst,
Murray and Perry, and Messrs. Bailie, Thomas, Ainsworth, Walsh,
and Pinto of the Customs Department, who rendered assistance without
which it would have been impossible to cope with the work of examining
the large numbers of crews and passengers who arrived from Plague-
stricken ports.
No mention is made of any of the Government establishment whose
duty it was to inspect outward bound crews and passengers, who on
very many occasions spared neither time nor expense in helping to
carry out the work of the Committee.
The subsequent treatment of quarantined cases will be found in the
chapter on Camps,
50
CHAPTER IV.
THE PEOPLE.
In many cases as is well known the people proved themselves
alike agents in the dissemination of Plague, and obstructive to remedial
measures. Racial characteristics and innate prejudices combined to eu-
courage a more or less perverse attitude towards Plague and Plague
measures which with its results can only be briefly indicated here.
The larger movements of the inhabitants into and out of the city
have been dealt with in the preceding chapter. By reference to the tables
on pages 2-27 passim, it will be seen that throughout the period
covered by this report there was in every month down to the end of
March & very considerable excess of departures over arrivals. This,
however, even in the first half of April had been converted into a small
excess on the other side (vide Table, p. 29). Whether from sullen
acquiescence in their long affliction or from quick appreciation of the
improvement now setting in, the popular dread of the disease had
begun to subside pari passu with its virulence.
Internal
movement.
But while emigration had been largely checked by fear of deten-
tion outside Bombay and by the difficulty of obtaining passes, internal
movements from one district of the Island to another had been much
resorted to. Any outbreak of Plague in one quarter of the town was
followed by the removal of the sick to another ; and where several
cases took place in a large chawl, or a compound, the neighbouring
families would disappear en masse. Both these movements largely
conduced to the spread of the disease, The sick person was secreted
in the house chosen as a hiding place and in many instances the house
would only be discovered by three or four deaths occurring in it.
In this way, towards the end of January, Plague was transmitted by
some Parsis from the Fort, and after several months freedom from
attacks, culminated in one of the sharpest outbreaks of the whole
epidemic. As the pressure of the North Fort search-parties increased.
51
the sick were removed and Dhobi Talao became badly infected.
From Dhobi Talao the disease spread north to Girgaum and east
to Dhanji Street in Market, where during March it was severe. It is
less easy to trace the spread of disease due to the flight of people
from an infected chawl. As a rule they fled in different directions and
in many cases introduced Plague into their new lodgings.
The measures taken between January and March to keep Malabar
Hill and the north of the Island free from infection, and afterwards to
encourage residents in the crowded central parts of the city to move into
houses or camps in the north of the Island-and beyond Bombay in
Salsette, have been summarised in the reports of those months.
General
behaviour.
From the beginning of July till the end of December, with
few exceptions, the people accepted the necessity of Plague measures.
In Mahomed an quarters search-parties were occasionally stopped ;
jeers and hooting, especially among the children, were not uncommon
when patients were removed to hospital, and a few cases of stone
throwing or assault occurred. These were of no general significance
and the arrival of a few Police always restored order. The only
opposition to rules which was in any way general, was the persis-
tent concealing of the sick. This practice was commonest among
Musalmans, higher-caste Hindus and Parsis. It was rare either among
Christians or among middle or lower-class Hindus.
With the spread of the epidemic towards the end of December, the
burden of Plague measures of necessity greatly increased. The rapid
addition to the number of seizures and the speed with which the disease
ran its course, made information difficult to obtain and necessitated more
frequent house-searching. This doubtless caused irritation. The more
rigid segregation of contacts, the presence of troops, and the increasing
difficulty of leaving Bombay added to the uneasiness. The constant
fear of death, the frequency of funerals, the going and coming
of bands of disinfectors, all combined to increase ill-will and discontent.
As weeks passed and the numberless prophecies of the abatement or
of the sudden ceasing of the disease ended in disappointment, the
general feeling grew more sullen and hopeless. This was shewn by the
opposition made to certain proposals for the registration of deaths, which
a few months earlier had been considered free from objection.
Large numbers of upper-class Hindus, indeed, who had removed to
the north of the Island or to Salsette, remained content and healthy. But
many of the caste who could not, or would not, move into camp grew more
52
and more dissatisfied with the rules preventing free exit from Bombay,
and with the restrictions on the issue of passes. The riot of March 9th,
though in origin connected with the removal of a young Jullaha girl to
hospital, and though in the Nal-Bazaar, Paidhowni, and Grant Road both
Musalman and Hindu rioters behaved with great cruelty, was not sup-
ported by the mass of the people and was not directed against any
particular portion of the Plague measures. On the day of the riot the
inspection of corpses was the chief grievance, A few days later, when
a strike among cartmen and dock labourers was threatened, the principal
ground of complaint was the detention of people who wished to leave
Bombay and the diffculty of getting passes. Since the middle of March,
the enforcement of systematic house-searching, removal of Contacts, and,
to a less extent, of the vacating of infected houses has been relaxed.
This has combined with the rapid abatement of the disease to remove
causes of complaint.
Special
behaviour.
Hindus.
In analysing the effect of plague on the different castes of Western
Indian Hindus, it Is to be remembered that they take their origin from
two territorial divisions—(1) Maharastra and Karnatic, and (2) Gujaratha,
in both of which the same castes formed by professions occur. The
diverse climatic and physical conditions of these two main terri-
torial divisions have their effect on the- constitution and character of the
inhabitants.
Traders.
In August 1896, Plague broke out among the Hindu traders or the
Mandvi division of B. Ward near the Docks. Shravaks, Banias, Mar-
wadis, Bhatias and Loha-nas suffered severely. In many cases before
any human being was attacked the rats sickened. The houses of
almost all the traders in Mandvi have store-rooms on the ground
floors which are infested by rats. The religious repugnance of the
inhabitants to kill, or even to remove the rats after they had
sickened and died, filled the houses with infection. The residents of
the upper floors succumbed to the poison. Neither his abundance nor
his wholesome sustenance protected the Hindu trader. It is significant
that during both the past and the present epidemics in Bombay, upper-
class Gujarat Hindus have suffered more than the corresponding classes
of Maharastra or Karnatic origin. This is probably due to the want of
nervous vigour in the Gujarati's soft fleshy body, and perhaps to the in-
door life that many of them lead. Banias took the Plague to the Deccan,
where it is known as the Marwadi sickness. They carried it to parts of
Khand.esh, where it is called the Bania disease. Hindu traders, mostly
Gujaratis, conveyed the disease to Karachi in November 18%, and to
53
Mandvi in Cutch in April 1897. The Bania is the Plague spreader partly,
perhaps mainly, because the Bania is the chief traveller.
As has already been noted, the outbreak of the second epidemic in
September 1897 occurred, as in the previous one, among the Banias of the
Mandvi Section of B Ward. In late December and in January, as the
disease became more and more severe, the high proportion of mortality
among traders aroused attention. Among Hindu traders, the Jains
or Shravaks seemed to suffer the most. According to the returns the
proportion of deaths among Shravaks was remarkable, being double the
proportion even among low-caste Hindus. This was supposed to be the
result of certain special social or religious practices among the Shravaks.
It was said that their fastings during the month of Bhadarva weakened
their system and consequently made it especially susceptible to Plague.
To a certain extent their habits were also supposed to be responsible for
the average higher mortality among them. The true explanation seems
to be that while in the census of 1891 the name of Shravak with a total
of 25,000 is confined to those who are Jains by religion, in the health
figures the term Shravak is used loosely to include nearly all Hindu
traders except Bhatias and Lohanas. The fact is that the total popula-
tion represented by Shravaks in the health returns is probably
nearer 50,000 than 25,000.
Labourers.
A class of Hindus who suffered severely when the epidemic was at
its height were the large powerfully-built temperate Dekhan Marathas,
known as Ghatis, who are the great weight carriers in the Docks.
These men are often exhausted at the end of their day's work. They
have as a rule no families with them in Bombay, and have to wait late
for their dinner in their lodgings. Not uncommonly, they have no
room, and sleep in passages or in verandahs. They live in very bad
localities. In their case an attack often ended fatally a few hours after
their return from labour. They did not give in immediately they
were attacked, but in spite of the fever stuck to their work, until, com-
pletely exhausted, nothing could save them.
Ciaitsmen.
Among Hindu craftsmen, towards the close of December, a number
of Goldsmith or Soni families suffered severely. In January and
February the Coppersmiths or Kasars,
the Ironsmiths or
Lohars of Kumbharwada, as also the Lohars of Lohar Chawl in
Market, were badly infected. The Panchkalashis or Carpenters of
Girgaum and Gamdevi suffered much in the months of February
and March. Craftsmen of each class generally live in one maholla or
locality. As there are no alien neighbours to give information if
54
Plague find its way into one of these moholias, several families will
have sickened before the fact comes to light. Hence the death-rate
is high.
In the previous outbreak, the Mochis or shoe-makers, whose practice
of living twenty or thirty families in one large room would seem to
make them specially liable to attack, were fairly exempt. But in De-
cember few, if any, of the shoe-makers' warrens in or off Duncan Road
were free from Plague and relapsing fever which, in a considerable
proportion of cases, was mixed with Plague.
Fishermen.
The Kolis or Fishermen of Koliwada in Mandvi, Colaba, Mazagon,
Worli, and Sion had suffered severely during the first epidemic. In the
second epidemic, except for an outbreak among the Colaba Kolis in
December, and among the Mazagon Kolis in February, which was
carried by fugitives to Worli, the Kolis have suffered less during the
present than during the previous epidemic.
The Pardeshis—'Hindus of all castes from the North-Western Pro-
vinces and Oudh—also suffered severely. The causes of their especial
susceptibility were probably their poor food and their living in infected
localities, often to guard houses deserted by their occupants through
fear of Plague.
The Mahars, Dheds, and Bhangis have all suffered severely, appa-
rently to a greater degree than they suffered in the first epidemic.
Blusalmaus.
During the first epidemic the Musalmans were on the whole fairly
free from Plague. This second epidemic has pressed much more heavily
upon them. Among the Konkan and Deccan Musalmans occupying
the block of streets to the north of Paidhowni, especially those who live
in the streets bounded on the south by Erskine Road, on the north by
Bellasis Road, and between Parel Road on the east and Duncan Road on
the west, as also in the Chakla quarter, an exceptional mortality has
prevailed with considerable steadiness since early December.
The reason for this seems to be in great measure the Musalman
dislike of hospitals—even their own—and the consequent attempt to
conceal cases by moving the affected from house to house and quarter to
quarter. This hurtful practice greatly lessened the patient's chance of
recovery, while at the same time it spread infection over the whole
Musalman quarter. Further, the Konkan and Deccan Musalmans
suffered from the want of any religious or social head who could enforce
a profitable obedience to rules. The present Kazis, two in number, each