372
[CHAP. XII., PT. I.
University of Edinburgh, President of the Commission, and the following members :—
Mr. J. P. Hewett, C. I. E., I. C. S., Secretary to the Government of India in the Home
Department ;
Professor A. E. Wright, M. D., Professor of Pathology in the Army Medical School,
Netley ;
Mr. A. Cumine, I. C. S., a Senior Collector in the Bombay Presidency;
Dr. M. A. Ruffer of the Egyptian Sanitary Department ; and
Mr. C. J. Hallifax, I. C. S., Secretary to the Commission.
The questions to which the Indian Plague Commission devoted themselves were:—
(1) The origin of the different outbreaks of plague ;
(2) The manner in which the disease is communicated;
(3) The effects of curative serum ; and
(4) The effects of preventive inoculation.
They arrived in Bombay on the 25th November 1898, and at once proceeded to inspect
operations and to record evidence. Local Governments and Administrations and Native
States were asked to put forward such witnesses, both official and non-official, as they
desired to be examined, while the general public were invited by means of advertise-
ments in the public Press to tender evidence before the Commission, which, after examining
witnesses in Bombay for a week, visited Dharwar and Hubli en route for Bangalore, at
which places they heard large numbers of witnesses put forward by the Bombay and
Madras Governments and by the Mysore Administration. From Bangalore they proceeded
to Hyderabad (Deccan), and on the way made a brief halt at Guntakul. Thence they
visited in turn the Central Provinces, the Lower Provinces of Bengal, the North-West
Provinces, and the Punjab.
But the Bombay Presidency claimed most of their attention. Karachi was visited on the
23rd January 1899, and after proceeding to Cutch Mandvi, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Surat and
Damaun Road, the Commission once more arrived in Bombay, where they devoted a fortnight
to taking further evidence and examining the various arrangements in force, the hospitals,
the sea and railway inspection, segregation and sanitation. Bacteriological experts belonging
to the I. M. S. and the R. A. M. C. conducted certain experiments for them at Bangalore and
Bombay : whilst two medical officers were deputed by them to investigate bacteriologically
the nature of the disease known as "Mahamari," at Kumaun and Garhwal.
On the 22nd of February 1899 the Commission left Bombay for the second time to visit
other places in the Presidency, which had been seriously affected by Plague. Thus Poona,
Satara, Belgaum, Bijapur, Sholapur, Ahmednagar, and Nasik were in turn inspected and
evidence recorded at these places. On the 8th of March the Commission returned to Bombay,
where a fresh batch of witnesses offered themselves for examination.
The witnesses examined by the Commission comprised all classes of officials and non-
officials, experts and laymen, Civil and Military officers of all grades who had had anything
to do with plague measures. European and Native scientists and medical men, hakims and
vaids were alike examined.
Whilst, on the one hand, a great deal of valuable evidence was given before the Com-
mission, on the other, it must bo noted that a considerable mass of less valuable theorising was
offered, more especially by those who had formed pre-conceived or ill-founded opinions as
regards the origin, spread and other circumstances connected with the disease. An amusing
example of such evidence may perhaps be given here.