136
[CHAP. V.
In addition to the foregoing staff, the Customs Department appointed—
Two qualified private practitioners.
One Lady Doctor and later on a third Orivate practitioner was entertained.
The Customs Medical Staff examined the crew and passengers of all native craft proceeding
to ports between Karachi on the North, and Bhatkal the southernmost port in the Bombay
Presidency. The Customs Medical Staff was, however, supervised by the Port Health Officer.
It is due to the two local Shipping Companies—Messrs. Shepherd and Company and the
British India Steam Navigation Company—which carried away the bulk of the fleeing
population, to mention that they had already provided a Medical Inspection of their own.
Lieufc.-Colonel F. F. MacCartie, C.I.E., I. M. S., Port Health Officer, during the first
epidemic, thus describes the inspections :—
"The object aimed at being the prevention of the spread of plague to other Indian ports,
to ports outside India, and, above all, to Europe, with its incalculable effects on Indian com-
merce, no measures were spared to obtain that end, and the most characteristic feature of the
inspection became its extreme strictness and searching nature. Plague, moreover, is a
disease which requires a very rigid and close inspection for its recognition. Its main and
chiefest signs during the Bombay outbreak were fever and buboes, and all natives with either
of these signs became objects of suspicion ; their temperatures were taken and they were
subjected to the most searching examination in private. During the months of February,
March, and April, the number of persons placed on one side for temperature observation
ranged from 20 to 25 per cent., and as many as a dozen rapid-registering thermometers were
in use at the same time. It need hardly be said that to eliminate the suspicious cases a care-
ful individual examination of each native was necessary, and this included not merely a look
at a man's tongue and face, and pulse-observation, but a careful exploration of his body for
glandular enlargement. Nor was the examination confined to the persons sailing on a vessel.
The vessel itself was overhauled and a high sanitary condition insisted on. This included
the opening and thorough cleansing of lascars' boxes, which were often found to contain
filthy clothes and rubbish quite capable of supporting the plague microbe in comfort and
affluence. In fact, it would be impossible, humanly speaking, to devise a more stringent or
exhaustive examination for the prevention of the export of plague."
It was no wonder, then, that when the Indian Delegate to the Venice Sanitary Conven-
tion, after close personal observation, described the measures in force in Bombay, his state-
ment was received with "satisfaction mingled with incredulity." Members of the Foreign
Scientific Commissions that visited India to study the plague expressed their surprise and
admiration at the completeness of the inspection system, and in the changed attitu de of Europe-
resulting from their favourable representation, is presumably to be found the reason for the
relaxation of the severe quarantine in force at Brindisi, Marseilles, and other ports.
When the Venice Convention Regulations were published, it was found that they
provided nothing essential that was not already in existence in Bombay. The Convention,
however, ruled that the examination of all persons sailing on a ship was to be conducted on
shore prior to embarkation. Arrangements were made, as soon as possible, to give effect to
this recommendation, and the crew and passengers of all vessels, including native craft, bound to
ports out of India, have been examined on shore prior to embarkation and conveyed on board
under Police escort. The great majority of passengers for the Indian coast ports leave by the
British India and Messrs. Shepherd and Company's coasting steamers, and they were
examined on shore, prior to embarkation, in sheds specially arranged for the purpose, even
before the Venice Convention came into force. As an additional precaution, the clothing and
bedding of native crew and all 3rd class and deck passengers leaving for ports out of India
are subjected to disinfection by means of saturated steam for 15 minutes at a pressure of .10
lbs. to the square inch. This pressure gives a temperature of 239 F., and is said to be
capable of destroying the most resistant organisms yet isolated.
The following statement shows the number of outward bound vessels, passengers and
crews examined, and the number of persons rejected during the periods from February to