4
such Medical practitioner certified there was proper segregation, the patient
was to remain in the house.
The Deputy Sanitary Commissioner, Surgeon-Captain Arnim, who had
been active in visiting cases, on the 19th December reported the existence
of plague in Karachi to the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government
of Bombay, and also wrote to the Municipality, suggesting that every effort
should be made to procure information of sickness, and that, "where possible
and in cases where accommodation is unsatisfactory, attempts should be made
to isolate the patient." The Sanitary Commissioner, Surgeon-Lieut.-Colonel
Clarkson, writing on 25th December, strongly advocated compulsory isolation
of the sick. The attention of Surgeon-Captain Arnim and of the Karachi
Municipality was, on 31st idem, called to this letter, and the immense value
of isolation, and a copy of it was also despatched to all District officers. It
was requested that daily reports might be submitted for any place where
plague might unfortunately appear, and " isolation should be everywhere
promptly enforced."
On the 1st of January ] 897, the Acting Commissioner received a copy of
a letter addressed by the Deputy Sanitary Commissioner to the Sanitary Com-
missioner, Bombay, giving a full account of the state of affairs up to December
30th. As far as local conditions allowed, cleaning and disinfection were being
efficiently and energetically carried out by the Municipal executive. Suitable
houses in the town had been set apart as caste hospitals, which would provide
for patients who did not possess spacious and well ventilated private dwellings
of their own, Surgeon-Captain Arnim added—
" There is a marked opposition among the Municipal Commissioners and the inhabitants
of the town to the complete isolation which the removal of the sick to the Lyari isolation
sheds would necessitate; indeed, there is reason to believe that, at present at least, the
feeling among the townspeople would not admit of the segregation of all cases at the Lyari
sheds."
All were working with energy and system. His inquiries had failed to
trace the disease to any source outside Karachi. The Deputy Sanitary Com-
missioner thought that, most probably, the disease had been prevalent in the
town previous to the date upon which attention was drawn to the first two
cases.
On the 1st January, a copy of the Deputy Sanitary Commissioner's letter
was sent to the Collector of Karachi, stating that, with a trifling exception,
the Acting Commissioner saw nothing to object to in the Municipal resolu-
tions, but it should be incumbent on householders to give notice of plague
cases.
In giving sanction to the Municipal resolutions, the Acting Commissioner
judged it advisable to proceed immediately to Karachi to ascertain how far the
Minicipality were in a position to carry them into effect, and particularly in
what attitude the Municipality stood towards the Muhammadan population.
He arrived in Karachi early on the morning of the 3rd January, and at once
called upon the Principal Medical Officer, and Surgeon-Colonel Bainbridge
kindly consented to accompany the Acting Commissioner on a tour of inspec-
tion through the native city. Mr. Giles, the Collector of Karachi, Surgeon-
Lieut.-Colonel Henderson, the Civil Surgeon, Surgeon-Captain Arnim, the
Deputy Sanitary Commissioner, Dr. Kaka, the Health Officer, and others
were of the party. It was gratifying to observe that Surgeon-Captain Arnim's
description of Municipal energy was even less than the facts warranted.
The disinfection of rooms in which deaths occurred was most thorough, and
to Dr. Kaka is due the very high credit of the free use of perchloride of mercury
as a disinfecting agent from the commencement of operations. In those early
days, the saturation of houses and the watering of streets was excessive, but that
was almost immediately remedied, and one of the popular complaints of that
morning was removed. The buildings called caste hospitals were empty. It was
clear to every one that they could only be filled by compulsion. A meeting was
convened at Government House on the afternoon of the 4th, at which the
Collector, the Medical officers named and the Municipal executive, including Mr,