NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
4
pleasant to deal with were the sailor folk Máchhis and Khar was whose calling
renders them accustomed to discipline, The most difficult to manage were the
Mussalmáns, whose religious customs, observances and prejudices seem to stand
in the way of everything. All measures that are necessary are also ' haram.'
There was slight disturbance one day in consequence of an order I gave. It
was however rapidly quelled by the arrest of few men, who were charged with
disobedience to the order before the District Magistrate. The case was
subsequently withdrawn, and the withdrawal no doubt had a good effect.
There was no real opposition to segregation though everybody disliked it.
The burial rites of the Mussalmáns were always a difficulty. Yet it seemed to
me that most difficulties could be got over by listening to what the people had
to say and talking to them patiently and in a friendly manner. They did not
agree, but they were pleased and mollified. They could hardly be expected to
agree, for their fatalistic creed taught them that the plague was decreed by
Providence and that the hour of each man's death was unalterably determined.
I received considerable help from several native gentlemen. Sardár
Bahádur Shekh Amir was always ready to back me up. Utamram Jivanram, a
well-known and well-to-do native doctor, gave me a good deal of assistance, and
his knowledge of his town and his good nature were most helpful. He offered
a bungalow for the segregation of high caste Hindu patients. Mr. Mahomed
Kasim Bharucha, besides giving the site for the general segregation hospital free,
was often present at the house disinfection and took a great deal of interest in
it. Mr. Manekji Nasarvanji also did what he could to help.
On the other hand I am bound to say that some of the Municipal Commis-
sioners, notably the most loudly-voiced members, failed to give me the aid I
expected.
Of the officials, Ráo Sa'heb Bulakhidas Bapuji, the Chorási Mámlatdár,
really deserves high praise. He was indefatigable and his position exposed him
to all sorts of unpopularity and underhand attack. All sections of the police
did excellent work, especially the sepoys. The Patil worked hard and well after
his first mistake. The new Hospital Assistant, Mr. Hormasji Edalji, was
perfectly trustworthy and also worked hard. Mr. Chunilal Dalal, the Assistant
Surgeon in charge of the Segregation Camp, was (as he himself says) "very
honest." He and the Hospital Assistant worked together most satisfactorily,
though there must have been great temptations and no little unpopularity. If
Government wish to recognise plague work, I think the gentlemen whose names
I have given deserve it.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
0. N. SEDDON,
Assistant Collector and President, Rander Municipality,
Notes by Surgeon-Captain T. E. Dyson, Deputy Sanitary Commissioner
in charge of "Plague Operations in the City of Bulsar.
BULSAR TOWN.
(a) Origin and Spread.
1. Bulsár, a port at the mouth of the Auranga Hiver, is situated on the
main line of the B. B. & C. I. Railway about 120 miles north of Bombay, and
contains a population of 12,999 souls. Hitherto enjoying a reputation for
healthiness, the town was largely resorted to by fugitives from Bombay during
the months of November and December 1896 and January 1897, and there is
evidence to show that these visitors introduced the plague into Bulsár.
2. The first recorded case in the town occurred in November 1896, when
a Hindu weaver, a native of Balsar, but living and working in Bombay, came to
Bulsár on November 22nd, and died in his house the same day. No other cases
were reported for a month, until on December 22nd a grain-dealer arrived from
Bombay and died in his house in Bulsár on the same day.
3. Imported cases from Bombay were subsequently recorded as follows :—
3. A Pársi girl on January 2nd, 1897.
4. A Hindu weaver on January 7th, 1897.
5. A carpenter on January 18th, 1897.
6. A Pársi on January 31st, 1897.
7. A Pársi on February 8th, 1897.
8. A Márwádi on February 14th, 1897.
It should be noted that, with the exception of Nos. 6 and 8, all these people
recovered or died in houses, acting as foci for the development and spread of
plague in half a dozen places in the town.
4. On February 7th, 1897, the first local case was recorded in the person
of a labourer, who probably contracted the disease while at work in the grain
merchants' quarter, where it will be seen plague was undoubtedly present,
though unrecognized, for a month before this date.
5. The average monthly death-rate of the town is 35, and a reference to
the death register shows the following figures :·—
November 1896
December 1S96
January 1897
February 1897
. . .
...
...
...
...
...
...
,..
·
...
.. .
...
Deaths.
35
37
44
115
It has been stated that 4 cases only of plague were registered in January,
of which 3 died ; and from a casual glance at the death register it does not seem
as if the disease had gained any firm footing in the town at this time.
6. However, a detailed examination of the 44 deaths recorded in January
shows that 16 occurred in the Chipvád and 4 in the adjacent Khumbhárvád and
Golvad, three quarters where the epidemic first seriously attacked the town.
There is little doubt that a proportion of these deaths were due to plague,
and the entries of " Fever," " High Fever " and " Lung Disease " as causes of
death, lend support to this view.
7. As no serious preventive measures were adopted before February, it is
easy to understand how the disease, practically undisturbed for at least a month,
was able to strike deep root in the town, and the subsequent history of the
epidemic shows that full advantage was taken of this month's undisturbed
possession.
8. As shown above, the germs of plague must have been introduced into
half a dozen quarters of the town in January and the early days of February,
B 1087—1
4
On completion of the houses, the sheds and their occupants, with all their
bedding and clothing; were treated in the same way, and although this camp,
at the end of the operation, seemed as if it had been drenched by a shower of
rain, by evening everything was as dry as before the washing. The disinfection
of this quarter was completed between March 29th and April 4th, and the
people were allowed to reoccupy their houses on April 11th.
23. A reinforcement of 200 labourers from Bombay arrived on April 4th,
and with their help other quarters of the town were rapidly taken in hand and
subjected to the same treatment, with fire engines aiding the hand pumps ;
but as the first experiment was still under trial, the precaution was taken to
follow up the disinfection with lime-washing. After the Mahomedans of the
Nana Taivád had occupied their houses for a week without any recurrence of
disease, and the experiment had thus proved successful, all lime-washing was
stopped, and no further treatment of houses was adopted beyond disinfection
with corrosive sublimate.
24. At a later stage, when it was possible to undertake the disinfection of
streets and quarters before they became completely infected, it was not found
necessary to disturb the occupants except during the operation of disinfection
and for the few hours during which the houses were drying.
25. The following statistics will give some idea of the results obtained :—
Nana Taivád contains 141 houses, of which 50 were known to be infected.
Two-thirds of the houses were occupied by about 300 people.
Total number of cases of plague ...
Do.
do.
deaths
Disinfection begun March 29th, when daily average of cases for pre-
vious week was ...
Disinfection completed April 4th ; daily average of cases from. April
4th to llth
93
68
4
5
After April llth, 3 cases occurred, one of whom was an attendant on a sick
relative, and another probably contracted the disease in another part of the
town.
Mota Taivád contains 151 houses, of which 58 were known to be infected.
Total number of cases of plague
Do.
do.
deaths
At the time of disinfection, April 13th, the daily average of cases
was ...
...
...
...
After disinfection, the daily average of cases was
Nine cases in all occurred after disinfection was completed.
128
98
5
1
G hanchivad.—In the affected area there are 92 houses, in 19 of which
cases of plague had occurred.
In these 92 houses there were about 300 people.
Total
number of cases of plague
... . . . . . .
Do.
do,
deaths
. . .
. . .
. . .
30
24
There was an average of 1 case daily up to the time disinfection was com-
pleted, while after disinfection only 4 cases occurred.
Khatrivad.—There are 180 houses in the infected area, in 43 of which
cases of plague had occurred. Only 2 / 3 of these houses were occupied by about
300 people.
Total
number of cases of plague
Up
to time when disinfection was com
average
number of cases was
After
disinfection for week ending April 24th
60
2
1
Subsequently 7 cases occurred.
A reference to Chart A will show most graphically the continuous fall after
disinfection with corrosive sublimate was begun.
The Nana and Mota Taiváds were deeply infected areas.
Notes by Surgeon-Captain T. E. Dyson, Deputy Sanitary
Commissioner, Gujara't Eegistration District
BULSA'R TA'LUKA
ORIGIN AND SPREAD.
1. Before proceeding to the consideration of the spread of plague in the
táluka, it is advisable to have a clear understanding of the terms "imported" and
" local," as used in connection with plague.
2. The former term is taken to include all cases occurring among the
non-resident population of a village, while the latter includes cases occurring
among the inhabitants of a village, although the disease may have been, strictly
speaking, imported in both cases.
This definition is purely artificial, but is necessary in order to clearly dis-
tinguish between an outbreak of plague caused, for instance, by fugitives from
an infected place, and one, equally due to importation, the result of intercourse
between the inhabitants of a healthy and an infected village,
3. There are 95 villages in the táluka of Bulsár, from 38 of which cases
of plague were returned, making up a total of 703 cases and 522 deaths.
Out of 703 cases, 552 were local and 151 imported, 142 being imported
from Bulsár.
Of 552 local cases, 281 occurred in one village and 246 in five villages.
After the general exodus from the town, it was found that about 3,000
Bulsár residents were encamped in 51 villages of the táluka, the majority being
camped within a radius of 5 or 6 miles from Bulsár.
In 15 only of these 51 villages were cases of plague reported among the
Bulsár people, while in only two of them is there any evidence that an epidemic
of plague followed this importation.
These two villages, Abrama and Tithal, are within two miles of Bulsár.
In Abrama the first two cases of plague were imported from Bulsár in
the persons of a Dubla and a Dhodia, who died respectively on the 22nd and 30th
March.
4. At the end of March dead rats were found in the Soutars' and Lohárs'
houses, and the occupants promptly vacated their houses and went into sheds.
Plague broke out among these people on April 14th, and in all 8 cases
occurred, of which 7 were in two families.
Subsequently dead rats were found in the houses of Bráhmins, who left their
houses at once, and among them also, although living in sheds, 11 cases of
plague occurred.
5. In Tithal imported cases of plague were reported on February 26th,
April 12th and 23th, and between 8th and 12th of May dead rats were found in
some Kolis' houses.
Local cases among Dublas and Kolis were reported on May 8th, 12th, 22nd
and 29th, and June 3rd.
It is presumed the rats became infected through the first imported cases
of plague and in turn carried the infection to the houses, among the occupants of
which local cases subsequently occurred.
A complete chain of evidence is impossible, and the possibility of a later
infection by intercommunication with Bulsár cannot be excluded.
This immunity of the villages from infection by fugitives from Bulsár
admits of explanation in the fact that the villages of the táluka are for the most
part composed of scattere'l hamlets, affording abundant space for strangers to
encamp without encroaching on the inhabited areas.
B 1088
4
The sick received little or no treatment medically beyond the exhibition of
a few household remedies, and the death-rate was 74 per cent, compared with
78 per cent, in the town.
The outbreak among the Soutárs of Kosumba village, which has already
been alluded to, presented certain features worthy of note.
The disease was of a mild type characterized by slight fever of two or three
days' duration, and the formation of buboes, chiefly in the groin.
Fully three-fourths of the 31 cases which occurred were of this type, and
during one visit to the village I found two boys about 12 years of age, with
buboes in the groin, whose fever had been so slight as to escape observation,
and they had not been recognized as cases of plague.
I am indebted to the Assistant Surgeon, Bulsár, for the statistics recorded
under the medical aspects of plague.
s
another fisherman was again found dead in the same locality the next
morning (27th).
Thus in two days five persons of the fisherman class were found dead in their
houses and one found suffering from plague in Rudherpura locality.
Some families of fishermen from Rudherpura went to live in the fields at
Salábátpura Mahomadbág when they saw that the locality was infected, but here
also they were not free from the disease, probably they had taken the germs of
the disease with them. For on the 3rd March three of them were found dead
in the fields and t\vo were found ill ; the latter were taken to the Párakh Dharm-
shála, where they died on the next day.
In the same locality (Rudherpura) a Darji boy was found dead on the
following day, 28th February, and his mother was attacked with plague on the
3rd and expired on the 6th March, while his father, who was sentenced to simple
imprisonment for not giving information of pingue case occurring in his house, was
attacked with plague in the jail on the 4th and died in the hospital on the
following clay. On the 5th mother of the last was taken ill and she also suc-
cumbed to the disease the next day.
Thus within a period of one week, that is, from 28th February to 6th March,
four members of the same Darji family, viz., a boy, his mother, father and grand-
mother, fell victims to the disease.
Again in the same locality, on the 6th March a Pardeshi girl aged six years
was attacked with the disease, and her brother, a boy four years of age, on the
following day; both were taken to the Párakh Dharmshála Segregation Hospital,
where the girl died on the 12th April, and the boy was discharged cured on the
9th April.
The last case in Rudherpura was on the 17th March ; a Pardeshi girl aged
13 was attacked and expired on the same day.
As the epidemic thus appeared to be chiefly confined to Rudherpura
locality, by the orders of the District Magistrate all the houses in that locality,
about 79 in number, were vacated, and holes were made in the roofs of these
houses by removing a number of tiles. The houses were allowed to be re-occupied
after one month, but not a single case occurred after the re-occupation of the
houses.
Besides Rudherpura two other localities, viz., Sayadvád, Máchhivád and
Asurbeg Dhervád, where in the course of a couple of days more than two or
three cases had occurred, were ordered to be vacated in the beginning of May.
From the former locality 22 houses and the latter 12 bouses were vacated. They
have been re-occupied since, but there has been no recurrence of the disease in
these quarters.
Gopipura, Haripura, Mahidharpura and Rugnáthpura were also affected,
but the cases were few in each locality and scattered over a very large area, not
more than two or three cases occurring in any particular street.
No. 2452 OF 1897.
Sholápur Collector's Office,
4th August 1897.
FROM
W. T. MORISON, ESQUIEB, I. C. S.,
Collector, Sholápar;
To
THE COMMISSIONER, C. D.,
Poona.
Sir,
"With reference to your No. P.—1672, dated 11th June, I have the honour to
submit the following report on the preventive measures adopted against the
spread of plague in this district, and on the cases that occurred.
Preventive Measures.—At first the precautions taken consisted in the
medical examination at the Sholápur Railway Station of passengers coming from
infected areas. The services of a Hospital Assistant were obtained for this
purpose at the expense of the Sholápur Municipality. Another Hospital Assist-
ant to be posted at Bársi Road Railway Station was asked for, but no one could
be made available. The medical inspection at Sholápur was not effectual as out
of the four cases that are known to have arrived at or passed Sholápur, only one
case was detected at the time.
Application of the Epide-
mic Diseases Act.
After the Epidemic Diseases Act was passed, more extensive measures were
adopted. The following officers were appointed plague
authorities under the Act :—
(1) With powers under Rules 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13—Assistant and
Deputy Collectors within their charges.
(2) "With powers under Rules 8, 9, 10 and 11—
(a) Mámlatdárs and Head Kárkáns within their charges.
(b) Municipal Commissioners within municipal limits.
(c) Secretaries of Municipality within municipal limits.
(d) Medical Officers holding Her Majesty's Commission.
(e) Medical Offiers in charge of Government or State-aided medical
institutions.
(f) Medical Officers employed by municipalities not lower in grade
than Hospital Assistants and such officers on pension.
(g) Police Officers not lower in grade than Chief Constable.
Rule 5 was applied to the whole district. The following officers were
appointed Presidents of Panchas to be formed under Rule 13 :—
In Sholápur town
...
...
... The Supervisor, Public "Works Department, in
charge of Ekruk Tank.
In other Municipal towns and in Mádha and
Málsiras
...
...
...
The Sub-Registrars.
Elsewhere
...
...
... The Village Pátils in their villages.
On all Government servants of whatever department the necessity of giving
immediate information of any suspicious case that came to their notice was
impressed, and in particular the village officers were warned to keep a strict
watch on all new-comers.
Camps of observation were established at Sholápur, Bársi Road and Mohol,
and at the other Railway Stations kárkuns were posted to send to the villages
intimation of the arrival of passengers from infected areas. All stations between
Bombay and Dhond inclusive were declared to be in infected districts against
arrivals from which the precautions were to be enforced.
A special police party was posted on the Bárámati and Phaltan border of
Málsiras Táluka to prevent the entrance into the district of suspected persons
B 1085—1
Month.
September 1896
October
„
November
„
December
„
January 1897
February
„
March
„
April
May
June
„
July
„
Total ..
BELGAUM.
Im-
ported.
...
1
1
...
2
1
1
Indigen-
ous.
...
...
...
...
DHARWA'B.
Im-
ported.
1
1
Indigen-
ous.
BIJA'PUE.
Im-
ported.
Indigen-
ous.
KA'NARA.
Im-
ported.
1
1 ...
Indigen-
ous.
...
RATNA'GIRI.
Imported.
24
67
85
45
9
1
1
232
15
43
95
38
7
1
1
200
Indigenous.
7
12
53
42
11
6
131
6
10
41
33
9
6
105
KOLA'BA.
Imported.
1
8
11
20
35
28
9
21
2
135
1
8
11
20
31
27
7
22
2
129
Indigenous.
1
47
158
559
505
33
23
1,326
26
117
528
399
35
15
1,120
TOTAL.
Imported.
2
8
35
88
120
75
18
22
3
373
1
8
26
63
126
66
14
23
o
330
Indigenous.
1
7
59
211
601
516
39
23
1,457
6
36
158
561
408
41
15
1,225
REMARKS.
2
5
port in the district. Messrs. Shepherd and Company also tried to prevent passen-
gers with the plague on them from travelling on their boats, but without much
success. It was only when the plague had become indigenous in Panvel and
Uran that the municipalities were stimulated to greater exertion in sanitation.
Immediately after the rules under Act III of 1897 were issued, Plague Authorities
were appointed for the various affected localities, nákas for the inspection of
passengers fixed, isolation huts were ordered to be erected, and all arrivals from
Bombay closely watched ; 22 police at Uran and 25 at Panvel were employed
under Government sanction to assist in the work. Insanitary house-property
was condemned at Uran and Panvel in March, and arrangements for house-to-
house visitation. were made. A Hospital Assistant was employed at Panvel,
Uran and Alibág. Disinfection of affected premises and segregation of patients
met with a good deal of opposition from the people, and these remedies could not
be insisted on owing to the want of adequate physical force to compel compliance.
It was at the end of April when the plague was at its height that the co-operation
of the Bombay Plague Committee was secured and vigorous suppressive measures
were adopted. Every house at Alibág, Theronda, Revdanda and Chaul was
disinfected and lime-washed. In Panvel and Uran, only infected houses were so
treated. Inoculation by Dr. Haffkirie's prophylactic process was also largely
resorted to.
Expenditure on Plague
Operations.
10. Concerning the expenditure incurred on plague operations in the
several districts, I have already reported on the subject
in my letter No. B. P.—194, dated the 6th ultimo.
The total amount expended from Provincial funds was
Es. 28,770-11-9 ; from Local funds, Rs. 1,738-1-11 ; and from Municipal funds,
Rs. 9.617-11-2. To the Kolába District a sum of Es. 40,000 was advanced from
* Since reported by the
Accountant-General to be the
amount expended up to 31st
July 1807.
Provincial funds, of which Rs. 30,757-2-1* were spent
on plague operations. The Collector of Kolába has
been asked to report what portion of the amount ad-
vanced should, in his opinion, be recovered from Local,
Municipal or other bodies concerned.
11. The method of disinfection, discovered by Dr. Dyson, by means of per-
chloride of mercury having been reported to have worked with great success at
Bulsár and other places, the instructions to Mámlatdárs regarding the use of the
disinfectant that were drafted by the Commissioner, N. D., and approved by
Government, have been circulated to all the Collectors in the Division for com-
munication to Mámlatdárs and Mahálkaris. I trust the remedy will meet with
similar success in Kolába and Ratnágiri, where the plague is still giving trouble.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
B. J. EBDEN,
Commissioner, S. D,