The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-06-25
70 COPE NTH THE PLAGUE.
EyGLISH OFFICIALS N INDIA COW.
SDERIH0 MEANS.


Three series Of facts. each of great i'm.
portance. although widely differing In
origin. have lately reached England In
regard to the East Indian plague. There
has been. first, the downward curve Of
deaths in Bombay. recurring with mark
ed regularity of graduation at the setting
in of the hot weather. There is also the
Official statement OF the measures now
being adopted by the government to
check the spread Of the disease through
the rural districts Of Bengal. Finally,
and of pre-eminent value. there are the
observations recorded and the differences
drawn by 4 Cambridge expert OF the
highest class, whose experience is de-
rived not from a rush round India, but
from patient work done year after year
as the bacterioiogist to the northwestern
and central provinces.
The conclusions to which these three
classes OF evidence point are In one re-
spect uniform. Whether in Southwestern
India or IN central or northern or eastern
India. the verified facts leave no hope Of
stamping out the plague by the rough
and-ready methods advocated at an ear
lier period OF its progress. The plague
is in India: 1T apparently means to stay.
and IL - certainly trying to spread. We
have to reckon with a disease which.
having once established itself. cannot be
diS1odged by any spasmodic application
Of force. On the other hand. II Is q dis
ease which exhibits a suggestive sequence
Of phenomena alike in its selection OF To-
cahties and in its annual curve OF Incl
dence. 1t discloses indeed, more recur-
rent series of problems than those which
cholera presented In the middle Of the
century and for which the last thirty
years have evolved. II not theoretical
solution, yet practical, although partial.
answers.
Control Of the Plague.
Science took some time to demonstrate
that the cholera microbe Is mainly dis
seminated by water; 1t has taken but q
short time to ascertain that plague bacil-
lus travels chiefly by other vehicles. A
specific remedy for cholera, SO eagerly
sought and so often confidently an
nounced and advertised during the first
visitations OF the calamity. has never
been found. The search for 1t has given
place to comprehensive measures, whose
objective IL not so much the individual
attacked as the attacking force itself.
The protection Of Europe from cholera
and the comparative control now i'm
posed upon 1t in India are the result of
no single set of precautions. much less OF
violent attempts to eradicate the disease
after 1t has declared itself. They form
great and recognized department OF pre-
ventive medicine, whose officers and
whose experts are continuously on duty,
whether the enemy is at the gate or has
long disappeared from sight. The first
and most important OF the conclusions to
which the evidence points is that the
plague, whatever it's nature or causes,
will have to be dealt with on similar
lines. The second. and almost equally
important, fact Is that Indian public op!n-
ion and the Indian government have ac-
cepted this conclusion and are prepared to
act upon It.
The history OF the plague In Bombay
city for the past three years affords
striking testimony In these respects.
During the successive visitations every
degree of the policy Of thorough" has
been tried upon the Inhabitants. But the
statistics prove that the year of the
greatest severity of segregation and other
repressive measures was also the year OF
the greatest severity OF the plague.
Represslve Measures Unsatisfactory.
This explains why the Indian govern
ment now refuses to drive peaceabie cfti-
zens and villagers into armed resistance
by forcible measures which created riot
and panic, but which left the mortality
higher than ii either before or afterward
attained. Assuming that deaths above
the normal rate were due TO the plague,
the Bombay Gazette thus sums up the
record. During the first outbreak. in 1897.
while the health officers and municipality
were allowed to discharge their normal
functions. as In other epidemics. the
plague deaths are Teckoncu at
During the second outbreak, In 1885. when
the municipal authorities were super
seeded by special plague committee and
Bombay was treated as If in a state Of
sanitary siege, the plague deaths rose to
about 5000. During the third outbreak.
just ending. when the plague measures
have resumed their mild character and
ordinary sanitary cleansing Is the chief
order of the day." the plague deaths are
estimated at about Il 900.
II 10 not surprising that with these facts
before him In Bombay the lieutenant gov
ernor Of Bengal declines to rush into meas
ures OF heroic severity. Calcutta has
probably owed its comparative immunity
from the plague to the timely vigor OF
the late lieutenant governor. Sir Alexander
Mackenzie. In flushing the drains and
cleansing the city. That being thorough
~ done and the capital being set In order
against the expected calamity. the Bengal