Page:A treatise on Asiatic cholera.djvu/46

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THE ASIATIC EPIDEMIC OP 1817-21.

AUeppe suffered ; it spread to Telliclierry in Novem- ber.*

Having tlius completed an outline of tlie course wbich tlie epidemic cliolera of 1817-18 pursued, I may remark that it must not for an instant 'be supposed that the disease was confined in its operations to the towns I have named; these are specified simply as landmarks-, to enable us to comprehend its general bearings, and as a.n index to the time when the cholera appeared in certain well-known localities ; but we have abundant evidence at our command to prove that, between August 1817 and December 1818, almost the entire people of this densely populated country were subjected to the influence of cholera. It is, never- theless, remarkable that certain districts, as, for in- stance, Rohilcund and Bareilly, were exempt from its ravages ; the inhabitants also of some more limited localities, as, for example, those of Moorshedabad and the prisoners in the Alipore Jail, escaped absolutely free from the epidemic which was raging around them ; but these exceptions hardly invalidate the rule, that within a period of sixteen months cholera was gene- rated throughout the length and breadth of Hindu- stan.

During the early months of the year 1820, cholera was still very prevalent among the inhabitants of Calcutta, especially in April; at the same time the disease broke out among the troops composing the Nerbudda field force. Special indents poured in upon the Board for medicine and native doctors, required on account of the re-appearance of cholera in various locahties during the month of May ; as, for instance, from Moradabad, Almora, Meerut, Tipperah, Jessore,


 * Scott's ' Report,' p. xlix.