Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 2.djvu/223



(APPENDIX Ha)
Copy DURBAN, December 22, 1896

MESSRS GOODRICKE, LAUGHTON & COOKE

GENTLEMEN,

Please find replies to your interrogations:

1st. How long after contraction would the symptoms of bubonic fever or plague be manifest?

The period of incubation varies from a few hours to a week (Crook-shank’s, 4th Edition, 1896). I have killed guinea pigs in 24 hours by inoculating with the cultivation.

2nd. Would you expect the disease to exist on a ship 18 days after leaving the infected port, meanwhile no sickness on board?—No.

3rd. What would be the effect of keeping 350 Indians cooped up in a small steamer at the outer anchorage for a considerable time during this hot weather?—Most disastrous to the Indians.

Your sincerely,

(Signed) J. PERROTT PRINCE, M.D.

(APPENDIX Hb)
Copy

December 22, 1896

DEAR SIR,

For your information regarding the plague now prevalent in Bombay, I will answer your questions seriatim.

Firstly, the incubation period is generally considered to be from 2 to 8 days, though Sir Walter Broadbent considers the period from a few hours to 21 days. Twenty-one days appears to be the outside limit the disease can require to make itself manifest after contraction.

Secondly, in my opinion, if there was beyond doubt a clean bill of health during a 21 days’ voyage, there would be no danger of the disease in that boat. Thirdly, the keeping closely packed of a large number of persons in a confined space is always liable to lead to ill health, and therefore to be avoided if possible.

I am,

Faithfully yours,

(Signed) N. S. HARRISON,

M.D., B.A., CANTAB.