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46
made in this instance were in conformity with the provisions
of a General Order of the Local Government Board ("Regulations
as to Cholera, Yellow Fever and Plague: Ports") issued
in November, 1896, quarantine having been abolished. These
regulations,which were forwarded to Fort and all other Sanitary
Authorities, Medical Officers of Health, etc., provide for the
carrying out of a series of measures, which have hitherto
proved effectual for the prevention of the spread, in this
country, of cholera, and of other infectious diseases of exotic
origin.
PLAGUE.
Not without some reasonable cause the public mind was
disturbed, at the commencement of the year, by the daily
reports of the progress of the epidemic of Plague at Bombay;
and anxiety far beyond anything felt in England appears to
have affected the Governments of other European countries.
So great, indeed, was the alarm, lest, following well-known
land routes, this dire malady should penetrate to Europe, that
an International Conference, to concert preventive measures,
met at Venice, in February. In India, the ravages of the
disease were to some extent accentuated by famine ; its spread
in the Bombay Presidency, moreover, having been favoured by
the flight from the city of thousands of the panic-stricken
inhabitants. Nothing occurred to justify the fears felt for the
safety of this country or the continent generally. It is a
matter of history that pestilence in this form has not visited
England for more than two centuries, but it is by no means
impossible that it should do so again. The germs of the
disease may be carried in merchandise, and it is within the
bounds of probability that in this way infection may be again
introduced to one or other of our ports, at which ships are
arriving, from day to day, from India. The provisions of the
Regulations referred to in the preceding paragraph (on
cholera) are applicable in regard to plague, and should plaguestricken
persons arrive in English waters, the steps to be taken
for preventing the spread of disease would suffice, doubtless,