OUTBREAK IN JESSOEE IN 1817.
15
experience or knowledge of the matter in hand. This fact is well illustrated by the correspondence regarding the outbreak of cholera in 1817.
The first notice of this epidemic in ' the Proceed- ings ' is in ^ letter from Dr. Tytler, civil surgeon of Jessore, to the judge of the district, dated August 23rd, 1817. He writes : — "An epiidemic 'has broken out in the bazaar, the disorder commencing with pain or uneasiness in diJfferent parts of the body, presently succeeded by giddiness of the head, sickness, vomiting, griping in the beUy, and fi:'equent stools. The counte- nance exhibits much anxiety, the body becomes emaci- ated, the pulse rapidly sinks, and the patient, if not speedily relieved with large doses of calomel, followed by one of opium, it carries him off within four and twenty hom^s."* As the disease was spreading rapidly, and the natives were panic-stricken, and rushing from the town, the judge thought it advisable to close his court, and immediately reported the circumstance to the supreme government, enclosing a copy of Dr. Tytler's letter. Upon receiving this communication, Mr. "W. B. Bayley, at the time secretary to the Government of India, forwarded it to the Medical Board, urging them to give the matter their immediate attention, and to advise the government on the sub- ject. In their reply (the 6th of September, 1817) the members of the board remark " that the disease is the usual epidemic of this period of the year, in- creased perhaps in violence by the peculiarities of the present season, and not improbably by certain local causes affecting the health of the inhabitants of Jessore. It is understood that in certain quarters of Calcutta a similar epidemic prevails ; and it is probable that
- MS. Proceeding of the Bengal Medical Board for 1817.
