40
THE ASIATIC EHDEMIC OF 1817-21.
Such is the unvarnished tale of the " Topaze," upon the consideration of which Sir Gilbert Blane lays down the law absolutely in favour of contagion, and with reference to this case exclaims : " Can there be a doubt in the mind of any rational being that this disease, never before known in the Mauritius, was imported by this vessel?" Sir G. Blane carries on the history of the " Topaze a step further than the surgeon of the vessel has done ; Jie informs us that the Governor of Bourbon, under the strong conviction that the disease was contagious, took measures, by proclamation, to bar all intercourse with the Isle of France ; but in spite of this, a boat from the shore of Bourbon had clandes- tine communication with a small vessel from the Isle of France — probably about the 8th or 9th of January, for she left Port Louis on the 6th ; after the usual interval, the disease showed itself in Bourbon, so as to leave no doubt of an infection traceable to the boat and spreading to one quarter of the town. The governor, with that vigilance ' and energy which was in his character, instantly adopted such measures of police, by cordons of troops, and by conveying the sick to a lazaretto, that the further progress of it was arrested, and in a short time it died away. In the Mauritius, on the contrary, the disease spread to the whole town, and to the rural population, to a cala- mitous degree."*
On the other hand the Commissioners assembled by Major-General Darhng, commanding the Island of Mauritius, at Government House, on the 23rd of November, 1819, assert that they are " unanimous in not supposing it (the disease) contagious, or of foreign
- ' Notes on Epidemic Cholera,' p. 256. Bj R. H. Kennedy. Lon-
don, IS^e. Second Edition.
