26 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



gave instances of cholera in the nurses ; the largest number of cases 

 occurred at Dharmsala, where there were eleven, Kasanli had three, 

 Muttra and Moradabad each two, Fazabacl, Lakknau, Mirat, and two 

 others one each. An epidemic among the nurses can therefore only be 

 spoken of in the hospital of the First Ghorka Regiment stationed at 

 Dharmsala, where eight nurses, two porters, and one other officer were 

 taken ill of the disease. These statements show how exceptional such 

 occurrences are. Why should not a hospital as well as a garrison now 

 and again be a center of infection ? Closer investigation proves, how- 

 ever, that the personnel of the hospital at Dharmsala was not affected in 

 a greater degree than the population outside the hospitals. It may be 

 shown that the percentage of cases of cholera among the outside popula- 

 tion was 8*01 ; in other words, that eighty-six cases occurred out of 

 1,073, while of the hospital staff of 127 eleven fell ill, or a percentage of 

 8*66. Cuningham also inquired whether the immunity enjoyed by nurses 

 could be explained by disinfection. He found from ancient sources 

 that this striking immunity of nurses was by no means a new thing, 

 and had certainly obtained before the days of disinfection. He draws 

 attention, among other writings, to an experience of Dr. Bruce, who 

 wrote : " In 1848 cholera broke out among the infantry at Caenpur 

 from May to September. During the whole time the hospital was 

 never free from single cases of cholera, and at times it was overfilled 

 with them. The whole institution may be said to have lived in the 

 rooms of the sick ; the coolies did not leave the beds of the sick for an 

 hour together, the physicians had much to do with the treatment of the 

 patients ; and yet not a man, whether European, half-caste, or native, 

 showed a single symptom of cholera. I took the greatest pains to col- 

 lect and sift these circumstances, but in this year not a single instance 

 occurred." In India a practical use is made of this knowledge under 

 the exceptional circumstances of the nurses being attacked. Nothing 

 is said of isolation and disinfection ; but the site on which the hospital 

 stands is looked upon as unfavorable, and a change is made. This 

 change of place is called by the English a movement, and as a pro- 

 phylactic measure comes within the first ranks. If the site to which 

 a movement has been made prove to be more unfavorable than that 

 which was quitted from the frying-pan into the fire the movement 

 has not availed anything. No good comes of the movement if the 

 personnel has been already infected as much as possible. The Sixty- 

 sixth Ghorka Regiment in its march through Tarai was not spared 

 when it reached the Naini Valley ; but, probably, if it had stayed a 

 day longer in Tarai, the percentage of illness, instead of being ten, 

 would have been twenty. It is the same as regards nurses and hos- 

 pitals in Europe. I shall refer to Munich intentionally, not because it 

 had so frequently been the seat of cholera (Munich had cholera once 

 to Berlin's twelve times), but because I am better acquainted with the 

 particulars. During the epidemic of 1873-'74 we had three hospitals 



