158 THE BACTERIA IN ASIATIC CHOLERA. [CH. 



Teleepara Lane, in Calcutta. Between the i4th and i6th of 

 November 1885 there occurred nine cases of cholera in three 

 houses of Teleepara Lane, Nos. 3, 4, and 34. No. 34 had 

 three cases, No. 3 had three, and No. 4 had three cases. 

 The people of No. 34 are rich Hindoos, and those of No. 3 

 and No. 4 are also well-to-do. Two of these three houses 

 have their own hydrant, and from it they have a good supply 

 of very clear water, such as is supplied to all good houses in 

 the town. There is no condition common to all three houses, 

 except that just in front of each of them there appears to be 

 a communication with the street sewer. A narrow passage 

 leads from Teleepara Lane to a bustee surrounding a large 

 tank. As is usual the people (low caste) living in this bustee 

 make extensive use of the water of this tank, but the people 

 of those three houses, being well-to-do and having their own 

 drinking water, never went near this tank. In one of the 

 huts of this bustee lives a milkman, who supplied amongst 

 others, house No. 34 of Teleepara Lane, but not No. 3 or 

 No. 4. The water of the tank, as usual, is very dirty, espe- 

 cially near the shore, and a sample of it examined under 

 the microscope revealed the comma-bacilli. These proved 

 on cultivation to be identical with the choleraic comma- 

 bacilli. How they got there I am unable to say, but it is 

 highly probable that linen from the house No. 34 was 

 washed in the tank ; and on inquiry it was ascertained that 

 this was actually the case with the linen of all the houses in 

 the neighbourhood. Amongst the people of this bustee 

 there had not occurred a single, case of cholera during the 

 whole year. 



It is quite clear from all this that the statement of Koch 

 and his adherents as to the importance of the comma-bacilli 

 in the water in producing cholera is not borne out by these 

 observations. 



