40 ATKINSON. 



in the removal of all bedding, clothing, curtains, mats, etc., to the dis- 

 infecting station, these articles being tied up into bundles with large 

 sheets of calico and then put into baskets which are carried by coolies, 

 government clothing being supplied temporarily to replace the personal 

 garments of the occupants of the infected houses. The walls and floors 

 of the house are then sprayed with a 1-1,000 solution of corrosive subli- 

 mate, the floors are scrubbed with a 5 per cent solution of Jeyes's fluid, 

 the drains are flushed, all rat runs are opened and crude carbolic acid 

 poured into them, afterwards they are filled with broken glass and 

 stopped with cement. 



■4. Segregation of contacts. — At the beginning of an outbreak the 

 infected premises are evacuated and the residents kept under medical 

 supervision for twelve days in blocks of houses rented for the purpose 

 of accommodating them, they being allowed to carry on their usual voca- 

 tions during this period. 



5. Cleansing operations. — In the spring of 1903, the governor, Sir 

 H. A. Blake, S. C. M. G., decided if possible to obtain the cooperation 

 of the Chinese in the work of sanitation. He took over a district in 

 the most plague-stricken portion of the city and endeavored to show what 

 could be done by a thorough cleansing of houses and clothing by the 

 people themselves. The work was begun in the winter of 1903-i and 

 as a practical result we have been able to obtain the cooperation of the 

 Chinese in the "cleansing operations" and now every winter a general 

 cleansing of the houses is effected by these people. Hot water in portable 

 boilers, soft soap and Jeyes's fluid are supplied, the sanitary department 

 removing all the rubbish and refuse from the houses. The procedure 

 is as follows : Each householder receives a notice in writing stating that 

 in two days' time a visit of inspection will be paid b} r the sanitary 

 inspector and if the premises are found to be dirty, they will be cleaned 

 by the sanitary authorities. These notices are sent seriatim to the. dif- 

 ferent houses, beginning with each health district simultaneously. In 

 very few instances has it been found necessary to enforce government 

 cleaning. 



Cleanliness is undoubtedly the bed rock of sanitation, and to insure it 

 both of persons and houses, the cooperation of the people must be secured, 

 this aid being more especially necessary when we deal with an alien race, 

 such as the Chinese. 



It is an almost hopeless task to expect to stamp out plague entirely in 

 Hongkong, because we are, owing to our geographical position, constantly 

 exposed to reinfection from the neighboring countries, the disease being 

 practically endemic in Canton,- Swatow and Amoy. Many insanitary 

 areas and buildings have been allowed to be erected, and it is only by 

 their reerection on unproved plans and by the rigid prevention of over- 

 crowding that plague, or any other infectious disease can be eliminated 



