13
The following table shows the occurrences arranged according to sexes : -
INOCULATED.
NOT INOCUIATED.
Numbers.
Deaths.
Numbers.
Deaths.
Males
41
3
24
7
Females ...
30
...
40
19
Total ...
71
3
64
26
If the population be divided and arranged in 3 groups according to age, we
find that the following was the incidence of plague in each :-
Ages.
Population.
Number of Cases.
Number of Deaths.
Five years and under
{Inoculated
13
1
1
{Not inoculated
10
3
3
Between 6 and 59
years, inclusive.
{ Inoculated
54
5
2
{Not inoculated
51
22
21
Sixty years and over
{ Inoculated
4
2
...
{ Not inoculated ...
3
2
2
From the above account of the way in which this demonstration was carried
out, it will be evident that the conditions approached very nearly the strictness
of a laboratory experiment, and the results obtained may therefore be accepted
with confidence.
9. Khoja Community. Bombay City.-H. H. Sir Sultan Shah, Aga Khan,
K.C.I.E., the head of the Khoja Community, was one of those who early in the
history of inoculation was convinced of its efficacy. Acting on this conviction
he opened an inoculation station in March 1897 at Love Lane, where many of
his followers were operated on. On the re-appearance of plague, he again, on
27th December 1897, opened this private station at Khushru Lodge, Mazagon,
and retained the services of Dr. J. B. DeQundros to inoculate all who applied.
From this date to 20th April 1893 inclusive, 5,000 Khojas were inoculated there,
and 184 at other places in Bombay, so that a total of 5,184 of the community were
operated on. Those inoculated at the time of the previous epidemic (March,
April, May, 1897) are nob included in the above numbers, unless they presented
themselves for re-inoculation during the period of the second epidemic in 1897-98.
As the operations extended over 161/2 weeks, it is necessary to take the average-
number for comparison with the uninoculated portion of the community, and this
is found to be 3,814 persons. In the beginning of 1898 a careful census of the
Khojas in Bombay was taken by order of His Highness, which showed that 9,350
Khojas were in the city at that time. But as a certain number of families had
left the city through fear of plague, a calculation was made from the average
number of deaths registered in the burial book of the Jamt Khna* for the five
years previous to the appearance of plague, and it was decided that 13,300 should
be taken as representing the total Khoja population. This exaggerated number,
2/3 more than that found at the census, is taken so as to avoid the risk of increas-
ing unduly the death-rate among the uninoculated, when making the subse-
quent calculations. It is found then that there were during this period in
Bombay 3,814 (average) inoculated, and 9,516 (purposely exaggerated) uninocn-
latcd Khojas. Between 27th December 1897 and 20th April 1898, there were
184 deaths in the Khoja community. Of these 6, including 2 from plague, were
in those inoculated in 1896-97 and not re-inoculated since; 7 deaths, including
3 from plague, occurred in the 5,184 inoculated, or re-inoculated during the
above period, and 171 deaths took place among the uninoculated.
* The Jamt Khna is the central meeting place of the Khojas, for religious and social gather-
ings, and here a register of all burials in the community is kept by the officials who perform the
last rites.
B 42-4