Plague Agency.] 33
2. In the larger places, i.e., towns with a population of
more than 10,000, the measures that will be found appli-
cable are disinfection, inoculation, the evacuation of specially
infected quarters, and (so long as infection has not spread
through the town) the isolation of the sick. In villages, the
chief measure to be relied on is evacuation, but inoculation and
chemical disinfection should also be resorted to so long as
there is sufficient staff to supervise those measures. Evacua-
tion in both towns and villages should be conjoined with an
opening up of houses sufficient for the admission of sunlight
and air whenever this is required. In carrying out these
measures it should be borne in mind that it will always be
better to apply one method efficiently and thoroughly than
to apply a number of methods with an inadequate and
insufficiently trained staff. Another point of importance is
that in places, where plague is constantly recurring and the
amount of plague is liable to great seasonal variations, plague
measures should be carried out with special vigour at the
season when the epidemic is at its minimum.
3. Experience has shown that it is hopeless to carry out
effectively any system of plague administration which is not
supported by the people, and in a wide-spread epidemic, the
resources of Government in the matter of funds and establish-
ment being limited, much must necessarily be left to the
people themselves. Steps should therefore be taken to inform
them beforehand of the measures they will be required to
submit to, and to convince them of the utility of the par-
ticular methods selected, so that they may be induced to carry
them out not by force but by the exercise of their own free-
will and as a consequence of their appreciating and under-
standing the benefits to be anticipated therefrom. The
measures are new to the people, particularly in fresh areas of
infection, and if injudiciously or overzealously pressed, must
defeat themselves by exciting opposition instead of gradually
winning the co-operation of the people. On the other hand
if the services of the leading inhabitants are secured to assist
the Government officials in carrying out measures which are
clearly beneficial, it may often be possible, by reason of their
example and attitude, to carry out with good results measures
which would be ineffectual or injurious if enforced by definite
orders upon a population ignorant of their advantages and
suspicious of the objects with which they are adopted.
Agency for Working Plague Regulations.
4. Special attention should be directed to the restric-
tion, so far as possible, of the employment of subordinate