126
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COLONIAL REPORTS, -ANNUAL
decimated the population of London in the latter half of the 17th century. A medical officer of the Government was accordingly sent up to Canton in order to ascertain the truth of this report by personal observation of the cases under treatment in the native hospitals of that city, and to make a study of the symptoms peculiar to the disease. Upon his return he reported that the disease was undoubtedly that known as the "Bubonic Plague," that it was said to be endemic in certain parts of China, notably in Yun-nan, that it was vaguely termed by the Chinese "wan-yik" or "epidemic," and that there was no record of its appearance in Canton or the immediate neighbourhood in previous years in epidemic form. The origin of the disease in the province of Kwang Tung must always remain a mystery in the absence of any reliable evidence to show that it was imported from those parts of China in which it is said to be endemic.
It is possible, of course, that it may have been endemic in the neighbourhood of Canton for years without exciting either the attention or the interest of the Chinese until it assumed an epidemic form. If this be the case, the prolonged drought which preceded the outbreak and its natural effect upon an overcrowded and insanitary city like Canton, with its narrow streets ranging in breadth from some 12 to 15 feet, and its entire lack of any water or drainage system, were quite enough to call forth into life any latent disease that owes its existence to such conditions. However, whether the plague originated in, or was imported into, Canton, the fact remains that it spread, and continued to spread during the month of April, with alarming rapidity, eventually shaping a southerly course in the direction of this Colony.
Three months elapsed between the outbreak of the plague on the Chinese mainland and its first appearance in Hong Kong. On the 11th May the first note of alarm was sounded in our midst by the medical authorities, who reported that seven undoubted cases of plague had been discovered in the local Chinese hospital known as the Tung Wa hospital. This institution is essentially Chinese, is under a Chinese Directorate, and is conducted by Chinese doctors. It is practically the pauper hospital of the Colony.
Upon the discovery of the disease in the Colony, the provisions of the Public Health Ordinance for the prevention, &c. of epidemic diseases were at once called into force by proclamation, which declared the city of Victoria to be affected by an infectious or contagious disease, and from that date our troubles began in earnest.
The prolonged drought had reduced the water supply to a minimum, there was as yet no sign of rain, and the temperature was gradually rising. Thus local conditions tended to favour the spread of the disease, and it was not surprising to learn two or three days later that it had assumed an epidemic form. The fall of rain within a week failed to produce the expected result; the disease still continued to claim new victims, and to increase in virulence with the increasing moisture of the atmosphere and with the stirring up of the soil caused by the flow of storm water.
126
4
Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
COLONIAL REPORTS,
-ANNUAL
decimated the population of London in the latter half of the 17th century. A medical officer of the Government was accordingly sent up to Canton in order to ascertain the truth of this report by personal observation of the cases under treatment in the native hospitals of that city, and to make a study of the symptoms peculiar to the disease. Upon his return he reported that the disease was undoubtedly that known as the "Bubonic Plague," that it was said to be endemic in certain parts of China, notably in Yun-nan, that it was vaguely termed
was vaguely termed by the Chinese "wan-yik" or "epidemic," and that there was no record of its appearance in Canton or the immediate neighbourhood in previous years in epidemic form. The origin of the disease in the province of Kwang Tung must always remain a mystery in the absence of any reliable evidence to show that it was imported from those parts of China in which it is said to be endemic. It is possible, of course, that it may have been endemic in the neighbourhood of Canton for years without exciting either the attention or the interest of the Chinese until it assumed an epidemic form. If this be the case, the prolonged drought which preceded the outbreak and its natural effect upon an overcrowded and insanitary city like Canton, with its narrow streets ranging in breadth from some 12 to 15 feet, and its entire lack of any water or drainage system, were quite enough to call forth into life any latent disease that owes its existence to such conditions. However, whether the plague originated in, or was imported into,
was imported into, Canton, the fact remains that it spread, and continued to spread during the month of April, with alarming rapidity, eventually shaping a southerly course in the direction of this Colony.
Three months elapsed between the outbreak of the plague on the Chinese mainland and its first appearance in Hong Kong. On the 11th May the first note of alarm was sounded in our midst by the medical authorities, who reported that seven undoubted cases of plague had been discovered in the local Chinese hospital known as the Tung Wa hospital. This institution is essentially Chinese, is under a Chinese Directorate, and is conducted by Chinese doctors. It is practically the pauper hospital of the Colony.
Upon the discovery of the disease in the Colony, the provisions of the Public Health Ordinance for the prevention, &c. of epidemic diseases were at once called into force by proclamation, which declared the city of Victoria to be affected by an infectious or contagious disease, and from that date our troubles began in
earnest.
The prolonged drought had reduced the water supply to a minimum, there was as yet no sign of rain, and the temperature was gradually rising. Thus local conditions tended to favour the spread of the disease, and it was not surprising to learn two or three days later that it had assumed an epidemic form. The fall of rain within a week failed to produce the expected result; the disease still continued to claim new victims, and to increase in virulence with the increasing moisture of the atmosphere and with the stirring up of the soil caused by the flow of storm water.
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