I T SferieTheSagM?poois of India i
I
: -otaSBS
! t i J
1 Medical Science Finds a
mt Delicate Task in Regulating the
H Hindu Fanatics Who Overcrowd
H , Sacred Bathing Pools of the
I JBii;er Ganges, and in Disinfect -
I iiiflr fie Pious Mohammedan
1 Pilgrims from Mecca
J PPICIALfl of the British Empire are
11 I 1 unitli a it ill cl an up
feL the plague spots of India and the
Orient generally, hitherto protected by
I religious sentiment and associations
KIT This ia one of the results of recent events
H which bare brought many ni"ii of civilized
nations in contact the myaterjoua
sacred plague spots of the East and tin
pressed these men with the urgent neces
slty of cleaning them up
R Cholera, plague and "Spanish influenza,"
LJ to mention oniy three out of many diseases,
H arc constamly prevalent in certain local!
Ifl tics of the Orient, and from these places
they are from time to time spread out over
Ihe whole world, causing Immense mor-
j
H "The epidemic homo of cholera," says
H the London Lanret in a recent Issue, "Is
H universally believed to lie in Lower Bengal
Bj in the Sundarbans and the delta of the
Lj Ganges. The problem of the eradication
M of this disease, therefore, is not eompll-
Hj cated by uncertainty as to Its place of
I a oricin Tin- large size of the area in ques-
H tlon, the engineering difficulties and the
H cost with no direct financial profit, of
Jf draining and 'sanitating' this vast region
H all stand In the way of a radical solution
I of the cholera problem. But these are not
Insuperable difficulties. In a world awake
I to the blessings of health can any cost be
I deemed too great or nny obstacles be
I thought Insuperable where the saving of
millions of human lives and the prevention
I of Incalculable suffering will be the re
l wards of success?''
In attempting to clean up the plaguo
j spots alone the Ganges River the British
lg authorities will be Interfering with the
mf most sacred localities of the Hindu religion
The Ganges la the "Holy River" of that
I religion. Merely to spend one's life In con
I tomplatlon It Is called "yoga" of this
stream Is the highest possible act of deyo
I tlon Children and sick and old persons
I have been left to die on its banks because
I their relatives believed that was the surest
I way of making them happy. Sometimes
I the crocodiles come and swallow up the
I abandoned ones they, too. are sacred.
I At many places along the river there
I are great bathing places, sacred to various
I divinities of this complicated religion. In
H
some instances there are steps In the bank
down which the pilgrims can go to lava
themselves In the sacred waters At other
places a pool is constructed near the river
which supplies its water through a canal.
At certain festivals and great anniver
saries of the religion a many as a hun
dred thousand per
sons pass throng! rv-T
one of these bath y-'-k
ing places a day At L
Benares, the won- fe &$3f
derfully beautiful C u SPT Vjfc
chief ho!y city of ; T
i
as the Mahamakan
tank. Here over
.'--00 pilgrim 'flH
bathe at certain X.
festivals, and the
water is to say the
ntmitS?rihow H.,Cat!? Are Wash
sanctified It may While Pious Devotee
be Bathe in the Sacred but
into these .acred Fijthy River Ganges.
bathing places the 6
pious pilgrims plunge without the slightest
regard for health or cleanliness. Often
diseased, covered with sweat and insects,
suffering from sore eyes and other afflic
tions, they rush in until the tank is noth
ing but a wriggling mass of black human
ity. The religious fervor that Inspires
them makes them feel that the experience
has benefited them enormously.
.Many of these pilgrims are walking
cases of Asiatic cholera or some other dis
ease that is prevalent in Asia. The germs
are distributed throughout the whole as
sembly, and they carry them home or die
on the way, and in either case distribute
the seeds of disease in various parts ol eass I
the world. Many of them return to sea- Thei
i ports and there they come in contact with jn lnd
sailors, who are likely to carry the dls- stream
, n ' ImX 'v. jSr"ft - -V
' , 5 $3..
'i - tr-- '
r . ! .... , . -.
& . .
A Hindu Fanatic Taking a High Jump Into the Kiver
Ganges, Which Would Be Fatal to Most Men, but
Which He Believes Will Assure Him the Deepest
Blessing of the Sacred Stream.
to Europe and America. 000 Mohammedans In the countrv wnc
e are upward of joo.ooo.000 Hindus have their own sacred places of pilgrim
la to whom the flanges is h aered age and aid in the work of spreading h
. There are also more than 60,000,- feclion.
c.) in-;n ini, m i.r ; c. ,., ,. ... t, ... ,:
1
Hindu Devotees Swarming Into the
Sacred River Ganges at Benares,
Which They Believe Will Give
Them Eternal Happiness, but
Which Modern Science Has Shown
to 1e 'he World's Filthiest Breed
ing Place of Cholera.
In order to eliminate the
dnncers from these bathing
centres, the British authori
ties will Lave to see that the
pilgrims who uso them are
cWin and free from disease
and that no more than the
proper number bathe at the 1
same time The overcrowd
1ng of a given body Of water
woi-ld be a danger even
though the persons were
fairly clean and healthy To
achieve their objects the re
formers will have to deal with
the tenderest suscf-p Lbilltle
of an Ignorant and fanatical
mass of people. Neverthe
less, science has made some
progress even among the
Hindus, and there is now a
feeling that sufficient efforts have not been
made to educate them
English 'Territorials.' soldier of the
Intelligent middle classes, different from
the old regulars. rc stationed In India
in large number;- during the war and, hav
ing suffered themselves while there, they
hav demanded that sanitation in Eng
land's great dependency shall be brought
up to European standards.
The greatest centre of pilgrimage In the
world and the greatest source of disease
infection Is the sacred city of Mecca, In
Arabia. Every pious Mohammedan is re
quired by his religion to pay at b ast one
visit to Mecca and Its companion city
Medina before he dies About 20 000.000
Mohammedans make the pilgrimage an
nually in normal tims They come from
all parts of Asia and Africa, and even from
Europe, as there are many Mohammedans
In European Turkey and Us former terri
tories. The prescribed time to make the pil
grimage is at the period called the "He
Jira."' which corann-morates Mahomet's
flight from Mecca to Medina. The period
begins on July 6 At this time countless
Bwarms of Mohammedans camp about the
ancient, mysterious, sacred cities, which
are entirely without modern sanitation
and i ontaln no conveniences for travellers.
The pilgrims form camps in the desert of
ns many as 20.000 at one time They go
through a long series of ceremonies, chief
among which is making the circuit of the
Kanlia and kissing the black stone which
jc Relieved to have dropped straight from
heaveu.
Another act of devotion Is drinking a
cup of water from tho sacred well called
Z( I 7em. The pilgrims crowd around this
In such numbers that they make it a
dangerous centre of infection. Some of
the most fanatical pilgrims, after perform
ing 'ill necessary acts of devotion, blind
their eyes in order that they may never
look upon unholy Bights.
During the war Mecca and Medina be
ta me through the efforts of England part
of an Independent kingdom known as tho
Hejar. The King of the Hejaz Is said to be
a very Intelligent man and. although he is
not -o well disposed toward the. British
as at first. It Is believed the Powers can
1 Induce him to establish sanitary conditions
in conneetlon with the pilgrimage to Mecca
&nd Medina.
Nearly three fourths of the Mohamme-
Europear Doctors Examining Mohammedan
Pilgrims Returning from Mecca, So That
They May Not Carry Cholera and Other
Diseases Away With Them.
dun pilgrims on their way to Mcca pass
through Egypt, where they add to the vast H
mass of disease already existing there and H
also gather up new infection.
Dr Andrew Balfour, late President of H
the Egyptian Public Health Commission, H
recently gav an English scientific met
Ing an appalling picture of the unsan.tary
conditions prevailing in Egypt, even ia
localities where Europeans live.
"The natives." he said, ' inhabit villages . .
which though often picturesque, transgress
well-nigh every law of health: congeries
of Hat roofed, ill-ventilated mud-dwellings,
some of them partly underground, crowded
!ik la'ibii warrens, and where the houses
are shared alike by man and his domostio
a.'iima's -dOnkeys, cattle, buffaloes, sheep,
goat?, cats. dogs, rabbits, fowls md
pigeon The roofs are usually piled high
with grass or garbage. The lanes or pas
sages between ihe houses are narrow and H
not Infrequently blocked by stacks of
manure No sanitary conveniences of any
Kind exist, but rats swarm and at certain
periods there i6 a plague of flies.
"In Alexandria, which Is largely a Eu
ropean city, we find slum quarters, or .
cchoches, of the worsl description, centres
of typhus and relapsing fever, often cheek
by jowl with better class dwellings, often
close to areas inhabited by well-to-do Eu
ropeans. The conditions at the hammams,
or Turkish baths, are scandalous, for at
'liese places inn town refuse, often ill
smelling and foul, is used as fuel. and. be
ing stored anyhow and everywhere, Is most
offensive and dan reus."
There is another disease which science I'.'.H
demands should be attacked at its AsiatiO
place of origin. That is 'Spanish influ- H
enra," which during the last four years is
stated to have destroyed Incomparably "," '- H
more human lives than the great war
Dr. Simon Flexner, director of the Rocke- H
feller Institute for Medical Research, made
this statement before the recent Congress ...
American Physicians nnd Surgeons- saZZ 'I
"influenza took its origin in u region
sonfewhere near the Russian border of
TiirkVstan. spreading along the trade routes
as rapidly as transportation moved. The
endemic focus is somewhere on the east
ern border of Russia.
"It is not too much for a reconstmctive
medical profession to conceive the clearing
up of a region which by Its inaccessibility
and its neglect has every twenty-five or H
v years originated waves of disease
spreading over the globe." j