harm from it. Two occurrences fortunately helped the doctor. In one house the man only had allowed himself to be inoculated, but his wife and daughter would not submit to the operation. Both died, while the man escaped. A great impression was made on the people of Nasretabad when the plague visited the home of the Consulate's gardener, killing four members of the family, but sparing the man himself, who had previously been inoculated. Then they perceived that this treatment was the only preventive they could find. The remedy is not, indeed, absolutely certain, but it reduces the cases of mortality by 75 per cent, and that is a splendid result. Ninety-five per cent of the sick natives died.
Immediately on my arrival in Nasretabad I was advised to submit myself to inoculation like the other European residents. The operation took place in a small room in the hospital. A large lump rose on the arm after the 5 cubic centimetres of serum had been forced in under the skin, and a slight burning feeling was experienced. It soon subsided, but returned again after two hours. The arm became stiff and difficult to bend, and in the night I had a touch of fever, but nothing to cause discomfort. Next morning I felt nothing at all.
Captain Kelly kept an exact record of all the inoculated. My number was considerably over 400. Of all those who had been inoculated up to that time not one had died. The natives themselves began to take note whether a man who died had been inoculated, and could draw their own conclusions. But still their distrust had not been overcome, and 400 was a trifling percentage of the whole population.
In Husseinabad the natives resorted to the following barbarous remedy handed down from the Middle Ages. The aching boil is covered with a piece of felt. Over this salt and water are poured and a hot iron is pressed on it, and the heat penetrates through the boil down to the muscles. It is certainly a severe remedy against microbe colonies, and the bacilli which come in contact with the iron must surely suffer. Some men who were treated in this manner are said to have actually recovered.
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