48	Description of Plague:	[ CHAP. II.
the village. These two Brahmins came from Bombay to Khandraoni
in January 1897, at a time when the epidemic was virulent in Bom-
bay. They travelled straight from one place to the other and arrived
at Khandraoni on the 9th of the month. On leaving Bombay Bindra-
ban was suffering from fever and Khoobi attended him on the way,
bringing him to Jhansi by rail and from there, in a country cart, to
Khandraoni, where he died five days after his arrival. Two days after
Bindraban's death, Khoobi fell ill and died in three days, and almost a
week after his death a native doctor of the village who attended the
two Brahmins was attacked with fever and died, and at the same time
a second native doctor, who came from another place to treat the
first doctor, also succumbed to the disease. The plague then gradually
spread amongst the inhabitants of the village, and by the 18th March,
59 seizures had occurred, of which 47 had proved fatal.
Infection   spread
by animals.
Rats.
Having investigated the manner of the spread of infection by
persons suffering from plague and their surroundings, the next point
for consideration is the danger of infection from animals. It will
 have been gathered from the account of plague in animals that the
principal danger is to be apprehended from rats. Authorities differ
somewhat as to the extent of this danger, but it is certainly not so
common a cause of infection as the sick person and his surroundings.
Staff Surgeon Wilm in his note on the Hong-kong plague states
that infection can be carried by animals, especially rats and mice.
It has been stated above that the German Commission formed the
conclusion that by means of rats plague germs can be introduced
from one house to another and conveyed to man. General Gatacre
stated that " amongst other sources of the spread of disease through-
out the epidemic, the influence of rats has been shown in many
extraordinary ways. Grain depôts are often the first centres in the
spread of the plague, the infection having been imported into
the colony of rats that haunt the depôts, spreads amongst them,
and they die in large numbers. In this way the grain and
grainbags are infected and become sources of conveyance of the
disease to human beings. The Committee (i.e., the Bombay Plague
Committee) have, during disinfection; invariably treated these places
where rats have been known to die as plague infected localities."
This no doubt was a wise and necessary precaution, but it is open
to doubt whether General Gatacre does not attach too great an
importance to the part played by rats. Mr. Snow, the Municipal
Commissioner of the City of Bombay and Dr. McCabe Dallas also lay
great stress on the danger of the spread of infection by rats. On
the other hand, Dr. Bitter considers that rats are of very minor
-importance  as agents   in the dissemination  of  the   disease, and Dr.