134
CHAPTER VI.
CHOLERA STATISTICS OF 1870.
180. The following table shows in one view the cholera deaths in the
Civil population throughout the Presidency :-
Table showing Deaths from Cholera in each District of the Madras Presidency during each
month of the year 1870.
Districts.
January.
February.
March.
April.
May.
June.
July.
August.
September.
October.
November.
December.
Total.
Ganjam
7
3
8
12
14
9
46
198
66
2
2
15
382
Vizagapatam
...
9
5
11
...
10
72
78
51
...
21
2
259
Godavery
...
...
...
72
365
3,011
5,231
3,504
668
235
186
33
13,305
Kistna
...
...
12
6
...
70
566
1,129
201
62
8
...
2,054
Nellore
141
180
112
9
...
10
27
20
76
20
14
4
613
Madras
37
15
9
48
79
391
113
121
20
22
3
3
861
Chingleput
117
54
8
16
287
551
152
72
63
35
19
20
1,394
South Arcot
617
246
150
118
238
300
687
574
176
88
38
16
3,248
Trichinopoly
960
344
192
122
7
14
44
65
103
28
139
539
2,557
Tanjore
3,708
1,119
216
218
175
392
357
176
110
45
18
50
6,584
Madura*
18
70
323
275
307
531
621
1,445
933
479
330
324
5,656
Tinnevelly
8
46
258
637
1,721
1,911
1,246
626
398
142
45
573
7,611
Kurnool
...
Cuddapah
...
31
50
29
10
8
6
134
Bellary
...
North Arcot
83
102
98
99
935
899
334
389
176
113
227
140
3,595
Salem
560
443
271
215
141
206
567
521
172
69
40
319
3,524
Coimbatore
82
97
191
193
60
5
18
60
264
623
446
284
2,323
Neilgherry Hills....
South Canara
17
8
3
5
5
7
45
43
42
35
25
32
267
Malabar
8
7
31
35
77
199
150
218
103
110
141
421
1,500
Total...
6,363
2,743
1887
2091
4,442
8,566
10305
9,249
3630
2114
1702
2775
55,867
The third year of
invasion generally has
highest mortality.
Influence of favour-
able season of 1870.
181. From this table it will be observed that 55,867 persons died of cholera
in 1870, the number in the previous year, a period of new invasion, being only
21,034. The epidemic fell with peculiar severity on the Godavery District,
and the Tinnevelly and Madura Districts, in the extreme south, which districts
had escaped the invasion in 1869. In the invasion of the Presidency in 1864,
the general mortality was higher in the second year than in
the first, and highest of all in the third year of cholera preva-
lence. But in those years the seasons had been unfavourable
for agriculture, and the prices of food were so high as to press severely upon
the health of the poorer people, predisposing them to suffer from epidemic
disease. The seasons of 1870 were unusually favourable for
agriculture throughout Southern India. Food grains have
fallen considerably in value, and the population, by being well fed and nourished,
are better prepared to resist epidemic diseases. From the present distribution of
cholera in the districts to the southward, which were the latest to suffer invasion,
I am incliued to think that no general reproduction will occur in the present
* Exclusivo of Ramnad and Shevagunga Zomindaries, for which no returns were received.