Conquest of the Disease- Devika
Epidemic diseases in the early nineteenth century developed a vocabulary of their own. They were being spoken of as “attacks” or “invasions”, and their successful study by medical sciences was deemed as a “conquest”. This combination of Cholera and military terms insisted on a connection between the disease and military power. The outbreak of Cholera first came at the dawn of the British East Indian Company’s imperialistic expansion in the Indian subcontinent. Though at first, the disease was thought to be a poor man's problem, when it started spreading in troop barracks and took the life of an English officer, the gravity of the situation was understood. Measures to prevent and control the disease were implemented quickly. Though modern forms of medicine were establishing themselves in England, the study of bodily humor still prevailed in many medical circles. Combined with the knowledge they derived from Ayurvedic and Islamic medical practices that followed similar techniques, ...
