ABSTRACT
This chapter uses vital statistics and provincial and district medical reports from the Madras famine of 1876–78. It argues that whilst environmental and social dislocation were somewhat important in spreading disease amongst the famine-affected population in general, it was starvation and its medical consequences amongst the poor that can be held responsible for the bulk of the mortality during the famine years. A secondary finding is that responses by European medical administrators to mass mortality, disease and suffering were marked by a combination of helplessness and claims to expertise.
