Review of the progress of sanitation in India.
- Moore, William James, 1828-1896.
- Date:
- [1869]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Review of the progress of sanitation in India. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![be indefinitely protracted. At some fifty places in the plains, palatial double-storied barracks are rising, upon which some five millions have already been spent, and on which it is intended to ex- pend eleven millions. This work is, in our opinion, a huge mistake. The erroneous idea has prevailed that the health of soldiers is to be secured by lodging them in massive structures. But we are altogether opposed to this theory. We hold that, compatible with protection from weather, sun and rain, the less massive a soldiers’ barrack may be, the more likely it is to prove a healthy residence. Indeed, we go further and submit that a change from one locality to another would be advisable, and even if this entailed the deser- tion periodically of tempoi’ary barracks, and the erection of new ones of the same class, the expenditure would not amount to the millions required for the upper-storied palaces now in course of erection. Ere long, it will be found that no immunity from disease is afforded by these magnificent barracks, and when too late, the error now being committed will be confessed. It is lamentable that some of this money, now being devoted to barracks on the plains, has not been expended in rendering hill stations habi- table. The money would be much better invested in the latter requirement. It is equally lamentable that the mistaken notions expressed by various authors, as that the troops would suffer if brought down to the plains, have resulted in the deter- mination to keep so many troops on the plains. For even admitting such suffering, the sickness or mortality would be extraordinary and exceptional—not ordinary as now. Of course political necessities must ever forbid the evacua- tion of certain stations by European troops. There are stra- tegical points which must be so garrisoned at whatever cost of money or life. But on the other hand, there are many places where the presence of Euro]3eaDS, formerly necessary, is not now required. And the number of such stations will increase as a net-work of railways is spread over the land. There can be no doubt that at least half the European army might be located on the hills, without danger to the stability of the empire. Early in the period under review (1861), a volume was published under the authority of Government, entitled “ A “ Report on the extent and nature of the Sanitary Establish- “ ments for European Troops in India,” but which is in reality only an account of such stations in the Bengal Presidency. In this volume also numerous localities are indicated as fitted for the residence of Europeans, among t he more important of which may be mentioned Cheerat for Peshawur troops, the Cherra](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22346223_0056.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
