Report by the Central Board of Health of Jamaica / presented to the legislature under the provisions of the 14th Vic. chap. 60, and printed by order of the Assembly.

Jamaica. Central Board of Health

Date:: 1852

Credit: Report by the Central Board of Health of Jamaica / presented to the legislature under the provisions of the 14th Vic. chap. 60, and printed by order of the Assembly. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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$ranges aiv to Ixi iound districts in which the re- quisites for health ;ire perfect, and in sahrhrily and ferlility they yield to none in the known worhl.* Thi.s, however, is not the case as regards its lower hills and plains, on a level with the sea. Here its solar heat and li_o ht, its oft clondiess sky, its high and varying temperature, its different electrical condi- tions, its periodical torrents, its rain-like dews, its atmosphere humid often to saturation, co existing or alternating with intense heats and protractt^d dronglits, }>re(lispoj>e to morbid action ; and exerting their in- llneiice oii its rank vegetavion and impenetrable fo- rests, its alluvial valleys, ils retentive(!lays and marls, its sea-washed sa\annas, its sluggish swamps and la- goons, give rise lo the most fertile and deadly sources of disease. These conditions are natural ; they exist indepen- dent of man's presenc^e. Philoso[)hers have proudly boasted,'' observes ])r. James Johnson, that man is better able, by the power of his constitution, to bear migration from one country to another, how ever extreme the change may be, than anv other animal. This is i\n assertion, which like many others of the kind, is by no means substantiated by facts. Nature does not appear to have afforded to the mere physical constitution of man, any jjowc'r above that grantecl to the brute beast, to withstand the influence of climate. It would not be difficult to adduce reasons for sup- posiiig that some animals are more gifted in this re- spect than man; for instance, it is well ascertained that the wool ol the sheep becomes impaired, and as- sumes a hairv cliaracter in some climates; tliut the arctic animal is clothed in a covering of a different texture and colour during winter, to adapt it to the severity of the season ; and that in vegetable life tiie change effected by artificial culture, is nature herself, manifesting under new exigencies, the primary power of organic instinct, the response of something sul)- jtfcti^ e and 'ivithin, to ,the impress of external thiugs.'$