On phthisis and the supposed influence of climate : being an analysis of statistics of consumpton in this part of Australia / by William Thomson.

  • William Thomson
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On phthisis and the supposed influence of climate : being an analysis of statistics of consumpton in this part of Australia / by William Thomson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    but the fact has been impressed upon me many times by the (otherwise inexpHcable) prevalence of phthisis in certain households or certain localities. In two villages in this neighbourhood phthisis is very prevalent. Both of them are mostly agricultural villages. The people have no manufacturing or in-door occupations ; but in both there is a habit of keeping the windows closed. In one of them the only cause I know of is that a clay soil and elevated situation ** make the climate rather colder than in other places hereabouts. In the other place —a large village, with a population exceed- *' ing 2000 — the custom of keeping the windows closed has a curious origin. The place was famous for its cheese, and some years ago 2000 cows were kept there. These were driven into the village twice a *' day to be milked, and in the summer *' time were accompanied by so many flies that the people, troubled with this plague of flies, shut their windows to keep them out. The custom once established has, more or less, continued, and the tendency to phthisis
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