What is malaria? : and why is it most intense in hot climates? : an enquiry into the nature and cause of the so-called marsh poison, with remarks on the principles to be observed for the preservation of health in tropical climates and malarious districts / by C.F. Oldham.

  • Charles Frederick Oldham
Date:
1871
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: What is malaria? : and why is it most intense in hot climates? : an enquiry into the nature and cause of the so-called marsh poison, with remarks on the principles to be observed for the preservation of health in tropical climates and malarious districts / by C.F. Oldham. 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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    From what I have already shown^ it is pretty clear that chill is the cause of both diseases. Neither fever nor dysentery is confined to damp or marshy places; both being common in India, at stations remarkable for drought and barrenness, such as Jhansi and Mean Meer. The worst cases of dysentery I have ever seen, occurred at the former station, and were most of them complicated with hepatic abscess. Dr. J. Bird says : At Belgaum, elevated more than 2000 feet, liver disease was very prevalent during the cold, dry, easterly winds of the cold months ; and both pure liver dis- ease, and that accompanying dysentery, are produced by the- predisposition, caused by high temperature, followed by cold.^^* * * § “At Bangalore, hepatitis is by no means so common amongst those who avoid exposure, especially at night; and women and children very seldom suffer from it.^^j Sir J. R. Martin observes : “Liver disease and dysentery are continually associated with each other, so far as to be a most marked point of observation with all medical officers, in the East Indies especially.^-’;]; Again, in reply to a question as to whether soldiers should wear flannel night and day, Sir J. R. Martin says : “ Most assuredly; for the diseases of India are, in a large measure, contracted by exposure during sleep. I may mention one station, and that an eminently healthy one, Bangalore, where a soldier upon lying down and falling* asleep, in hot weather or during the rains, in a state of profuse perspiration, suffers from a sudden change of wind, or a cold gust from the mountains; and he rises with a shivering fit, and with acute • inflammation of the liver. A flannel shirt there, would be a great protection.’^§ Dr. Morehead says; “ Is hepatitis with a liability to sup- puration, peculiarly related to cachexia, engendered by the * Report of Royal Commission on Army in India, i. 221. t Mad/ras Topographical Reports, 1844. t Report ,of Royal Commission on Sanitary State of Army in India, i. 4. § lUd.