A treatise on the public health, climate, hygeine [sic], and prevailing diseases, of Bengal and the North-West Provinces / By Kenneth Mackinnon.
- MacKinnon, Kenneth
- Date:
- 1848
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A treatise on the public health, climate, hygeine [sic], and prevailing diseases, of Bengal and the North-West Provinces / By Kenneth Mackinnon. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![Irrigation, It seems undoubted that the irrigation of the cultivated / land, hy means of the canals lately opened in the vicinity of Dellii and Kurnaul, has greatly affected health in these places. Is the natural spread of water hy inundation over land not cul- tivated equally injurious, or is the irrigation by well water also hurtful ? I have already given ray ojnnion on the first question, ^ and with regard to the second my answer must be the s:ime, as I have not observed that irrigation from wells affects the health of villages. The late Dr. Fergusson, in the valuable posthu- mous work lately published, has supplied us with facts, which, on the first blush, it may not be easy to reconcile with the above opinions in some particulars ; but perhaps if we take into con- sideration, that in the production of fever much depends upon the nature of the soil, and on the fact of the water oozing into it, the apparent contradiction may be explained* This ques- tion will be dealt with more at length when considering the causes of fever. Relative health Inuring what months is the mortality greatest in the of districts. different districts, and what districts shew the highest rate of mortality on the whole year ? The solution of these questions would be of great interest, if it could be procured. In Calcutta it has been ascertained that of one thousand Hindoos there died, in seven Januarys, 27^; in seven Februarjs, 12^ ; in seven iMarchs, 18^ ; seven Aprils, 19|^; seven Mays, 1715 seven Junes, 141; seven Julys,^ 181; seven Augusts, 26 ; seven Septembers, 28; seven Octo- bers, 30; seven Novembers, 341; seven Decembers, 311. The above extracted from a paper of Mr. Martin's, who ac- knowledges himself indebted for it to Dr. Duncan Stuart, is very curious and instructive. It shews what we would scarcelv * The absence of water, where it has previously and recently existed, is what Dr. Fergusson considers essential to the existence of miasm. His opinions are by no means universally received, and will be found ably canvassed by Dr. Jas. Johnson. 1 have not seen fever myself ]iroduecd in diw surfaces; but 1 know that in the lower ranges of hills, and in the forests at their foot, it is often deadly.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2870874x_0042.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
