Sanitary engineering in India : for the use of municipalities and engineers / by John Wallace.

  • Wallace, John.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sanitary engineering in India : for the use of municipalities and engineers / by John Wallace. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    building which, although it may be intended for the exclusive use of Europeans in a cantonment, has all the general arrangements of a home for Natives, whose domestic arrangements and habits are totally different from those of Europeans. This causes a considerable waste of space combined with exceedingly defective ventilation. Much of the constitutional wear and tear of Euro- peans in India is due to improper housing, and very few of them appear to be conscious of the precautions in living that are rendered necessary by the change of climate they have accepted in leaving Europe for India. It cannot be too often repeated that the difference of mean temperature between, say, Calcutta and Edinburgh is 30-4 degrees; that this difference is equal to 30-8 per cent, of the temperature of the blood above zero, and that in spite of this increased mean temperature in which they live, the blood cannot vary by more than three- quarters of one degree without affecting the health. There is a constant tendency for the blood to become too hot in India, and any failure in the arrangements for the escape of surplus annual heat results in fever. The European, whose constitution has for centuries been trained and adanted to the conditions of a temperate climate, should never forget the abnormal circumstances under which he lives in the tropics. When the temper- ature of the air rises above that of hia blood (98-4), a slight derangement due to chill may raise his temperature several degrees. Apart from the risks of actual illness, be may live in a condition of perpetual discomfort from causes, which a reasonable attention to the principle of hygiene would enable him to avoid. Of these, a con- stant renewal of the air supply is among the most important.