A manual of practical hygiene / by the late Edmund A. Parkes.

  • Edmund Alexander Parkes
Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of practical hygiene / by the late Edmund A. Parkes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    35/844 (page 11)
    the causes of diarrhoea in that town, concludes that soil has a marked influence in the production of this disease, which occurred chiefly in a “diarrhoea area,” that is, a tract of low-lying alluvial soil, which, on examina- tion he found to contain a much larger (from 3 to 6 times) amount of bacterial spores; and that a soil temperature of 60° at 1 foot depth, and 56° or 57° at 4 feet was necessary to produce an excessive prevalence.^ Dr Ballard, after an extensive inquiry, has come to the conclusion that the soil temperature at a depth of 4 feet is a most important factor: the summer rise of diarrhoea mortality does not commence until this temperature reaches about 56°: the maximum mortality coincides with the maximum temperature at this depth, and the decline of mortality coincides with the decline of temperature. Eainfall acts by preventing the rise, and hastening the fall of soil temperature. Loose permeable soils are most diarrhoeal. Organic impurity of soil is of importance. A certain amount of dampness favours prevalence, but not so much as to preclude free admission and exit of air. 2 7. Dysentery, on the other hand, although showing analogy with malarial diseases in many points, and, therefore, naturally supposed to be associated with telluric influences, has not by experience been found to have any such connection, neither the geological formation nor the physical character of the soil influencing its spread.^ 8. Diphtheria.—Hirsch^ states that the assumption, that conditions of the soil have some influence on development of diphtheria or its epidemic diffusion is one that has no warrant; and that it is as prevalent in low-lying places as in those that are elevated, on plains as in valleys, on dry and on wet soils, on porous and on hard rock, equally. In England, however, soil has been considered to have some connection with its occurrence and spread. Dr Edgar Barnes^ assigns damp and polluted air as a factor, and believes it to be more prevalent on clay soils than on gravel. Dr Spottiswoode Cameron is of opinion that polluted ground air is an important factor in its causation. Dr Kelly found the mortality to be higher on retentive than on porous soils. Further investigations appear to be needed on this question. 9. Measles, Whooping Cough, Pneumonia, (Ssc.—Blaxall shows that these diseases were more fatal at New Swindon on damp sub-soil (Kimmeridge clay), than at Old Swindon (on limestone) 100 feet higher. On the other hand, Hirsch® considers whooping cough to be independent of the character of the soil, and is not inclined to admit this as a factor in the causation of pneumonia. Eodor^ states that at Buda-Pesth cholera and intermittent fever appear to be connected with the processes which go on in the upper layer of the soil, and cholera mortality rises and falls inversely with the ground water-level, according to Pettenkofer’s view. Enteric fever, on the other hand, appears to be connected with the processes which go on in the lowest stratum of the soil, its mortality varying directly with the ground water-level. The lowest- lying parts of the city have the most impure soil, and are specially subject to cholera and enteric fever; whilst measles, scarlet fever, croup, and diph- theria appear to invade all parts of the city indifferently. } 1889, vol. ii. p. 180. 2 Pocal Gov. Board Report, 1888. ^ Hivsch, Geographical and Historical Pathology, translated by C. Creighton, M.D., 1886, vol. hi. p. 340-3. Op. cit., p. 104. ® Op. cit, p. 146. 5 B.M.J., 1888, vol. ii. 7 Op. cit.