Report of the Medical Committee with regard to the propriety of sending out missionaries to Old Calabar direct from this country.

Date:
[1854]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Medical Committee with regard to the propriety of sending out missionaries to Old Calabar direct from this country. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    too, however heavy, drain rapidly off, or sink into the soil, which is sandy or gra- velly ; and now also an occasional fresh sea breeze comes up, or some considerable inter- mission of the rain takes place, which breaks the period and renders it more healthy. Fever and ague generally prevail to some extent among the shipping anchored in the river; but there is often comparatively little sickness on shore. In tlie tornado season, which commences generally about the be- ginning of March and terminates in the end of May, the high gusts of wind, assisted by the thunder-storms and the sea breezes, clear a.vay the smokes and purify the air, so that although this is one of the hottest times of the year, it is generally the most healthy. Even in tlie dry season, which begins in the end of October and continues until the be- ginning of March, the heat is mitigated by the haze called the smokes, which, occur- ring t.o a greater or less extent during the months of December, January, and Feb- ruary, lessens the power of the solar beams. Of course, the experience of this mission has not yet been sufiSciently long to warrant any positive estimate of the effects of the cli- mate on European life. Yet of the thirteen whites who have been engacjed in the enter- prise, only one, the good Mr Jameson, has died of the fever of the country. All have, indeed, had attacks of it, some repeatedly ; and all have had once to visit this country, more or less on account of health ; but they have all, likewise, been shortly restored to such a measure of strength as, with one ex- ception, to return to the country and pro- secute again their noble work. Then, as regards the blacks from Jamaica, nine in number, who have been connected in one way or another with the mission, one death has taken place from a surgical disease and overgrowth; »d of the eight children forming part of the mission band, only two, both blacks, have been removed by death, the one in teething, the other from fever. From the above statements, it cannot be said that as yet the mission has been dis- astrous to life, or even more injurious to health than probably would have been the case iu any other tropical region where the local peculiarities had to be learned. There can be no question that in spite of every possible precaution as regards dsvellings, food, clothing, exposure, and amount and kind of mission work, the climate will be found debilitating, and particularly so in some seasons of the year. Fever of a low typhoid type, generally short in duration, but attended with much prostration, and followed by more or less weakness, is the disease which the white man in Calabar has most to fear. Ague sometimes assails the seamen, but is not considered dangerous; and it is worthy of note, that while fever is rare among the natives, they are much af- fected with coaoplaints of the bowels, the lungs, and skin, to which the whites do not appear to be particularly liable. Much, however, has already been learned by the pioneers of the mission, how by mode of living and general care to guard the health against the adverse influences of the climate, how to treat most successfully the diseases of the country, and how to promote the healthiness of their stations by clearing away the bush, thus opening them up to the influence of the sea breezes ; whilst there is every reason to believe that the stations which it is proposed to open in the interior, will be still more favourable to health. Looking then at the peculiar character of the climate of Calabar, it becomes a matter of primary importance and duty for the church to consider how the mission— hitherto so successfully prosecuted, may be carried on with least danger to the health of her devoted agents. It has generally been supposed of great consequence that mission- aries and catechists destined for Calabar, should be chosen from the mission staff at Jamaica, on the idea that a period of pre- vious seasoning is necessary. All assur- ance companies require a very considerable extra premium for a first year's policy on a good life tropically exposed, unless the individual has resided for a certain length of time in the same, or in a somewhat similar latitude ; and this extra charge is continued for four or five years in a diminishing scale until acclimating is accomplished. The principle on which this demand is founded, is reasonable ; for all experience has proved that during the first year or two of residence within the tropics, any peculiarity of con- stitution—any weakness, moral as well as physical, is likV to become apparent, and occasion bad t .isequences under the forcing influence of climate. But, supposing it were more practicable than we understand it to be to obtain from time to time a suflicient number of agents for Calabar, who had been some years in Jamaica, we are yet inclined tr ..hink that by attending to suit- able precauaons, it would nevertheless be probably as safe, now that the way is opened, to send out direct from this country those who have not been acclimated at all, as to send men who, although acclimated to Jamaica, have had their constitutions some- what impaired by previous hard labour there. The question, therefore is. How can the mission be carried on, and extended by agents direct from this- country, with mor.t safety to those engaged in it ? and, in reply, we would say, that the much desired object will be best secured—Jst, By a jitdicious selection of agnnts; and, 2d, By liberal arrangements made for the conservation of their health.
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