Reports on mountain and marine sanitaria : medical and statistical observations on civil stations and military cantonments., jails - dispensaries - regiments - barracks, &c. within the Presidency of Madras, the Straits of Malacca, the Andaman Islands, and British Burmah from January 1858 to January 1862 / by Duncan Macpherson.

  • MacPherson, Duncan, M.D., 1812-1867.
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reports on mountain and marine sanitaria : medical and statistical observations on civil stations and military cantonments., jails - dispensaries - regiments - barracks, &c. within the Presidency of Madras, the Straits of Malacca, the Andaman Islands, and British Burmah from January 1858 to January 1862 / by Duncan Macpherson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    286/458 (page 238)
    SERIES VII. Section I. Seasons. Horticulture. Salubrity. The secRsons at Nagpore are three ; the cold, the hot, and the rain)'. The transitions are usually very regular. The cold continues from the mid- dle of October till the middle of March, the hot from March to June, and the rains from June to October. The diurnal range of temperature neces- sitates great attention to be paid to precautionary measures, such as appro priate clothing, &c. The mean temperature during the cold months is 08°, the lowest known has been 36,° and the highest 110°. In the hot season the temperature, in a house well protected, ranges from 9C ° to 104°, but outside it has been observed to rise to 140°. The average fall of rain per annum is forty inches, and during the rainy season the thermometer ? ranges from 76° to 86°. ; Gai’deiiing is practised udth much success during two-thirds of the year. Every description of European vegetable comes to perfection during the cold season, as well as flowering plants and shrubs of extra-tropical regions. The roads are well shaded; but vegetation is too excessive, and the underwood requires to be removed. The heavy night dews in the cold season are highl}^ benefleial for agricultural purposes, and the whole face of the country looks like a garden. Kamptee has long been notorious for fever of a severe form, and also apoplectic seizures among the European soldiers. An opinion at one period prevailed that the sole causes of fever were the deleterious principle of malaria evolved fi'om a dense tract of jungle country distant about twenty miles north of the station. The opinion is not now enter- tained. As I have already shown, abundant cause for the produckon of the malady exists at the station in the filth which accumulates in and around the, cantonment, in the numerous receptacles for it, in^ the swampy nature of the ground, and in the exposed bed of tbe^ river. ])r. Kennedy, the Officer in charge of the Artillery, remarks on this sub- ject : “ During the rains the surface soil around is constantly subjected “ to the process requisite for producing the marsh poison, viz., alternating, “flooding and drying, the whole physical conditions presented, bemg “ analogous to those described by Dr. Fergusson in Spam, as having » occasioned fever of the most serious nature.” The constant recurrence o fever at this station is, I cm satisfied, due far more to local causes than to those proceeding from a distant source. To correct these, the canton- ment should be gradually withdrawn from i he bunk of the r, ver, a nun e perfect eyrtem of dnu.mse el.onld t.o intro.luce.1. end veetation aed refaHO of the d.eUinge and st.'cole should be carcful.y o removed. t