Observations on the means of preserving the health of troops, by selecting healthy localities for their cantonments / by Edward Balfour ; read by Joseph Hume ... before the Statistical Society of London, on the 19th of May 1845.

  • Balfour, Edward, 1813-1889.
Date:
[1845]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the means of preserving the health of troops, by selecting healthy localities for their cantonments / by Edward Balfour ; read by Joseph Hume ... before the Statistical Society of London, on the 19th of May 1845. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    APPENDIX. Appendix (A.) Maroon Town, which has been so long occupied, is a post among the Tre- lawny mountains, upwards of 2,000 feet above the level of the sea. It is sur- , rounded on all sides but one by still loftier mountains, clothed to the summit with stately trees, exhibiting every variety of foliage. The view is open to the north east, and exhibits a vast expanse of sea and land scenery. The whole * extent of ground occupied by the garrison, is about 200 acres, much inter- : spersed with small hillocks and valleys, and these eminences have been chosen i' for the site of the houses and barracks erected for the accommodation of the troops. When it is mentioned that after deducting the deaths of those who had been sent to Maroon Town for change of air, and which, properly speak- s' ing, do not belong to the mortality of the place, the actual mortality of •^the station has not annually exceeded 22 per 1,000 of the strength. While the average mortality of all the stations in Jamaica has been 143 per 1,000 of mean strength, it needs not to be pointed out how great a saving would have >been effected had the troops in Jamaica been all stationed there, or distributed 'among the posts, Phoenix Park, Montpellier or Mandeville, where the average •ratio of mortality has been but 31-3 per 1,000 of the strength”.* i; Appendix (B.) *E “ Ceylon is naturally divided into two extensive tracts of country, differing .'very materially both in climate and physical aspect. The upper occupies jinearly the centre of the island, and consists of a broken mass of highlands j'towering to the height of many thousand feet; while the lower is merely a llevel belt of ground varying from 30 to 40 miles in breadth, into which the jielevated regions of the interior sink precipitously on all sides except the north, j where they stretch away in a low continuous chain, dividing the waters which ifiow towards the east coast from tliose which run westward into the Gulf of Manaar. I “ The summits of the high ground in the interior frequently stretch into a considerable extent of table land, which when encircled by hills presents the , appearance of an extensive basin. In a situation of this description, at an ■elevation of 6,200 feet above the level of the sea, stands the plain of Niuera , Elia, about four miles in length and one and a half in breadth, on wliich a [military station was established in 1829, owing to the advantage anticipated ! from it as a convalescent post. On every side the plain of Niuei-a Elia is ■encircled by lofty mountains, one of which rises 2,000 feet above the station, , and consequently must be 8,200 feet above the level of the sea. The climate, j-though very invigorating after the heat of the sea-coast, is described as too bleak and variable to be pleasant. To those who have been long resident in the low grounds, the mornings and evenings are very cold, for the ther- mometer sometimes falls to 29°, and ice is formed of considerable thickness. , It seldom rises above 70°, and Europeans can take exercise in the open air, even during the hottest period of the day, without experiencing the slightest ' inconvenience.”t • Report. &c.. 1838. t Ibid. 1841.