Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the sanitary state of the army in India : with précis evidence.

  • Great Britain. Parliament.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the sanitary state of the army in India : with précis evidence. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    dryness. On the mountain ranges, the temperature falls topography with the elevation; and at certain altitudes diminution AND LIMATE of heat is accompanied by a perceptibly moist condition of the air. Along the face of mountain ranges exposed to the monsoon, there is an excessive rain-fall, to be measured by feet rather than by inches, rendering the country almost uninhabitable for the time of its duration ; while within a short distance to leeward, the atmosphere is dry and clear, with little rain. The climates of the seaboards vary with the direction of the wind. Sometimes they are comparatively cool, while at others they are warm, moist, and depressing. The climates of certain isolated mountain groups and table lands are almost as healthy as those of Southern Europe; while at the base of the same mountains there are local climates, which are absolutely pestilential. At the majority of the stations occupied by British troops there is a high mean temperature, accompanied with much dissolved moisture. At many of them there is a considerable difference between the day and night temperature, accompanied by night and morning fogs, and by a feeling of coldness succeeding a high temperature during the day. Heat, moisture, and variation between night and day temperature are the three special climatic conditions to which the soldier in India is exposed, and except in so far as the degree of humidity is the result of local defects in drainage, these conditions cannot be changed, unless by resorting to mountains or table lands as sites for military stations. Such being the case, it is very important to consider— what amount and kind of influence these climates are likely to exercise on the soldier's health ? In dealing with this important question we are struck with the absence of direct allegations against climate in the stational reports. Although most of these reports contain statements more or less specific as to the effect of particular seasons on the amount of disease, the reporters do not attribute the soldiers' mortality to the climate of the stations. Other causes are usually assigned. This negative evidence is of great importance as against the common opinion regarding the fatal character of Indian climates. It is nevertheless certain that climate does exercise some effect on the general health of persons exposed to its influence. Ex- perience shows, first, that long-continued exposure to