On the climate and fevers of India : being the Croonian lectures delivered at the Royal College of Physicians in March 1882 / by Sir Joseph Fayrer.

Date:
1882
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the climate and fevers of India : being the Croonian lectures delivered at the Royal College of Physicians in March 1882 / by Sir Joseph Fayrer. 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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    winds, is better tolerated than the damp atmosphere of Lower Bengal or parts of Southern India, though the temperature is lower. Hot dry air favours evaporation, and thus keeps the body cool, whilst in damp air, as evaporation decreases, the natural cooling power is greatly diminished. Vigorous, healthy persons of moderately spare frame, with sound viscera and temperate habits, can sustain a great amount of heat if the atmosphere be pure and mode- rately dry. Acclimatisation has some influence in con- ferring toleration. Fresh arrivals in India are more prone to suffer than those who have become accustomed to the climate and have learned how to protect themselves. It is well known that a native can bear an amount of sun on his bare head and naked body with indifference, almost pleasure, that would prostrate a European. Bux when the temperature rises above a certain standard all suc- cumb, and natives of India suffer and die like others. The extent and duration of toleration of heat1 depend 1 In the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of India, 1877, it is stated that 235 cases of heat apoplexy and sunstroke occurred in the army in India, of which 70 were fatal. The admission rate, 4T, is almost the same as in 1876, and exactly the same as in 1865. The death rate, F22, is below the average of the lastsix years. Of the 235 cases, 189 occurred during the four months of May to August. The disease was widely spread. It gives rise to a fatality of 12'2 per cent, in the first and second years of the European soldier’s service in India. The deaths per 1,000 strength : — Service. 1 to 4 years 5 to 7 years Above 7 years 1-48 1-05 1-50 Age. Under 25 25 to 29 30 and upwards •65 •99 2-33