Medical notes on the climate of Burmah and on the diseases which have there prevailed among European troops / by Charles Murchison.

  • Murchison, Charles, 1830-1879.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical notes on the climate of Burmah and on the diseases which have there prevailed among European troops / by Charles Murchison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    rock are also found on the Prome side, along the bank of the river, between Prome and Shoaydong^. In the Prome hills there is also found a soft green, and yellow sandstone, and 1 have also observed a sandy clay, which presents the peculiar honey-combed appearance, constituting the mineral Laterite.^ Professor Buckland,^ from a number of geological speci¬ mens brought from Burmah, in the year 1826, by Mr Craw- furd, who had accompanied the British embassy to Ava, en¬ deavours to make out the following geological formations in Burmah. 1. Alluvium, formed by deposits from the river, and constituting the extensive plain, already alluded to, 2, Diluvium, seen principally in a district, 20 miles square, at Yay-nan-gheoum, about halfway between Prome and Ava, where the celebrated Petroleum Wells are. This formation consists of a sand with a coarse gravel, containing the fossil remains of numerous vertebrate animals. Among these Mr ClifP has described those of two new species of mastodon, and also remains of the following genera, hippopotamus, sus, rhinoceros, tapir, ox, deer, antelope, trianyx, emys, leptorynchus, and crocodile. Remains of vertebrate animals I have often also observed in the coarse shingly sand, form¬ ing the hills of Prome, in the deep cuttings through these hills, which our Indian Government has lately been making for the construction of roads. Along with these animal remains is also found large quantities of fossil wood, both monocotyledonous, and dicotyledonous. Portions of this fossil wood are often washed out from their bed by the rain and torrents, and carried down the river, on the banks of which they are often found, many miles below their original locality. The natives of Burmah regard this wmod with a certain degree of veneration, and often transport it to im¬ mense distances, for the purpose of employing it as pillars of support for their religious edifices. This practice probably constitutes the true explanation of the statement made by Lieutenant Alexander, that the waters of the Irrawaddy had the power of converting wood into stone in the space of 30 months,^ about which there was formerly some discus¬ sion 3. Freshwater Marl, a marly blue clay, containing numbers of a species of Gyrene, and found at Yay-nan- gheoum. 4. London clay and calcaire grossier, already 1 A town 8 miles below Prome, 2 This mineral has been stated not to exist at Prome. Ind. Ann. Med. Sc. I. 389. 3 Trans. Geol. Soc. Ser. 2. vol. ii, p. 377. ^ Ibid., 2. vol. ii. p. 369. ® Edinburgh Philosophical Journal. 1828. ® “ On the power of the Waters of the Irrawaddy to convert wood into stone.” Trans. Geol. Soc. Ser. II. vol. ii. p. 394.