What is malaria? : and why is it most intense in hot climates? : an enquiry into the nature and cause of the so-called marsh poison, with remarks on the principles to be observed for the preservation of health in tropical climates and malarious districts / by C.F. Oldham.

  • Oldham, C. F. (Charles Frederick)
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: What is malaria? : and why is it most intense in hot climates? : an enquiry into the nature and cause of the so-called marsh poison, with remarks on the principles to be observed for the preservation of health in tropical climates and malarious districts / by C.F. Oldham. 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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    avevag6 strongtli of 805. At Saugor, two Batterios of Ar- tillery had 257 cases in an average strength of 201, and the 1st Battalion 7th Regt. had 506 cases amongst 722 men. The head-qnarters of the 79th Regt. at Roorkee, one of the healthiest stations in India, had 332 cases in an average strength of 351 j while the wing of the same Regt. at Delhi, usually not by any means a healthy station, had 248 cases in 299 men. Two Batteries of Artillery at Umballa, generally a very healthy station, had 156 cases in an average of 277 men; the 94th Regt., at the same station, had 288 cases in a strength of 638 men; and the 21st Hussars 135 cases in 418 men. At Mean Meer, on a dry, sandy plain, the Artillery, 332 strong, had 155 cases; and the 106th Regt.in a strength of 768, no less than 1133 cases. At Sealkote, a very healthy station, the 38th Regt. had 554 cases in a strength of 1004; while the 7th Hussars and Artillery, at the same place, had a very small number of cases.* These stations are al- most all noted as being amongst the healthiest and best sit- uated in the plains of India; and the sickness did not occur in time of war, or of any unusual exposm’e. It must not be supposed that these diseases are confined to the British soldier, and are the result of excesses, as ap- pears to be sometimes imagined; for though the soldier generally suffers most, the civil population, European and Eurasian, and the natives of the country, suffer severely. In some districts of lower Bengal the sickness and mortality from this class of fevers has for some years past been very great, and last year the native population of a great portion of northern India suffered severely from the same cause. It is to be borne in mind, in considering the mortality resulting from malarious disease, that the deaths reported as occurring from fevers, bear but a small proportion to those resulting from secondary affections, induced by repeated attacks of these complaints. The number of constitutions irretrievably injured by the same cause, can of course never be known. Though from the earliest period in the history of Medicine, * Army Medical Report, 1867. B 2