6 Medical Topography of the 



We have but few ponds or swamps of stagnant wa- 

 ter, if we except those made by the Canal- Company, 

 on Wood-Creek, the last and the summer before. 

 The soil, for a considerable depth, is a rich compost, 

 made from the annual decay of the timber, leaves of 

 trees, and other vegetables. 



About fourteen miles to the west is the Oneida- 

 Lake : the country around it is flat and swampy. 

 Twenty miles north-west from the west end of the 

 Oneida-Lake is Lake-Ontario. There are many 

 swamps and marshes on this lake, especially near the 

 mouths of the creeks and rivers. It has been the 

 opinion, that the country about the Oneida-Lake is 

 the most sickly of any part of the western country, 

 except at the salt-springs in the county of Onondaga. 



Our summers are unsteady, as to the degree of 

 heat. In the months of July and August, we have a 

 few days of very hot weather, seldom over five or six, 

 before a change, often to very cool, for a few days. 

 Our changes are sudden and frequent. We have con- 

 siderable rain, and long periods of cloudy, misty wea- 

 ther, after July, which has generally been the clearest 

 month in the vear. 



The disorders of the country are such as physicians 

 would say are natural to it, viz., intermittents, dysen- 

 teries, diarrhoeas ; and, some years, typhus fever, 

 which often goes through a family and neighbourhood, 

 when it once gets into it. These last vary in malig- 

 nancy. The last year we have not had a single case 



