184 



attention to sanitation and water-supply to improve the 

 . public health of this Presidency ; but, on the whole, there 

 is no reason to suppose that public health is worse now 

 than in times past. Destructive as fever is, it is much less 

 destructive now than formerly, and it is noteworthy that 

 fever is most prevalent, not in bad, but in good agricul- 

 tural seasons when the rainfall is abundant. Of all the 

 Provinces of India, the Central Provinces, which are excep- 

 tionally favoured by the comparative fertility of a large 

 portion of the land, show the greatest mortality. These 

 Provinces are taxed the lightest, the revenue assessed per 

 acre being between 5 and 8 annas and reaching 9 annas in 

 only one district. 



Lastly, if we wish to find a parallel in European coun- 

 tries to the state in which this country was 50 years ago, 

 we must go back to the England of 400 years ago or at 

 the end of the fifteenth century, which has been described 

 by Dr. Cunningham in his Growth of English Industry and 

 Commerce as follows : " Unless the statements of the chroni- 

 clers are grossly exaggerated, England suffered severely 

 during the fifteenth century from two scourges which are 

 now entirely unknown — famine and pestilence. The popula- 

 tion was dependent on the seasons for the food-supply, and 

 though this might be plentiful in good years, there was often 

 a general scarcity which was intensified in particular dis- 

 tricts into a local famine. At such times men were driven 

 to use acorns and roots for food and had recourse to the flesh 

 of dogs and horses : some cases of cannibalism are reported. 

 It was only rarely that starving people were reduced to such 

 e:stremities ; but there is some reason to beheve that they 

 habitually used diseased and unwholesome food, and that 

 they were thus rendered a ready prey to the ravages of 

 pestilence. The Black death was specially terrible, but we 

 read of many other visitations, the accounts of which are 

 sufficiently appalling. A century during which more than 

 twenty outbreaks of plague occurred, and have been recorded 

 by the chroniclers, can hardly be regarded by us except 

 as one long unbroken period of pestilence. Besides these 

 occasional outbreaks there was chronic typhoid in the towns, 

 and leprosy all over the country. The undrained and neg- 

 lected soil ; the shallow stagnant waters which lay upon the 

 surface of the ground, the narrow unhealthy homes of all 

 classes of the people ; the filthy neglected streets of the 

 towns ; the abundance of stale fish which was eaten ; the 

 scanty variety of vegetables which were consumed ; predis- 



