298 



MANUAL OF THE nIlAGIRI DISTRICT. 



Eecent 

 History. 



Sir F. Adam 

 succeeds. 

 Medical 

 report. 



CHAP. XII. Mr. Lushington was succeeded by Sir Frederick Adam. The 

 report on the extent and permanence of the benefits derived 

 by Europeans from a resort to the Nilagiris, drawn up by the 

 Medical Board (at that time composed of Messrs. Owen, Davies, 

 and Hay), was submitted to Government, fpr transmission to the 

 Honorable Court, on the 24th December, 1832. We find that to 

 the end of October from date of establishment in January 1830 

 138 men of His Majesty and the Honorable Company's Sei-vicea 

 had been admitted, of whom 75 had been restored to good health, 

 11 much benefited, 14 discharged as incurable, 10 died, whilst 28 

 remained in the depot. The majority of men sent to the Hills 

 were young and not suffering from severe chronic complaints. 

 In admitting that the public service had not derived extensive 

 benefit from the Convalescent Depot, the Board remark that it 

 had hitherto labored under great disadvantages. " Placed in an 

 elevated and unsheltered situation, without a surrounding wall, 

 the building ^ was fully exposed to the south-west monsoon, while 

 its vicinity to the bazaar afforded ready access to spirituous 

 liquors." A more suitable building having been recently selected, 

 they hoped that a more satisfactory trial might be made of the 

 climate. They sum up the case as follows : — 



" But, although the benefit hitherto derived from the Convalescent 

 Depot cannot, under these circumstances, be considered as indicating 

 in a perfectly satisfactory manner the probable extent of the utility of 

 a matured and well-regulated establishment of that nature, we think 

 it proper on the present occasion to state that, from the information 

 before us, we see no grounds for anticipating from such an establish- 

 ment any results of much importance in a financial or political point 

 of view, if indeed its maintenance should not be attended with positive 

 loss. When the distance of the greater number of stations occupied 

 by European troops from the Nilgiri Hills is considered, it will be 

 obvious that a resort to them cannot be available for the cure of 

 acute diseases, except in the cases of tedious and imperfect convales- 

 cence, which do not appear to have been numerous for some years past ; 

 and the medical reports received from the hills, while they generally 

 represent the climate in a most favorable point of view, tend to show 

 that it is not well adapted for the cure of chronic diseases attribu- 

 table to a tropical climate, which chiefly lead to inefficiency, and 

 consequently to discharge from the service or transfer to the invalid 

 or pension establishments." 



Taking the diseases which had led to invaliding in His Majesty's 

 Army, they find that in very few cases would the climate be 

 suitable for cure. So much for the soldiers. 



As regards the officers of Government, civil and military, they 

 note that, from the year 1826 to 1832, 238 sick Madras officers 



The present jail. 



