472 L. Rogers — Relationship of the water-supply , iv at er -logging [No. 4. 





TABLE XV. 











Baraset. 









Ground 



Water-Level. 



Feb., Ruins, 



1900. 1899. 



Water-supply. 



Corrected 



Spleen percentages. 



Adult Children. General 



Males. Total. 



12 ft. 4 in. 





Tank only 



523 



50-4 



51-5 



16 ft. 3 in. 



4 ft. 



do. 



381 



80-3 



59*2 



8 ft. 2 in. 



Oft. 3 



in. do. 



442 



70-8 



57-5 



12 ft. 4 in. 



4 ft. 



do. 



38-6 



51 2 



44-9 



Ward. 



I. & III. (41) 



III. (42) 



IV. (43) 

 V. (44) 



Water-logging and the Railway. — It have already been pointed 

 out in discussing the Ward variations of the spleen-rate that there is no 

 definite relationship between the amount of malaria and the ground 

 water-levels. Thus Maniktolla and Chitpore-Cossipore are the most 

 water-logged parts of the whole area, yet they have the lowest spleen- 

 rates on account of their filtered water-supply. The fact that the bank 

 of the Hooghly river is slightly higher than the country further to the 

 east, so that the surface water flows away from the river, and eventually 

 finds its way back through khals to the river or runs off to the south 

 into the Great Salt Water Lakes, might at first sight seem to indicate 

 that the ground water-level would be lower near the river than it 

 is further to the east. Measurements in the wells, however, do not 

 bear this out, for there is very little difference in this respect in the 

 water-level measured in wells on either side of the railway, while the 

 differences noted were rather more frequently in favour of the eastern 

 portions than the contrary. The differences in the spleen-rate, then, of 

 the eastern and western parts cannot be explained on any theory of 

 water-logging, while an examination of the whole area Ward by Ward 

 shows no definite relationship between the spleen-rates and the height 

 of the ground water-level, as a study of the Tables and Map will show. 



The Eastern Bengal Railway, which runs from north to south 

 through this area, and, together with the Grand Trunk Road, roughly 

 divides it into western and eastern portions, has frequently beeu held 

 responsible for the unhealthiness of the country, for it lies across 

 the line of surface drainage. As, however, the drainage flows to 

 the east if it were materially obstructed the western part should be 

 the more unhealthy, instead of which precisely the opposite holds 

 good. Moreover, in the few places in which wells were found on 

 either side of the railway, although at some distance from it, there 

 was no constant or marked difference between either the level of the 

 ground-water in the dry season, or the height to which it rose during 

 the rains on either side of the road and railway. There is, then, no 



