Remarks on Dracunculus. 361 



not prevail with equal intensity at all seasons in the same 

 place. Dr. Morehead however states that at Kirkee, where 

 the disease was very prevalent in 1832, it set in as early 

 as March, and that the admission of cases into the Hospital 

 of H. M. 4th Light Dragoons for the six following months 

 were as follows — April 7 cases ; May, 57 ; June, 64 ; July, 48 ; 

 August, 26 ; September, 3 ; but no mention is made of the 

 date at which the rains set in at this station, or the general 

 character of the place in regard to moisture. 



Dr. Morehead coincides with the authors previously allu- 

 ded to, as to the peculiarity of the earth and soil in districts 

 in which this disease occurs, and offers certain general views 

 of much interest on this head. Dr. Scot, Surgeon of the 

 1st. Battalion of Madras Artillery, in 1821 communicated to 

 the " Edinburgh Medical Journal" the fact of Dracunculus 

 having appeared among the troops at St. Thomas's Mount, 

 Madras, in June, one year after they had returned from an 

 expedition to the banks of the Tumbudra ; none were af- 

 fected but such as accompanied the expedition in question, 

 with which they were absent from the Mount from February 

 to June. Dr. Kennedy, in a note attached to Mr. Scot's 

 paper in the work referred to, states, that the hill for- 

 tress of Copul, when it was taken from Tipoo Sultan in 

 1791, was notorious for being infested with Guinea-worm, 

 an observation which he remarks is at variance with the 

 opinion which restricts the appearance of the disease to 

 moist soils, or humid atmosphere. 



These are the main facts that have been elicited in India, 

 and it appears unquestionable from them that the disease is 

 peculiar to certain districts only; but it does not appear to 

 depend on the moisture of those districts, or to be contracted 

 at any particular season. A certain period of time, equal 

 to about twelve months from the first arrival in an affected 

 district, is requisite for the development of the disease. An- 

 other fact in the history of this malady may be considered 



