Report of the Chemical Examiner to Government. 53 



The medicinal virtues of the spring are doubtless due to the 

 amount of iron contained in it. 



The above comprises a brief abstract of the public duties of the 

 Chemical Examiner, during the period mentioned. In addition to the 

 cases reported in the first Section, several analyses were performed 

 for residents of Calcutta, who supposed that attempts upon their 

 health and lives had been made by their servants. Their appre- 

 hensions were in every instance groundless, and the cases generally of 

 too trivial a nature to record — all the communications having been 

 sent privately. There is no doubt, however, that much sickness 

 is caused in this city by the impure salt, generally sold in the 

 bazaars, — the bad quality of much of the meat consumed, especially 

 during the prevalence of Epidemics among the cattle, — the dirty and 

 impure state of many of the vessels used in cookery, — the improper 

 food upon which some of the animals, killed for table use, are fed, — and 

 other circumstances of a similar nature, which could only be prevent- 

 ed by the introduction of a sound and judicious system of Medical 

 Police. The evil effects of this want of efficient control and super- 

 intendence, are most felt by the poorer classes of Europeans, who 

 scarcely ever obtain perfectly fresh and wholesome animal food, to 

 which is super-added, the noxious qualities of the adulterated wines 

 and liquors consumed by them, of which I have never seen a whole- 

 some or unadulterated muster. The arrack, beer, and other beverages, 

 sold to soldiers and sailors, are even worse and more injurious, if 

 possible, frequently causing fatal attacks of cholera and dysentery. 



In the succeeding division of this report will be contained details 

 of some of the most interesting cases mentioned. 



On the Sickness and Mortality of the Troops at KurnauL By Br. 

 C. Finch, M.D. 



Among the most remarkable circumstances in the whole province 

 of medical statistics, are the great vicissitudes, which occur in the 

 sanatory condition of particular localities, varying between the ex- 

 tremes of salubrity and distemper. 



These alternate conditions of salubrity and insalubrity, occur in 

 every quarter of the globe, and are frequently exemplified in the 

 different stations and cantonments throughout the Indian continent. 



