of the Troops at Kurnaul. 65 



I have mentioned the boundaries of the parade ground or canton- 

 ments. It is on all sides surrounded with swamps, — on the east along 

 the banks of the canal, and on the west by jungle as well as jheels. 

 In the north-east and in front, there is a large jheel, and to the south, 

 about a mile in rear of the station, there is a great extent of marshy 

 ground. From these several localities, there is little doubt malarious 

 exhalations arise, which are amongst the most active agents in pro- 

 ducing the severe sickness among the troops. In confirmation of this 

 observation, we find that in the site of the corps, where these effluvia 

 made themselves so sensible as to cause the men to endeavour to 

 exclude them at night, by shutting the jhamps, there the sickness 

 was most prevalent and the cases most severe. I allude to the troops 

 of the Horse Artillery and H. M. 3rd Dragoons. 



It is an established axiom in medical etiology, as I have said, that the 

 decomposition of vegetable matter by the instrumentality of moisture 

 and heat, gives out exhalations which are prejudicial and often destruc- 

 tive to human life. The exhalations from the surface of the parade, 

 and the effluvia from the swamps surrounding Kurnaul, are the active 

 agents in the production of the diseases which have prevailed there and 

 proved so destructive to the European corps cantoned at that station. 

 The greater and more fatal prevalence of the sickness in some 

 years, than in others, is ascribable to the heavier and irregular falls of 

 rain, during the wet-season, by which the parades and neighbour- 

 ing grounds are flooded, and in the long and unusual intervals of rain, 

 are exposed to the scorching rays of a tropical sun shining through a 

 clear atmosphere. These abundant sources of malaria will readily 

 account for the occasional aggravation of sickness, in seasons marked 

 by this irregular distribution of rain. 



Such are the opinions of a Committee of Medical Officers, assem- 

 bled to inquire into, and report on the cause of the sickness, which 

 existed among the troops at Kurnaul, in 1841. 



The Committee consisted of Superintending Surgeon W. Pan ton, 

 President. 



Surgeons J. Thomson, Horse Artillery; W. Darby, 1st Light 

 Cavalry; J. Henderson, m. d., H. M. 3rd Dragoons; A. Macqueen, 

 m. d., H. M. 3rd Buffs. 



The Committee after a careful inquiry into the nature and extent 

 of the sickness prevalent in the station and surrounding country, 



K 



