CEYLON BRANCH — ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 17l 



In the first place to the immediate and continued action of 

 a damp atmosphere; 

 and secondly, 



To malaria produced from half dried-up tanks. 



In examining the diagram of 1846 we find that April, May, 

 and June were very unusually unhealthy: now it appears that in 

 that year March, April and the first half of May, were extremely 

 rainy and unsettled, the dampness of the atmosphere produced 

 much fever, and the drying up of the tanks affected the health 

 of the station a month later than usual. Again October and 

 November of this year were very rainy, and the latter of these 

 months proved unusually unhealthy. 



On referring again to the diagrams, it appears from a compa- 

 rison of the whole, that the number of days sickness is about 

 124 per month in a body of 100 men, which certainly is not 

 a high average, the rather when it is taken into consideration 

 that a very large portion of this is due to fever, which very 

 rarely proves more than a temporary inconvenience, seldom prov- 

 ing fatal, and unproductive of those permanent alterations of the 

 constitution which follow the fevers of other parts of the Island; 

 that each slight ailment is registered in a manner utterly unat- 

 tainable by those who endeavour to obtain the sanatory statis- 

 tics of a whole country, and that not a few of the cases are due 

 more or less to the imprudence of the men, and cannot there- 

 fore in fairness be charged against the climate. The most 

 sickly year is that of 1846 when the average to one hundred 

 men is about 218 per month, giving to each man about 26 

 days sickness in the course of the year. 



It is remarkable that the salubrity of the station seems to 

 have been gradually and steadily decreasing during the last few 

 years, whether this be really the case, or whether this apparent 

 increase of sickness is caused by the men being more rigidly 

 required to come to and to remain in hospital when sick. I am 

 unable to say with certainty, but should think this the more 



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