404 
THE TROPICAL AGRICtJLTURIST. [Dec. 1, 1902. 
MALARIA IN CEYLON. 
The Lancet lias the following on Dr. Chalmers 
Report on Malaria : — 
Dr. Albert J. Chalmers, Registrar to the Ceylon 
Medical College, has made a preliminary report on 
the prevalence of malaria in Ceylon, with a view 
to its prevention. The report contains much in- 
structive and useful information and deals with 
some points which have hitherto hardly obtained 
the attention which they deserve. The paper con- 
tains three addenda of which the first is devoted 
to au interesting theory to explain how man and 
the anopheles originally became infected with the 
malarial parasite, and the second gives a copy of a 
pamphlet on malaria which has been distributed 
to the various stations in Caylon. The theory of 
the origin of the disease which is propounded by 
Mr. A Perry, Principal Medical Officer and Inspec- 
tor of Hospitals, Ceylon, raises two points which 
-are not without practical importance. They are: 
(1) Is it possible that the infection in man can 
take place by some other means than through the 
mosquito? and l2) If this be not possible how did 
the cycle of the life of the parasite start ? In his 
account of the incidence of malaria in Ceylon, Dr. 
Chalmers first shows that the disor.ler is a power- 
ful factor in the disease and death rates of the 
Island, and he proceeds to show that there is a 
definite relationship between the prevalence of the 
distemper and the amounts of the rainfall. In 
reference to the causal relation existing between 
the climatic conditions and the incidence of the 
malady the writer says: "There appears no doubb 
that the reason why so few, sometimes no, ano- 
pheles are seen in the dry season for months to- 
jjelher — e.g., in Accra and iiuinassi, West Africa — 
and then the sudden appearance of these insects 
in numbers is due to their hybernation in dark 
protected spots, They come out again in the wee 
season, as this is the timQ par excRllence when they 
find the pools of water with suitable algae for 
propagating their species and, in ray op nio:t, 
this is the reason of the relationship between 
malaria and the rainfall." Dr. Chalmers states that 
at the date at which he \;vote his report, he had 
not had sufficient opportunity of studying the 
anopheletes and their haunts in Ceylon to make 
an exhaustive statement on them, but that he 
had found the anopheles Rossii, an anopheles 
which resembled (" but not quite exactly ") the 
anopheles vanus,, and third which he calls anopheles 
X, in which the costal margin of the wing was 
"decorated with two white spots." It is inci- 
dentally mentioned that there had lately been a 
severe outbreak of malarial fever at Katancudy 
during which Dr. Hallock, who was medical officer 
there, acted wiih great discernment and by 
promptly cleansing the village made at once a 
jnarked effect ou the disease. Dr. Chalmers gives 
a brief account of the dwellings and of the habits 
of the different peoples who live in Ceylon— of 
the Europeans, Burghers and the Sinhalese, of the 
Tamils, the Mahomedans, and I he coolies. The 
Hindoos, the Buddhists, and the Mahomedans are 
particularly liable to infection from mosquitoes, 
not only because they wear little clothing, bat 
because their religious observances entail their 
attendance at the temples and at mosques during 
the night. Rice fields form a suitable breeding 
ground for the anopheles, and so well is this fact 
recognised that an Italian law passed as long ago 
as 1866 makes provision for regulations in regard 
to the distance from dwellings at which the culture 
of rice is permissible. In regard to Ceylon it is 
thought that such restrictions could not properly 
be made, but it is suggested that the building of 
new houses near to existing rice fields might 
advantageously be forbidden. The importance of 
educating the people as to the cause of malaria 
is insisted upon in the report and it is suggested 
that the best way to accomplish this is to begin 
in the schools, and that as apothecaries are often 
sent to remote stations on the occurrence of a 
severe outbreak of malaria an opportunity should 
be given to them to learn how to take blood-tilms 
and how to recognise the anopheles and its larvae. 
Such a course of study, it is noted, might ad- 
vantageously be given at Ceylon Medical College. 
The most interesting points which the report shows 
may he briefly summarised as follows : (1) malaria 
at the present time is epidemic in Ceylon only in 
certain localities ; (2) the island contains many 
anopheletes and the conditions which exist there 
are peculiarly suitable for their development ; 
(.3) a large proportion of the existing anopheletes 
are not infected with the malarial poison ; (4) 
coolies affected with malaria are constantly being 
introduced from India to Ceylon. There is, there- 
fore, a possibility that malaria may become more 
prevalent if these facts are not realised. The 
mode of spread of the distemper will be this, 
Coolies suffering from the disease will go to a part 
of the country which contains healthy anopheletes. 
The anopheletes by sucking the blood of the 
infected coolies will become affected, and in their 
turn will infect men previously free from the 
malady. Dr. Chalmers is justified in his belief 
that "anyone suffering from malarial fever in a 
country in which the anopheles abounds is a 
danger to public health." In the report this 
teaching is given as a personal opinion, but it is a 
fact about which there can be no shadow of a doubt, 
and Dr. Chalmers righ ly founds his recommend- 
ations as to prophlaxis on the certainty of its 
truth. 
» 
COCONUT PLANTING IN BRITISH 
NORTH BORNEO. 
In March of this year I visited a coconut plantation 
in British North Borneo and took the following notes, 
which may be o£ interest to some of your readers. 
Distance from Sandakan, two hours by steam launch. 
Six thousand cotioaut trees planted in 1896, of which 
llOO are now in bsaring, and the balance will all 
Le in bearing in two years. Judging by the crop 
now on the trees and the usual yield in the district, 
the probable crop will be at least 3O0O nuts per aero 
when the trees are in full bearing. Present selling 
price, $36 per 1000 delivered in Sandakan ; present 
value of dollar about Is 9d. Arrangements have 
been made to plant other 9000 trees this year ; terms, 
fifty cents per tree to be paid to the contractors 
when the trees are three years old, during which 
time cash advances are to be made to the contractors 
for food. 
Fourteen famine's were engage! on the new plant- 
ings, and when I visited the plantation with the 
agent he Lold me no advances had yet been made, 
although the oontraotora had been at work some 
montlis cleaving aw*i.y the jungle and preparing the 
Imid for planting ; but on coming away the agent 
showed me a li«t of moneys asked for by theooa- 
tractors amounting in all to .8175, or about a sovereign 
to each contractor. I did not see the new coconut 
plantings, but I was told that most or all of the 
new land had been plantedi and this waa the first 
advance, 
