1831 .] 
Proceedings of Societies. 
229 
About midnight of the 9th, the first man was taken ill, while sleeping in his 
hammock, near the forepart of the ship. “ Some hours elapsed before a second 
case occurred, and only six cases of the disease had occurred before four p. m. of 
the 10th. From that time, during the night of the 10th, and until noon of the 
11th, they were increasing very fast.” The Surgeons of the other ships had lent 
their aid during the night, and when the healthy were removed to Butcher's Island, 
and the sick to the General Hospital, eleven men had died, and about thirty 
had the disease. Many were attacked in their hammocks, several while sitting at 
light work on the poop, some when attending on their comrades, and there 
seems to have been no exemption from the attack from any situation or employ- 
ment. Of two men who went on shore immediately after the squall of the 9th, 
in perfect health, one was seized with cholera and died on shore. Of three men 
who went on shore on the morning of the 10th, and returned to the ship in the 
evening, two were attacked and died on board. During the night of the 10th, 
few or none of the men who were well went to their hammocks, partly from the 
number of sick, who were hanging up ; partly from the number required to wait 
on their comrades ; but principally from a dread which the men had to go below, 
which induced many of them, as appears, to prefer walking the upper-deck great 
part of the night in a dejected state. After the removal of the crew to Butcher’s 
Island 1 , thirteen were taken ill on the lltli, five on the 12th, two on the 14th, 
two on the 1 6th, and two on the 18th, which last were cases of relapse. The 
Monsoon rains set in on the 16tli. Of the whole crew, ninety-four men were 
taken more or less ill, fifteen died on board, sixteen in the hospital, 
and seven on the island. The state of matters on board the H. C. S. 
Edinburgh was considerably different, but our limits will not admit of 
our entering into the particulars. It appears, that several of the crew of the 
Berwickshire were in the practice of squeezing green limes into the shore water 
which they drank : many, however, were attacked who did not adopt this 
practice. Though the heat in the hold was, to the feelings, greater than on deck, 
the proportion of deaths among those who worked in the hold was two in ten less 
than among the rest of the crew. The sail-makers and quarter-masters, employed 
fit sedentary work under the awning of the poop, suffered more severely than 
other parts of the crew. Some of those who recovered, described their illness 
^ have commenced with panic at the havoc the disease was making. It did not 
appear that any unusual state of the atmosphere was perceptible for some days 
i ore the ship made the harbour, that the men were in the habit of sleeping on 
deck , or that they got out in any of the squalls while in the harbour. It did not 
a l»pear that the sufferers had indulged themselves to an unusual extent in fruit 
f| t in water. Nothing in the investigation which could lead Mr. Henderson in 
hie least to suspect the presence of contagion- 
h the epidemic on this occasion was not dependent on a peculiar state of the 
atmosphere, it was, Mr. H. thinks, increased at that particular time by the 
meteoric changes which occurred nearly simultaneously with the attack, and 
'! Ilck were attendant on the setting in of the S. W. Monsoon from the 6th to 
me 10th. “ The first shower of rain falling at the end of May, on the dead 
fifiinial and vegetable matter accumulated throughout the dry season, and the 
mpid decay of marine animal and vegetable matters thrown, by the prevailing 
winds, on the N. W. coast of the Island, and which is at that season very apparent 
t? ' 11 senses, may be considered as co-existent with an increase of choleia m 
Bombay at that particular time.” The prophylactic precautions in cholera must 
f 0 a very general nature. Among others, Mr. H. recommends the avoiding all 
sources of debility or over-excitement. There should be a proper regulation 
01 the dipt an, „,:ii In attpntinn t.n the oualitv of 
’ “* cuc miration ot water : ana m me use ui wuuucu vw «***- 0 
possible. 
res pect to the disease affecting Barley crops in this country. Dr. Tv tier 
■ os that, in the upper provinces, it is named Lera, and that it annually destroys 
b J mme , n ? e quantity of the grain. The diseased substance he deems an organised 
thp' 5 'y 18 demonstrated by its making its appearance in the earliest stage o 
ami ?n ln 8 S r °wth, and gradually increasing in size till the ear is fully oi me , 
ProJ’i , With this Mack matter. This substance is very poisonous, as vvas 
1 last year, by the circumstance of some chickens which acciden a y 
1 A small Island about four miles up the harbour. 
