of the people lived to a very old age. Another point to be considered is the 
condition of the people in those days as compared with what it is now. 
There are many lives preserved now that would not have been preserved 
then ; but I take it that the race of men was much superior in those days to 
what it is now, and, if I have not misinterpreted the conditions that now 
exist, I should say that hygiene is carried to such an extent that, although 
mortality, as shown in statistics, is favourable to us, it gives no criterion of 
relative physique. I think I may express my belief that physique has not 
increased to the extent one might be led to suppose by reading the rates of 
mortality. With reference to the remark made by Dr. Longhurst as to 
seasonable weather and disease, every person knows perfectly well that 
certain diseases prevail at particular seasons, and that, if any great irregu- 
larity in the seasons takes place, disease is certain to occur. This is, perhaps, 
more particularly the case in India and other tropical countries, where the 
variations of climate are almost sure to be followed by outbreaks of disease. 
With regard to the localisation of cholera at Simla and Murree, I may say 
that some years ago that disease had not reached either place, but now it 
visits both those stations with unfortunate frequency. As to the appli- 
cability of the actual expression “ localised,” I am not quite sure how far 
it is justified ; but what I meant by it was, that whereas both those stations 
were formerly notoriously free from cholera they are now notoriously subject 
to it. Sir Risdon Bennett has referred to the capacity of the natives of India 
with regard to the future occupation of the country. I am afraid that on 
this point I must have made myself imperfectly understood, because the 
classes to whom I alluded as not being, so far as my opinion goes, capable 
of advance, includes those who live in the swampy parts of the tropics, 
the dense jungles and unhealthy tracts, as of the Gaboon for example, 
and not the natives of India as a whole. As to the chances of British 
colonisation in India, that is too large a question for me to take up 
further than has already been done by our worthy Chairman. It is 
an exceedingly interesting and at the same time an exceedingly difficult 
question. It is commonly said that the children at the Lawrence 
Asylums in the Himalayas and elsewhere are exceedingly healthy, but 
it is quite certain that the greatest care is taken of them ; and although, 
as our Chairman has remarked, we may hope that colonies of British people 
may become established in the hilly regions, still it very much depends on 
how far the experience both of these schools and of our soldiers in India 
will justify our being very hopeful on this point. Several allusions have 
been made to the mortality of our soldiers in foreign climates, and a good 
deal has been said about the way in which the English stick to their beef 
and beer. I find that the different races along the same lines of latitude 
and longitude live quite differently, and that their manner of life depends 
upon the natural conditions and productions of the earth, as well as on their 
habits. The soil in one part of the world will not produce the same cereals 
that are grown in another part, and even along the same line the natives 
live very differently, lake, for instance, the line of the tropics, including 
VOL. XVII. F 
