693 
DR. LITTLE’S CORAL THEORY. 
Pulo Laut is a similar example to Pulo Aor, and Banka may 
be especially selected as a specimen of Dr Little’s mode of 
reasoning “ I do not know (he writes) the extent of the coral 
formation, but that there is coral there, we know” and u to that 
coral I would attribute the unhealthiness of Port Nugent.” 
Dr Little, knowing nothing about the matter —ignorant whether 
the coral reefs are exposed, or ten fathom under water, attributes 
the sickness as his favorite theory requires, in spite of the opinion 
of medical men on the spot. In this instance there *'5 not a 
pretence of the fact being established on which a conclusion is 
built!! 
Batavia Roads, as an example in point, we shall endeavour to 
dispose of as quickly as we can. The miasm generated by 
vegetable decomposition is allowed to produce the remittent fever 
peculiar to the place, in and about the town, but Dr Little asks 
“is the endemic remittent fever of the island, and harbour of 
Batavia, to be attributed to the same cause as that of the town” ? 
I answer that where one cause is sufficient to account for fever, 
the symptoms and result being “ identical ”, it is superfluous to 
adduce a second non-distinguishable cause—and yet there are three 
other causes stated without reference to coral! 
2. That the difference of miasmatic intensity observed occasion¬ 
ally in the town, and harbour, proves only that at particular times, 
miasm preponderates in one locality more than in another, 
3. That the removal of fever patients and others previously 
exposed to miasm, from Onrust to Edam, proves nothing, or if it 
proves Edam, to be unhealthy, it will prove Singapore to be 
unhealthy in the same manner. 
4. Whatever any have been or is the condition of Edam, we 
gather from Mr Leisk’s testimony that there are no exposed coral 
reefs, as he mentions none in the vicinity of the island. “ It is (he 
says) a low coral reef with a detached coral patch to the northward 
of it; (I am not certain whether this patch is ever dry) the island 
is covered with trees and bushes but I never saw a swamp on it; 
it appeared to me to be dry, the soil consisting of a mixture qf 
coral, other stones and coral sand. I have been on it twice, but 
never found any disagreeable smell more than on other coral 
islands.” 
Labuan Triang in Lombok, a land-loched harbour , may be af¬ 
fected by the animal decomposition going on amid coral reefs and 
mud banks, but the mangrove trees seem to interpose no kind 
of barrier. The fever of Ampanan is attributed by Dr. Little to 
the paddy fields in the vicinity, and another port called Pedgue 
(whicli abounds with coral) on the authority of one witness is con¬ 
sidered unhealthy, but considered healthy by a second witness, who 
has resided there for some time. As a general result I conclude 
that in proportion to the extent of exposed coral reefs, about Lorn- 
