Climate and Health in Hot Countries and the Outlines of Tropical Climatology: A Popular Treatise on Personal Hygiene in the Hotter Parts of the World, and on the Climates That Will Be Met Within Them.Giles, George Michael James
Science
Climate and Health in Hot Countries and the Outlines of Tropical Climatology: A Popular Treatise on Personal Hygiene in the Hotter Parts of the World, and on the Climates That Will Be Met Within Them.
Giles, George Michael James
Hygiene -- Popular works; Medical climatology; Tropical medicine
The amount of labour that can be profitably afforded in work of this
sort will depend a great deal on the probable duration of one’s stay in
a place; as temporary residents, such as government officials, will find
it much cheaper to employ temporary measures, such as the use of
paraffin; while in the case of merchants and other permanent residents,
the expenditure of a considerable sum on permanent measures will be more
remunerative in the long run. The great difficulty often lies in finding
spoil wherewith to fill in the depressions, as unless care be exercised,
the only result will be to shift the site of the puddle. Sometimes,
however, a bank of earth surrounds the compound by way of a hedge; and
as in a level country the existence of such an obstruction to surface
drainage is most objectionable such banks should always, if possible, be
removed and a hedge of wire or bamboo substituted; when the spoil can be
advantageously utilised for filling in hollows. Where no localised
elevations are to be found, the material required should be obtained by
a general very slight removal of the surface. In other cases it may be
possible to drain a depression by cutting a shallow gutter to the
nearest surface drain.
Another and very important class of breeding place consists of the
comparatively large collections of water formed by the various
reservoirs, channels, &c., constructed for obtaining and storing water
for various domestic purposes, such as wells, tanks, &c., and especially
the appliances for watering gardens. Of these the most harmful of all is
canal irrigation, which should undoubtedly be never tolerated near a
dwelling by any one valuing his health, malaria or no malaria; for the
waterlogging of the soil, that is practically inseparable from the
system, is either the exciting or predisposing cause of a variety of
diseases, many of which, such as rheumatism, consumption and cancer, are
perhaps more seriously dangerous than malaria. Sodden and waterlogged
sites are notoriously unhealthy all over the world, and chronic
ill-health is a high price to pay for a few flowers and vegetables; so
that the settler will be well advised to leave irrigated cultivation to
those who are constrained to adopt it for a livelihood, and banish it
from his own premises; as much is gained by living on a comparatively
dry site of however limited extent.
As a matter of fact, indeed, the possession of a garden of any sort is a
more than doubtful benefit in malarious places, for trees and shrubs
necessarily form lurking-places for mosquitoes; and even with the
greatest care, it is difficult to carry out the necessary watering of
the plants without giving rise to puddles; while the various reservoirs,
&c., that are almost indispensable, are a constant source of danger
unless constantly and minutely supervised.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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