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
_Cochin China_ has a moist, hot climate. During the dry season, which
lasts from November to April, the temperature varies from 95° F. during
the day to 63° F. at night (35° to 17° C.), whereas during the rains,
which last from May to October, the range of variation is only between
86° and 68° F. (30° to 20° C.); the relative humidity at this season
reaching 89 per cent. Further north, in Tongking, the range of
temperature is wider, from 99° to 18° F. (36° to -7° C.). The rainfall
is much heavier than in Siam; Saigon, lat. 10° 47′ N., receiving its
maximum of 17·7 ins. (423 mm.) in September and a total rainfall of 74
ins. (1,873 mm.); while at Hue, lat. 16° 33′ N., the wettest month is
October, with 26·15 ins. (664 mm.), and a total of 102 ins. (2,592 mm.).
Further north, at Hai-fong, in lat. 20° 57′ N., the most rainy month is
August, with 14·8 ins. (374 mm.). July falls but little short of this,
but the total is less than that of the other two stations, amounting to
no more than 64 ins. (1,627 mm.).
The change to the north-east monsoon in November is not unfrequently
marked by sudden and devastating storms. The climate has a very bad
reputation, malaria, dysentery of a peculiarly deadly type, and diseases
due to internal worms, being very common, especially during the rainy
season.
_China._--Owing to the backward state of the country, there is
singularly little information of a definite character available with
respect to the enormous Chinese Empire, the entire southern half of
which comes within the scope of the tropical climatologist. In the
south, regular observations are carried on in the British colony of Hong
Kong, and in the north at Zi-ka-Wei, near Shanghai, an admirably
conducted observatory is conducted by the Jesuit missionaries, who so
often enrol themselves as the pioneers of science.
Speaking generally, however, whether in the case of littoral or
continental climates, those of China appear to compare favourably with
localities of the same latitude in India and the Indo-Malay peninsula.
The following are the figures for the island of Hong Kong for the year
1901, as I am unable to discover any collated statistics.
HONG KONG. LAT. 22° 12′ N., LONG. 114° 13′ E. NEAR SEA-LEVEL.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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