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poration of dew from the long rank grass so abundantly covering the country, rendered the air cold and unwholesome. In later years the per-centage of fever has been much less, which is chiefly owing to the troops having been stationary in the most open and healthy parts of the country. Fevers are the endemic of Nagpoor and the adjoining districts. Hepatitis is, upon the whole, less frequent here than in most other stations in India; and dysentery, although prevalent, is as much to be imputed to the habits and indulgences of European soldiers as to the climate. During the rains, and for some time afterwards, the fevers are purely intermittent. As the air becomes drier and colder the remittent type is most frequent; and during the hot season they assume the continued type, and are oftener accompanied with disorder of the abdominal viscera.

As a military station, Nagpoor was first occupied by the Madras troops in 1816, and continued as such under the Madras presidency until 1820, when it was transferred to the Bengal presidency. From the year 1816 to 1820 barracks were erected near the residency in a most unwholesome position, and where sickness prevailed among the troops to a great extent. On the Madras troops being relieved by the Bengal army in 1820, a new ground was taken up at Kamptee, a few miles from the residency, where the troops became comparatively healthy. It is situated upon black cotton ground, extending along the river Keernah east and west, about 4 miles. The roads through the cantonments in all directions are well raised, and thickly covered with gravel and sand to keep them dry and good. Nagpoor was again restored to the Madras presidency in 1826 or 1827, and continues one of their frontier stations,

SECT. VI.-On the Diet and Regimen usually adopted by Europeans on their Arrival, and during their Stay in India and in Warm Climates generally, as predisposing and exciting Causes of Disease.

Having treated of the probable causes of diseases in warm climates, and considered them as respects their general sources and modes of operation on the European constitution, and also as to the conditions and circumstances under which they present themselves in particular situations and localities, I now proceed to inquire into some of those probable causes which predispose the

system to be acted upon by the more energetic agents of disease which occasionally co-operate with them towards the production of morbid actions, and which not unfrequently are, of themselves, productive of disorder.

There can be no doubt that terrestrial exhalations, as already shown, are a very fruitful source of disease, particularly in warm climates, where the changes of temperature are sudden and great, and where the atmosphere is often loaded with moisture under an oppressive and burning sun, exhausting the general energies of the system, and impairing the powers of digestion; and, as many of the most formidable diseases in India are found to be dependant on plethora, it may not be amiss here to show how this condition of the vascular system is produced. If food be taken into the stomach of a quality and in quantity suitable to the vital energies of the system, it is changed into a healthy chyle, suited to the repair of the frame; but if the appetite be excited so as to receive more than is necessary for the wants of the body, and if inadequate means be resorted to, to procure the secretion and excretion of what is superabundant or noxious, a plethoric state of the vascular system must be the consequence; and this state will be productive of active disease in some important viscus, particularly in warm climates, in those viscera which are more especially influenced by the very efficient sources of disease already alluded to.

Whether the quantity of food generally taken by European residenters in warm climates be too great, and whether the beverages usually resorted to, are such as the wants of the system demand, and no more, I shall now proceed to inquire; and afterwards endeavour to ascertain how any excess of food or drink beyond what is necessarily called for, becomes productive of that particular condition of the vascular system in which the majority of intertropical diseases originate, and without the previous existence of which the more immediate causes of these diseases,-viz., those which proceed from the soil,-would be less frequently productive of their usual effects upon the European constitution.

In order to convey a correct idea of the mode of living in India, it is necessary to detail the usual routine of a single day, observed by the European orders of society :-The military officer goes to parade at six o'clock, A.M., and breakfasts between eight and nine upon tea, coffee, or cocoa, with fish, meat, eggs, rice, and whatever may be most agreeable to him. From breakfast till one o'clock he generally applies to study or amusement, or to paying visits. The heat of the weather, and perhaps a hearty breakfast, and the

nature of the articles taken at it, produce thirst, which renders the necessity of gratifying it urgent, and occasional draughts of wine and water, beer and water, or brandy and water, are therefore necessarily taken; and although this is by no means a habit, nor is indulged in beyond what seems a matter of necessity, yet it must, in a certain degree, be injurious. At one o'clock he eats a hearty tiffen (luncheon), consisting of roast and boiled meat, fish, mullagatawney or other soups, various wines, bottled beer, &c. He afterwards occasionally rides out in the sun, lounges on a sofa, or amuses himself with cricket or fives till evening parade. Dinner is next disposed of, at seven o'clock, or half-past seven, or eight. This meal is generally profuse, consisting of soups, fish, rich and hot curries, roast and boiled meats, and other richly-made dishes, with various wines, and bottled beer. To all this succeeds coffee or tea; and upon the repleted stomach and excited system he retires to bed at eleven or twelve, when the feverish collapse induces the sound sleep indicating plethora, or the restless slumbers attendant upon prolonged excitement.

The same system, which is pursued daily by the military man, and which is varied, of course, according to the habits and disposition of the individual, is followed, with but little variation, by the civilian. The latter rides, in the cool of the morning, from his country-house to his office, where he generally has tiffen at the usual hour, and rides home again in the cool of the evening to dinner, which is usually upon the large scale already noticed.

Thus it will be seen that animal food is partaken of very generally at three meals daily, and always at two of them; and when we consider that this species of food contributes most powerfully to the production of a plethoric state of the vascular system, the foundation which is thereby laid for disease is most sure, and, when inquired after, most apparent. In order to trace more clearly the bad effects of over-feeding the body, it may be useful to inquire into the nature and tendency of the various articles of food and drink usually adopted by the European residenter in India and warm climates.

The hot and highly spiced soups which are usually taken in warm climates, both to tiffen and dinner, are hurtful to the functions of the stomach and liver. They serve to distend the former viscus, to induce an excited state of its mucous surface, and to increase the quantity of the fluids absorbed and carried into the vascular system. Owing to the intimate nervous connection existing between the digestive canal and the liver, they also tend to stimulate the

latter viscus, and to induce, by the frequent and daily repetition of the stimulus, an inflammatory state of its vessels. Soups, moreover, of this description are themselves difficult of digestion, particularly by weak individuals, owing to the circumstance of their over-diluting the gastric fluids; and they not unfrequently impede, from the same cause, the digestion of other substances taken about the same time. The same observations equally apply to highly spiced curries and sauces; these also tend to irritate or excite the stomach and liver, and to stimulate the palate and appetite, so as to lead the individual to partake of more than the functions of the digestive organs can dispose of in a healthy manner. To all these excitements are usually added, at three meals each day, variously prepared dishes and beverages, so that when the appetite is cloyed by one, it may still relish some other; and hence a much greater quantity of food is usually taken than can be well digested; or, if digested, than the wants of the system require. To the allurements which variety presents, are added, at no less than two meals daily, those which various wines and beverages offer. These latter are indulged in, and they impart their aid to the various spiced dishes, sauces, and curries, in stimulating the stomach to receive more into it than it can properly dispose of, and in exciting and promoting an inflammatory action of the vessels of the liver and mucous surface of the digestive canal. Thus it will be perceived, that the articles of diet, and the great variety of them, together with the wines which are used in warm climates, more especially in the East, have a direct tendency to excite the stomach and liver, and to induce inflammatory action in these viscera particularly; that, at the moment of their being taken, the appetite is roused by them beyond its natural and healthy pitch; that hence they are usually taken in great excess, or much beyond what is requisite to the wants of the system; and that, as soon as the artificially roused excitement of the digestive function subsides, the organs employed in the operation are inadequate to dispose, in a healthy manner, of all which has been taken, and on which they have to act; and hence an imperfectly digested chyle is formed, which vitiates the whole circulating mass, excites the system, and assists in the generation of disease. A large portion also of the imperfectly digested food becomes acid, acrid, or otherwise hurtful, and either irritates or inflames the mucous coat of the intestines, whilst it passes off with the egesta, or is partly absorbed and carried into the blood, where it becomes the cause of disorder in those organs to which it is more immediately conveyed.

The bottled ale and beer which are taken in the East Indies and other warm climates, are also particularly hurtful to the European constitution, and contribute largely towards promoting the ill effects of those articles of diet now mentioned. From this, however, it is not to be inferred, that bottled ale or beer are in themselves unwholesome, but that they dispose to plethora, and are injurious to the functions of the stomach and liver when taken too largely, or about the same time with soups and various wines. The admixture of the different beverages and articles of diet is very often the chief cause of disorder.

The living of the European soldier in India in many respects resembles that of the better classes of European society, excepting that his breakfast is less substantial, his beverages more spirituous, and his dishes less numerous. The hurtful parts of the diet of Europeans are, however, attainable, and usually adopted by him. He is often exposed to the raw morning air, loaded with the exhalations from the soil, before the sun has rarefied them and rendered them comparatively innocuous, with a scanty or with almost no breakfast, and, upon a nearly empty stomach, receives his allowance of two large glasses of undiluted arrack. The hurtful effects of this upon the system, more particularly upon the stomach and liver, must be apparent to every reflecting mind. Officers will consult their own interests, as well as their better feelings, by attending to this particular diet of the soldier; and by doing so, they will be the means of preserving those under their command both healthy and efficient, and thus acquire their respect and attachment. It would be better for the soldier, in warm climates, were he to have his breakfast as soon after he rises as possible, and that this meal should be, as respects both kind and quality, sufficient till the middle or afternoon of the day. He would then bear exposure to the chief causes of disease, which are generally concentrated and energetic early in the morning, without risk, and be better able to endure the exercise and duties of the day. The hotly-spiced soups and curries which are usually prepared for the dinner of the soldier are generally prejudicial, and relished by him only after he has become accustomed to them. A simpler mode of dressing his meat diet ought therefore to be generally enforced, and his allowance of spirits should be served out to him in a diluted state in the evening, so as to be taken after his dinner, or about night-fall, when the system is liable to be invaded by endemic causes of disease, which then generally accumulate with the falling dews and fogs, and with the stillness of the air, which frequently prevails at this time of the evening.

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