Endemic of the West;

West Indies. Several regiments, which had been a considerable time at Gibraltar, and were afterwards sent to the West Indies, in 1795, were cut off, almost to a man, by the yellow fever; and ships from the Coast of Africa (for instance, the Arab in 1807) were depopulated with as much rapidity as if they had come from England. This proves what I have before remarked in the Batavian endemic, that nothing but being habituated to the local miasm, can secure us from the local fever, however theorists may generalise or identify the remote causes. He concludes with this observation: "It is probable that as many lives "have been lost by the temerity of men who have "resided in other hot climates, as by the timidity "of those direct from England."-This sentiment from experience, will outweigh a volume of eloquence from theory. He considers the climate as unfavourable to European constitutions, especially when they approach it after the age of puberty; though by proper prophylaxis, they might avoid or greatly mitigate the diseases of the country.

The following are his directions, as far as concerns the navy:

"When a ship from England approaches the land, the crew should have their allowance of spirits diminished, and spruce beer, or other light beverage, substituted in lieu thereof; and on her arrival in port, the utmost vigilance should be used, to prevent the introduction of liquor by bum-boat women, or boats' crews. The surgeon should cause every individual in the ship, to take a purgative medicine once a fortnight or oftener, for the first twelve months. The men

or, Yellow Fever.

should not be employed unnecessarily in the sun, for the first year after their arrival in the country; nor at any time be permitted to work exposed to his direct rays, between the hours of ten in the morning and two in the afternoon. The dockyard and watering duty should not be performed by any but those accustomed to the climate-a corps of blacks for that purpose, would save a great waste of lives. Ships should remain as short a time as possible in port; and between the months of July and December no ship should be permitted to refit, or stay more than a day or two in harbour, except in cases of absolute necessity. Where great repairs are wanting, the ships should be sent to Halifax, or even to England.

Government should so arrange the navy, that ships might not be kept more than twelve or eighteen months on that station; the seamen would then come to the West Indies with cheerfulness, and submit to privations without rcpining, when they knew the utmost limits of their sufferings. By these means the men would not remain long enough in the country to acquire a predisposition to dysentery and ulcers, which they inevitably do by a longer residence. Grog-shops in the vicinity of dockyards should be prohibited by the interference of the colonial legislature. Cleanliness, dryness, and ventilation of the ship, as well as personal cleanliness, should be more particularly attended to than in Europe.

Finally, the refitment of ships should be more consigned to Carlisle Bay than Antigua Harbour. Probably there is no island in the West

Endemic of the West;

Indies where there is a greater degree of health than in Barbadoes; and although Bridgetown and its neighbourhood is the most unhealthy part, yet I am so persuaded of its superior salubrity, that I would venture to assert, that five ships of the line, lying three months in Carlisle Bay, would not send a sixth part of the number of sick to the hospital, that would be sent, under similar circumstances, from an equal number of ships at Antigua.”

Hepatitis.

HEPATITIS.

SEC. 6. The exclusive efficacy of mercury," says Dr. Saunders," in liver-diseases of the "continent of India, may perhaps be explained, "by supposing they arise from an indigenous

and local poison, or miasma, peculiar to that "country, unlike any thing known in any other "part of the world, even under similar latitudes "and temperatures.”

Had this ingenious and deservedly eminent physician ever visited the continent alluded to, his penetration would have discovered the cause of this phenomenon, without the aid of an "indigenous poison," which, like the introduction of an epic divinity, is a more poetical than philosophical mode of extricating ourselves from difficulties, and loosing the gordian knot.

In order to clear the way for this investigation, it is necessary to inquire, whether this "endemic of India" be equally prevalent in all parts of that vast empire. Here universal evidence gives the negative; and every one, in the least acquainted with the medical topography of the country, knows, that genuine, or ideopathic hepatitis, is ten times more prevalent on the Coast of Coromandel than on the plains of Bengal; while, on the other hand, intermitting and remitting fevers are ten times more nume

Hepatitis.

rous in the latter than in the former situation. Let us next see, if there be any particular difference in the climates and temperatures of these two places. By exact thermometrical observations made at Calcutta, by Mr. Trail, during a whole year, the following appears to be the monthly medium heat of three different diurnal periods-morning, noon, and evening.

Let us compare this with the heat at the presidency on the coast.-The following is copied from the Madras gazette, shewing the state of the thermometer at the Male Asylum, during one week in July 1804, which was by no means remarkable for any extraordinary range of temperature.

* Vide 2d vol. Asiatic Researches.