should be as healthy as any one exposed to similar fluctuations, and a similar occasional intensity of temperature. Against the opinion which ascribes the greater portion of the sickness to the thoughtless, negligent, and intemperate habits of those who are exposed to the climate on their arrival from Europe without the adoption of the necessary precautions, we have unfortunately this season the fact that an alarming number of those who died were men of experience and reflection, accustomed to the temperance and precautions required for India, and in a position in life where "all appliances and means to boot" for the preservation of health were at their command. Some Remarks on the Climate of Hong Kong, addressed to a recent Meeting of the Royal Geographical Society of London. BY JAMES B. THOMPSON, M.D. "The greater part of the disease and fatality amongst Europeans, particularly our troops, on their arrival in our foreign Possessions, especially in tropical climates, arises not so much from a specific insalubrity of the locality itself, as from want of that due precaution on first going ashore after a voyage from this country, which varies from four and a half to five months; and then forgetting that they have to contend with a tropical sun, incautious exposure to which, as to the chills of night air, is a most fruitful source of inflammatory and febrile complaints ;-then the abuse and injudicious use of spirituous liquors—the fruits, melons, and vegetables of the country, which people are apt to partake of too freely after their arrival, and which indiscretion is invariably the source of much (indeed, from my knowledge of its prevalence on all such occasions, I would be right in saying all) of the disease appearing on the first arrival of Europeans, whether troops or emigrants. It has been found to prevail very generally amongst this latter class on their going ashore in any of our Polynesian Colonies, particularly in Sydney. The too free use of the water, in which a considerable portion of vegetable decomposition has taken place, has, I am satisfied, been the cause of much of the diarrhoea and dysentery that presents itself on these occasions; hence the necessity for cautioning all persons about to leave this country for any of our tropical Possessions. The water of any country should be first tested before it is made use of either for drink or domestic purposes. Had these precautions been attended to in our first Possessions in India, and afterwards during the Burmese war, and more recently in Scinde, it is the opinion of many competent authorities, that most, if not the large majority, of the lives that fell a sacrifice on these occasions, might, and would in all probability have been saved to their families, to their Queen and country. So convinced were the officers of the need of this necessary precaution, at a later period of our acquaintance with our Eastern military stations, that many of them adopted a very wise, simple, and judicious mode of testing the waters of the districts through which they were marching, or where they were located, as follows:Having supplied themselves with fish, which they always took care to attend to, they took portions of the water which was afterwards to be made use of for the purposes of the regiment, if they found the fishes lived in it. And to give this test of purity and freedom from deleterious ingredients a fair trial, it was deemed a sufficient proof when the fishes lived in the water for some days, which would not have been the case if the water contained anything impure or prejudicial to animal life, which was often found to have been the case in many new districts through which our troops had to march to head-quarters. Boiling the water and using it when cold, was another judicious course adopted, and was no doubt, in many instances, a salutary precaution. The little attention to the ventilation of the temporary dwellings or barracks-the neglect of drainage, and the non-removal of heaps of vegetable matter, in different stages of decomposition, from the vicinity of these habitations, does, in my opinion, lead in a great measure to much of the disease and mortality that has, and does still occasionally prevail, in our East and West India l'ossessions. Taking all these matters into consideration, I apprehend we should be rather premature in arriving at the conclusion that our new territorial acquisitions in the Celestial Empire are particularly unhealthy; taking the geographical position and geological characteristics of the five ports open to the commercial intercourse of Europe, there is nothing to justify us in forming such opinions; and I am confident that a longer residence in that country, with the due and requisite precautions already adverted to, will verify the present views taken upon this subject. That climate has and does exert a very great influence upon the human constitution, as well as upon that of all animal and vegetable life, there cannot be a doubt; the term climate, in its ordinary acceptation, expressing that combination of temperature and moisture existing in the atmosphere, in all their variety of vicissitude, clearness, pressure, and electrical condition. "The circumstances exciting the most powerful influence in determining the character of climate, are the situation of the country as regards the equator, elevation of the land above the level of the sea, position with respect to the sea, nature of the soil, the degree of cultivation, and the prevalent winds. The fact that all places equi distant from the equator do not experience the same mean annual temperature, sufficiently proves that climate does not depend solely upon the direct action of the sun. From a variety of circumstances, the temperature of the southern is found to be lower than that of the northern hemisphere, differing in degree (within certain limits) according to the distance from the equator. The climate of an island, too, differs essentially from that of a great continent, and that of the sea coast from that of the inland parts of the country. The effect of the sea is to equalise temperature: its waters are of an equable temperature, and affect that of the atmosphere passing over it, imparting warmth or cold to the winds that agitate its surface, according as their temperature exceeds or falls below its own. Unlike that of the land, the surface of the water cannot become powerfully heated, and add to the heat of the surrounding atmosphere of two places therefore in the same latitude, insular and inland, the summer will be cooler and the winter milder in the former than in the latter. : "The vicinity of the sea, too, affects the humidity as well as the temperature of the atmosphere; the air, from passing over the ocean, is loaded with vapours, but sweeping over a large continent is rendered dry and parching; the difference between a south-west and an easterly wind in England is thus accounted for; the comparative softness and warmth of south, south-west, and west winds being caused by their passage over an extensive ocean of equable temperature." We are glad to learn, however, from a recent letter from a very intelligent resident on the island to a mercantile house at Liverpool, that the statements are much exaggerated, and that the insalubrity is either confined to particular stations, or the result of personal imprudences, which in a tropical climate, like that of the southern extremity of China, cannot be committed without great danger. The following is an extract from the letter : "Although deaths have been very rife at Hong Kong of late, it is some consolation for the living to be able, in every instance, to trace the causes. These are several, viz. badly-built and damp houses, imprudent exposure to the sun, and unhealthy sites. The five foreigners who have died lived in a neighbourhood about two miles and a half from our place, and it is looked upon as full of malaria. Besides this, broken constitutions, damp houses, and imprudent exposure to the sun had a share in some of these deaths. The deaths amongst the soldiery we take no account of, as they are indifferently lodged, they expose themselves to the sun, and drink freely of that poison, samshu, a spirit distilled from rue. It was the same at Chusan, when the 26th (Cameronians) lost nearly all their men; and yet there are at this mo ment Europeans-soldiers and others-on the same site as Chusan, all perfeetly healthy, merely because experience has taught the authorities to use precautions. We have one of the healthiest sites in Kong Kong. Our house is dry, lofty, and airy, and we do not defy the sun, but make a point to have a conveyance if we go to a distance in the daytime, either a boat, a sedan, or a carriage, and we are glad to say that we are free from sickness. The writer was ill for months before he quitted Macao; now he is in the enjoyment of perfect good health; although some persons who pretend to understand the matter say that this season is unusually sickly, and that if people become ill, they must go to Macao to be cured. Deaths, which would have happened anywhere with the same causes, are casting a gloom over the place, and no doubt the thing will be magnified by the time the news reaches England. All that we can say is, that we are perfectly content with the island; and that if the Committee of Health, very recently appointed, will exert itself, and have its suggestions adopted in every instance, the place will be made quite as healthy as any other in this part of the world. All our immediate neighbours who are living in good houses are quite free from apprehension." Colonial Government of Hong Kong. His Excellency Sir JOHN FRANCI DAVIS, Governor and Commander-in-chief. W. T. Mercer, Esq., Private Secretary to His Excellency the Governor. Supreme Court of Judicature. The Hon. John W. Hulme, Esq., Chief Justice. Hon. Paul Ivy Sterling, Esq., Attorney-General. H. Leggett, Clerk to the Judge and Court. D. R. Caldwell, Interpreter. Colonial Secretary's Office. The Hon. Frederick W. A. Bruce, Colonial Secretary. L. d'Almada e Castro, Chief Clerk. George A. Trotter, J. M. d'Almada e Castro. Charles W. Gibbons, Clerks. Colonial Treasurer's Department. Hon. Robert M. Martin, Esq., Colonial Treasurer. W. T. Mercer, Esq., Assistant Treasurer. James Collins, Clerk. Auditor-General and Clerk of Councils. A. E. Shelley, Esq., Auditor-General and Clerk of Councils. John Ready, Clerk to the Auditor. Rev. V. Stanton, Colonial Chaplain. Chief Magistrate of Police and Sheriff. W. H. Miles, Clerk. Assistant Magistrate of Police at Chekchu. C. B. Hillier, Esq., Assistant Magistrate of Police. A. L. Inglis, Clerk. Surveyor-General's Department. Alex. T. Gordon, Esq. (absent), Surveyor-General. Charles St. Geo. Cleverly, Esq., Acting Surveyor-General and Assistant Surveyor. John Pope, Civil Engineer and Clerk of Works. William Tarrant, Clerk of Registry of Deeds. S. J. Cooks, Clerk. M. Bruce, Inspector of Roads. |