41
time (that is, at particular seasons or under particular conditions,) chance to be brought to
such reservoirs in unusual numbers and they might then find conditions favourable for
their still further multiplication, and if disease in man does not often result from such
causes, this is probably to be ascribed to the general inaptitude of these free nematoids to
take on this kind of accidental parasitic existence rather than to the rarity with which they
or their ova are able to gain access to the human alimentary canal."
It is as well to record that in the genus Pelodera Schneider included three
forms, all of which were found by him in damp earth and decaying substances.
I made particular enquiries about the milk supplied at the barracks, hospi-
tals and family quarters, and though it is extremely probable that it is fre-
quently diluted with impure water, yet the women and children who consume much
larger quantities than the men have not suffered very much from enteric
fever; and this mode of propagation of the disease among the troops in India
appears to be at all events infrequent, although perhaps the most common source
in England. There is danger however in allowing the stable litter to be sold to
owners of milch cattle.
The position of the slaughter-houses is usually well selected; but the slaughter-
house at Neemuch is only 70 paces distant from the trenches, where the night-
soil of the native lines, officers' houses, and a portion of the Sadar Bázár is de-
posited. The carcases hanging in the shed must therefore at times be exposed
to a tainted atmosphere.
The bakeries, too, are in my opinion not quite what they should be, though
I quite allow the Commissariat officers keep a very strict watch over them. At
some stations the bakeries are private property and the sanitary condition of the
surroundings are too often such as should not exist near a place where bread is
made. Even when every improved appliance has been provided by Government
the natives will do every thing they can to spoil the best devised scheme. For
example, the new bakery at Ahmedabad has been furnished with every appliance
to secure cleanliness. Self-acting swing gauze doors have been fixed to each
room to keep out flies; yet at the time of my unexpected visit I found the
ropes attached to the door weights tied into knots, so that every door was open
and the large masses of dough on the tables were simply black with flies. I
found that Steven's dough-kneading machines are not in general use, and they
appeared to me in some instances to have been wilfully broken. I believe
there is an idea that they cannot be used with sooji, though it is admitted that
they are serviceable with flour; but they were in use with sooji for many years
in Colonel Dunsterville's time. The natives dislike them as they entail in-
creased labour; but kneading with the too often unwashed hand is especially
dangerous when one remembers the use the left hand of natives is put to, and to
see the perspiration streaming off the naked bodies of the natives into the dough
during the hot weather is sufficient to convince the most sceptical of the advan-
tage of machine over hand-kneading.
Barracks, &c.
As a rule, to which however there are some exceptions, the barracks provided
for British soldiers in this Presidency are very fine buildings. Indeed I cannot
help regretting that so much money has been expended on some of them, because
I think evidence is accumulating that sites and buildings after long occupancy
become almost necessarily unhealthy, and that it would be cheaper and better to
build barracks calculated to last about 20 or 30 years which could at the expira-
tion of that time be pulled down without entailing any great loss on Government.
Standard plans applicable to the whole of India from Cape Comorin to
Peshawar are also, in my opinion, a decided mistake, as I think barracks should be
designed with especial reference to the climate of each station. Compare, for ex-
ample, the climate of Belgaum with that of Ahmedabad or Neemuch, Bombay,
Karáchi and Deesa, and yet the same standard plan is held to apply to each
station.
Then, again, as to the site of barracks. In some stations, as at Neemuch,
Mhow, Deesa and Poona, some of the barracks have most unfortunately in my
opinion been built close to the confines of the Cantonment and without reference
B 357—11