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"We are, decidedly of opinion that these improvements are perfectly practicable where-
ever they are required. In carrying them out the best plan would be to begin by
draining the military stations, by draining the country around them, and by selecting the
kind and improving the character of the agriculture to be carried out there, and then to
extend the work over the country. Experience in Algeria has proved that the general
malaria of a country is much less prejudicial than is the local malaria of stations and villages
and of the villages immediately surrounding them. It is there indeed that the problem
has to be dealt with in the first instance : but the work should not stop there ; it should be
commenced with the intention of finally benefiting the whole population of the country."
The case of Boufaric, quoted by the Commission, is a most remarkable one
as showing what an amount of good, deep sub-soil pipe drainage has on the
health of the inhabitants. It is thus referred to by Dr. Parkes :—
"Successive races of soldiers and colonists had died off and the station had the worst
reputation. Deep drainage was resorted to, the level of the ground water was lowered 20
inches or more. This measure and a better supply of drinking water have reduced the
mortality to one-third."
Why cannot the action which has proved so successful in Algeria be
carried out in India ? The diseases, according to Dr. Parkes, which have been
attributed to telluric effluvia are—
"Paroxysmal fevers.
Enteric fever.
Yellow fever.
Bilious remittent fever.
Cholera.
Dysentery.
"Enteric fever has also been supposed to be connected with changes of the moisture
of the soil owing to rising and falling of the ground water. Professor Pettenkofer's
observations on the wells of Mu nich led Buhl to the discovery that in that city there is a
very close relation between the he ight of the ground water and the fatal cases of typhoid.
The outbreaks of typhoid fever occurred when the ground water was lowest and especially
when after having risen to an unusual height it had rapidly fallen.
"Deep soil drainage (the drains being from 8 to 12 feet deep and 10 to 20 feet apart) is
useful in all soils, except the most impermeable, and in the tropics should be carried out even
in what are apparently dry sandy plains."—PARKES on Hygiene. The italics are mine.
Mr. Baily Denton in his work on Sanitary Engineering says that:—
"The maintenance of pure air by the underdrainage of the soil surrounding and
beneath dwellings is an object only inferior in importance to the removal of putrescible
matters. That this object is one of the most important that can engage the attention of
the sanitary engineer cannot be denied when it is shown, on the authority of Dr.
DeChaumont, that long exposure to bad air tends to the production of scrofula and consump-
tion, of which latter disease it is probably the most efficient cause; that it promotes enteric
fevers; that it fosters attacks of the respiratory organs, such as catarrh, bronchitis, and
pneumonia ; but it is frequently the cause of inflammation of the eyes, and that it adds to
the spread of small-pox, measles, scarlet fever and the like, while it renders the rapid cure
of wounds and sores of all kinds a work of great difficulty."
Our greatest authority on engineering questions in India, Mr. Rawlinson,
says :—
"The next question of importance in the improvement of stations is the extent to
which sanitary methods and appliances suitable for barracks in Europe would answer for
barracks in India and in tropical stations generally.
"It is possible, e. g., to sub-soil drain any extent of ground in England, and this pro-
cess is attended not only with increased productiveness, but with improved health. Whenever
sub-soil water comes within a certain distance of the surface of the ground it interferes with
healthy vegetation and generates damps, fogs and malaria, which have been found to diminish
or disappear when the water level has been lowered by drains.
"The universal prevalence of malarial disease at Indian stations indicates a malaria-
generating condition of the earth, and one of the first improvements required is to dimi-
nish or remove this condition."
There is thus the collective testimony of Sanitary Officers and Sanitary
Engineers as to the absolute importance of aerating and drying the sub-soil of
inhabited areas. The diagram attached to the report I have lately submitted on
Mhow proves for bow long a time a sub-soil in India will remain wet, and I am
confident that in every station the condition of the ground under and around
barracks at the termination of the rains, when the temperature is still high and
the water level begius to sink, is a most fruitful source of preventible disease.