NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
17
7. Stegomyia Scuttalaris,—An attempt was made to find out whether
any of this species exist in Karachi through escaping detection. Hollow test-
tubes like bamboo stumps full of water were placed in different parts of the
city. No scuttalaris were caught in two months. But a new species, not met
with so far, bred in a few of them. This was identified as Theobaldia
Spathiapalpis.
Section 3.
1. Culex Fatigans,—Swarms of the adult mosquitoes haunt many of the
nouses in the city and they were exclusively caught
when Anophelines or Stegomyia were looked for.
Drains, gutter-traps, cess-pits are mainly responsible for them.
2. Culex Concolor have a distribution like that of C. Fatigans and
were always found in association with the same. Their breeding places number
about 8 per cent. of those of C. Fatigans and are mostly wells.
3. Culex Taeniorhynchies was found only once in salt water of a marsh
along with A. Rossi.
4. Theobaldia Spathiapalpis was found in bamboo traps set as men-
tioned above.
5. Anopheles Stephensi.—Its breeding grounds are about 2/3rd of the
total for Anophelines. It was found under all conditions living quite happily
and did not die in sampled bottles. As may be seen from the analysis it was
found in sweet as well as brackish water and in the back waters of the sea; in
garden tanks but specially in the garden drains and water-logged areas ; in very
foul manure pits. It is impossible to give an opinion as regards their choice
of breeding place.
6. A. Rossi.—Nothing unusual noted.
7. Cellia Pulcherima was found only once in a big garden tank.
8. Desvoidea were not met with.
9. Phlebotomus.—The sand fly was found everywhere and is a great pest
at Manora.
10. Chironomus are found everywhere in clean water, e. g., garden tanks
cattle troughs, etc.
'
The Natural Enemies of Mosquitoes.
Section 4.
The water-boatman, belonging to the order Notonectidae, is very often
found in tanks and under experimental conditions
they devour both Culcines and Anophelines. But in
tanks, live larvae could always be caught. Minute water bugs, dark grey in
colour and l/16th of an inch in length, were found in wells and tanks and keeping
down the number of larvae. The larvae of May-flies—Ephemerae—are also very
destructive. It is doubtful though whether even a large number of these will
serve to keep a breeding place free of larvae. Fish, unknown, were found in
three big tanks and one well. In spite of all attempts no larvae could be
found in these.
An attempt was made to experiment on local small sea-water fish, but
they invariably died before a satisfactory conclusion as regards their feeding on
larvae, could be arrived at. They are awaiting identification, and if from their
habits in other places, they are of the right kind, it will be possible later to
experiment on them.
H 305—5
26
stable ami cattle yards should be paved and drained of totally abolished. All
tins and rubbish should be removed to prevent an accidental filling of these
with water. Privy pits should be kerosined and barrels screened.
Private individuals should be encouraged to do much by not allowing to
remain near their houses any accumulations of water, by preventing its waste
and overflow, and by seeing that all tanks and cisterns on their premises are
closed properly or are larvae free. No details should be left to the discretion
of the servants. For this purpose it is necessary to distribute pamphlets to
householders, etc., describing the various precautions against breeding
mosquitoes. Education in sanitary ideas is essential before an attempt can be
made to start anti-mosquito measures, and knowledge must be diffused steadily
until it is shared by officials and non-official s alike.
21
CHAPTER VII,
FINAL CONCLUSIONS.
It has been shown in the previous chapters that there is real danger of
Yellow Fever to India from increased trade communications with the East,
and Karachi will he one of the portals of its .admittance if precautions are not
taken in time—first because of its situation and rising importance as a maritime
port, secondly from the universal and unchecked distribution of Stegomyia Fas-
data, and thirdly the non-immunity of the population. It is desirable, and is
perfectly possible, to control the second factor and exterminate the 8. Fasciata or
at least to so limit its dissemination that it will cease to be a potential danger. In
the previous chapters has been discussed the prevalance of only one species—
8. Fasciata—its distribution in the harbour and the city, a consideration of their
breeding places and the factors which will influence them, and it has been
clearly shown that in the absence of an ample water-supply, each house is a
possible focus of infection.
It is necessary to point out that the harbour is so well isolated from the
city that even if it is decided to draw the cordon of mosquito prevention
round the harbour alone instead of the whole -city, it is perfectly possible to
prevent the yellow fever from finding a permanent foothold.
The measures suggested are practicable though requiring constant attention
to minute details and much arduous work. Mosquito prevention, in order to
be successful, must be carried on indefinitely and without relaxation. The cost
of the scheme is not prohibitive and when considered with figures for other
ports, stands a favourable comparison.
The whole responsibility of the measures must rest on the authority in charge,
and not on the residents who can learn nothing and their reliance on measures
will engender a false sense of security. The ultimate success will be ensured
by co-operation with the public, i. e., more by explaining to them than forcing
them to do a thing blindly. As far as natural difiiculties are concerned the
problem is an easy one, and the more rapidly they are encountered over a
whole area, the more certain will be their complete success.
TABLE 1.
Mean Maximum and mean Minimum Temperature—monthly averages taken in Karâclii for .five years 1908—1912.
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Months.
• ••
• ••
• •«
• ••
«•»
• ••
...
• ••
• •
• *
...
...
...
Maximum.
77·3
807
84·0
86·2
89·1
91·8
89·6
87·3
86·1
88·3
847
78·9
1912.
Minimum.
61·1
63·2
665
75·6
790
83·6
82·1
79·5
75·7
73·0
66·0
59·6
1911.
Maximum.
72·3
77·5
79·0
84·3
87·9
88·5
86·6
85·1
85·3
85·4
83·2
78·8
Minimum.
57·4
61·6
66·6
72·6
78·4
80·6
79·3
77·8
770
73·4
650
58·9
1910.
Maximum.
74·8
80·0
817
85·8
86·7
90·8
87·6
85·3
85·0
86·3
84·5
77 9
Minimum.
57·5
62·5
66·5
72·S
77·0
81·5
80·2
77·3
75·6
721
66·2
59·1
Maximum.
73·5
78·9
837
85·8
91·2
910
88·6
83·4
86·1
86·5
85·3
77·6
1909.
Minimum.
557
60·5
667
74·5
76·4
83·1
80·4
75·2
75·2
73·3
70·2
60·5
Maximum.
771
80·5
85·6
90·2
94·2
95·0
88·8
85·8
857
85·4
83·0
78·8
1908.
Minimum.
553
56·6
63·8
73·3
777
82·6
79·8
77·6
75·6
72·2
851
59·5
TABLE 2.
Vapour tension mean and Humidity mean at 8 a.m.—monthly averages for five years 1908—1912..
January
February
March
April
May
Jane
July
August
September
October
November
December
Months
• ••
•••
•••
...
• •*
• ••
**•
...
• •
...
...
Vapdur.
•399
455
·509
•838
•930
•980
•975
•893
·820
•719
•463
•333
1912
Humidity.
65
66
64.
82
81
77
82
82
81
74
59
56
Vapour.
•334
•465
•564
-736
•877
•946
•873
·839
•833
•764
•454
•291
1911.
Humidity.
62
73
76
80
81
84
82
83
83
81
59
50
Vapour,
•337
•441
•538
•697
•891
•965
•920
•865
•795
·728
•49.4
•344
1910.
Humidity.
61
68
68
73
86
80
82
86
82
79
66
57
Vapour.
•333
•384
•525
•759
•774
•981
•934
•815
•781
•747
•636
•341
1909.
Humidity.
63
61
66
78
68
80
84
88
80
79
73
60
Vapour.
•369
•370
•552
.725
•848
1·004
•989
•899
·821
•798
•541
•363
1908.
Humidity.
72
63
66
70
09
72
77
88
88
83
78
73
62
TABLE 3.
Monthly averages of rainfall from 1908 to 1912 and monthly averages of wind in 1912.
Months.
January
February ...
...
March
April
May
June
July
...
...
August
September...
...
October
November ...
..
December
...
1912.
Rainfall
in inches.
...
••«
...
• <«
...
277
0·38
0·02
...
...
No.of
rainy days.
...
...
2
1
...
...
...
«••
1911.
Rainfall
in inches,
0·60
0·02
3·83
...
...
...
0·09
012
•••
0·28
No.of
rainy days
2
M.
6
•••
...
•••
...
«..
1
...
1
...
Rainfall 903—1912.
1910.
1909
Rainfall
in inches.
037
...
••«
...
...
2·29
814
1·73
...
...
010
No. of
Rainfall
rainy days. in inches.
1
068
001
...
•••
«••
...
...
...
2
3
5·03
3
063
...
0·02
...
...
0·72
No.of
rainy days.
2
«••
...
...
...
3
1
...
...
2
1908.
Rainfall
in inches.
0·85
...
...
...
..*
5·11
. 049
001
...
«.«
No.of
rainy days.
2
...
...
...
..<
4
1
...
...
...
Components
of the wind.
S.W. ;N.E. ..
S.W. ; N.W.
W.N.W.
W.S.W.
W.S.W.
s.w.
W.S.W.
w.s.
W.S.W. by W.N..
N.N.E. ; N.N.W..
N.E.
N.E.
Wind 1912.
Nature of wind.
Light breeze
...
Light to moderate ...
Moderate
...
Moderate and strong.
Do.
...
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Light
...
Do.
Do,
Maximum
No. of
miles in
one day
of the
month.
590
612
614
632
602
674
690
736
609
339
512
524
Minimum
No. of
miles in
one day
of the
month.
119
146
157
264
235
277
221
193
160
160
134
52
Mean
velocity in
miles per hour
derived from
24 hourly
observations.
9·9
13·0
13·3
15·7
17·1
20·9
202
192
16·1
9·8
7·8
9·5
14·4
33
TABLE 4-A.
Ceusus of 1911.
Group.
A
Area in N u m b e r o c c u p i e d Ar e a in a c r e s occupied
houses.
1. Civil Lines
2. Frere Town bath Island and
Clifton.
3. Railway and Queen's Road...
5. Rambagh
6. Preedy
7. Garden quarter
8. Gbizri, etc
9. Old Town
10. Napier
11. Market
12. .Bunder
13. Jail
14. Runchore
15. Ramswami and Begarikhatta.
16. Soldier Bazar
17. Sadar Bazar ...
19. Macbimiani
20. Kiamari
.
21. Manora, Baba bhit ...
...
22. Mauvypur and Shawapir and
scattered hamlets.
Total ...
Add that of Railway limita
...
Cantontnent—Military charge...
Cantonment
...
Grand Total ..
505·96
254·82
258·96
172·17
161·15
6469
940·30
15610
32 83
45·80
37·83
30·25
91·93
204·54
66·56
44·98
126·26
918·27
70·48
17217
24·37
84·93
4,465·30
,.,
...
...
252
260
34
1,653
1,348
347
2,711
63
1,235
3,987
963
291
1,459
4,559
1,252
3i6
1,769
7118
1,265
1,220
121
1,180
33,433
«••
...
...
Total
Male.
1,563
843
166
5,055
3,664
765
7,259
218
2,450
5,611
3,169
1,203
3,698
10,519
2,332
654
5,310
17·378
3,521
3,566
411
2,674
82,026
3,841
2,148
4,680
3,529
96,265
Number of persons.
Female.
795
529
58
2,605
2,250
526
5,345
183
2,078
4,315
2,409
292
2,571
6,731
1,736
487
3,580
14,571
2,762
1,961
330
2,371
58,485
1,283
69
954
2,231
63,005
Total.
2,353
1,302
225
7,660
5,914
1,291
12,601
401
4,528
9,926
5,578
1,495
6,269
17,250
4,068
1,141
8,890
31,949
6,283
5,527
741
5,045
140,511
5,124
2,217
5,634
5,760
159,270
Density
per acre.
4·66
5·38
0·86
44·48
36·68
19·99
13·41
2·56
137·95
216·55
168·94
49·42
68·25
84·34
61·11
25·36
74·12
84·79
89·14
32·11
30·40
59·40
...
.. •
...
...
34
TABLE 4-B.
Total Number according to Groups.
Groups.
Group A (1 to 8)
Group B (9 to 17)
Group C (18 to 22)
Total ...
Aveu in acres.
2,514·15
680 93
1,270 22
4,465·3.0
Number
of occupied
houses.
6,688
13,861
10,904
31,433
...Total
Population.
31,821
59,145
49,545
140,511
Density per
acre.
12·25
88·33
39·05
TABLE 5.
Population according to race in 1911.
Names.
Mahomedans ...
...
...
Hindus
Christians
Parais
...
Jains
Others
...
...
..
Males.
38,996
38,582
2,434
981
434
599
Females.
31,548
23,846
1,524
931
213
423
Total.
70,544
62,428
3,958
1,912
647
1,022
TABLE 6.
Causes of death.
Fever
Small-pox
Choiera
Accidents
...
..
Stomach and Bowel complaints...
Plague...
Other causes
1911-1932.
Number
of
deaths.
828
11
9
31
123
2,768
2,818
Death
rate per
1,000.
5·64
007
0·06
2·20
0·83
18·71
19·05
1910·1911.
1909-1910.
Number
of
deaths.
668
24
38
23
83
1,681
2,799
Death
rate per
1,000
4·51
0·16
0·35
015
0·56
11·36
18·92
Number
of
deaths.
696
12
20
88
2,069
2,283
Death
rate per
1,000
6·40
011
0·00
0·18
0·18
19·04
2101
( NEW SERIES)
IP/QB,10
No. 12
SCIENTIFIC MEMOIRS
BY
OFFICERS OF THE MEDICAL AND SANITARY DEPARTMENTS
OF THE
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.
ON THE MORPHOLOGY, TERATOLOGY AND DICLINISM OF THE FLOWERS
OF CANNABIS.
BY
MAJOR D. PRAIN, M.B., I.M.S.
(Indian Medical Service. )
ISSUED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
BY THE SANITARY COMMISSIONER WITH THE GOVERNMENT
OF INDIA, SIMLA.
CALCUTTA :
OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING, INDIA.
1904.
Price Annas 0-14-0 or 1s. 4d.
No. 12.
(NEW SERIES. )
SCIENTIFIC MEMOIRS
BY
OFFICERS OF THE MEDICAL AND SANITARY DEPARTMENTS
OF THE
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.
ON THE MORPHOLOGY TERATOLOGY, AND DICLINISM OF THE FLOWERS
OF CANNABIS.
BY
MAJOR D. PRAIN, M.B., I.M.S.
(Indian Medical Service.)
ISSUED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
BY THE SANITARY COMMISSIONER WITH THE GOVERNMENT
OF INDIA, SIMLA.
CALCUTTA :
OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING, INDIA.
1904.
Agents for the Sale of Books published by the Superintendent of Government
Printing, India, Calcutta.
IN ENGLAND.
ERNEST LEROUX, 28, Rue Bonaparte, Paris.
MARTINUS NIJHOFF, The Hague, Holland.
E. A. ARNOLD, 37, Bedford Street, Strand, Lon-
don, W.C.
IN INDIA.
CONSTABLE & CO., 2, Whitehall Gardens, London,
S.W.
THACKER, SPINK & CO., Calcutta and Simla.
P. S. KING & SON, 2 & 4, Great Smith Street,
Westminster, London, S.W.
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KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO., Charing
Cross Road, London, W.C.
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ON THE CONTINENT.
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Press, Lahore.
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N.W.
N. B. MATHUR, Superintendent, Nazair Kanun
Hind Press, Allahabad.
OTTO HARRASSOWITZ, Leipzig.
Superintendent, American Baptist Mission Press,
Rangoon.
KARL W. HIERSEMANN, Leipzig.
ON THE MORPHOLOGY, TERATOLOGY AND DICLINISM OF THE
FLOWERS OF CANNABIS.
SECTION I.—Introduction.
T HE structure of the flower, fruit, and seed of Cannabis has long occupied the
attention of botanists. The subject has received much patient organo-
graphic and histological study, and more than one theory has been advanced as to
the correlation of parts in the flower of the two sexes and the nature of the organs
that compose them. Most of the difficulties of structure and relationship have,
as the result of these investigations, been satisfactorily cleared up, but as regards
particularly, the morphological nature of the pistil and the ovule in Cannabis, the
authors of the most recent, as it is the most exhaustive and accurate treatise on
the subject,1have, after carefully discussing the theories hitherto advanced and
comparing them with the actual facts of histology and organogeny, been com-
pelled to reject them all and to declare that the question is baffling and insoluble.2
All they are able to suggest is that in the female flower of Cannabis we possibly
have to deal with an organ that is something apart, a quid sui generis that does
not comply with the characters by which typical organs are conventionally dis-
tinguished.3
This indecisive result seems, since it was published, to have been accepted as
the last word on the subject. It does not, however, appear to the writer that the
time for abandoning the attempt to solve this problem has yet come. Though
the position has proved unassailable by direct attack, and the use of histolo-
gical and organogenic methods, even in hands so able as those of Payer and of
Briosi and Tognini, has led to no definite conclusion, it is still permissible to
enquire whether a systematic examination of such teratological phenomena as
occur in Cannabis may not throw light on the problem or assist in its solution.
This line of enquiry has not hitherto been definitely taken up ; the present
paper is the result of an attempt to utilise it.
The abnormalities that occur in the flowers and inflorescences of Cannabis
are not, however, readily appreciable unless the normal arrangement be clearly
1Briosi and Tognini ;Intorno all' anatomia della Canapa ;Milan, (i) 1894; (ii) 1896.
2 E se a mo' di conclusione dovessimo dir chiaro il pensier nostro intorno a questa disquisizione sulla
natura assile o fogliare dell' ovulo, come intorno alla precedente della constituzione dell' ovario da uno o da
due carpelli, dovremmo confessare che a noi sembrano questioni in parte insolubili e anche frustranee.
3 L'organo è quello che si mostra, cioè un quid sui generis, un ente intermediario, nè fucto nè foglia,
al quale non si adattano le nostre distinzioni artificiali, d'organi tipi, create della mente umana, ma non
da natura.
whole branch or a part of a branch in a male plant may bear female flowers ; a
17
branch or part of a branch in a female plant may bear male flowers.
Male plants with female flowers : Sheória Hemp. —Plants of male habit and
appearance have been recorded in which the lower portion of each branch, some-
times up to half its length, had nothing but male flowers in close fascicles, the
upper part bearing nothing but females ; at the same time the ends of the main-
stems were female. The converse condition, where in plants of male type the
lower one-third to one-half of each floral branch bears nothing but female flowers,
the upper portion nothing but males, is so well-known in India that such plants
receive a special name, Sheória. In extreme cases, which are, however, rare,
Sheória plants may have none but female flowers (PLATE 5, fig. 7). The
whole plant, in spite of this, has all the characteristics and habit of a normal male.
These Sheória plants only exhibit, in a more exaggerated form, the condition
already described as very common, where the pair of inflorescences at the bases of
the lowest floral branches of male plants are replaced by a pair of perfect or
imperfect female flowers (PLATE 1, fig. 2). The condition is often accompanied
by abnormalities in the flower, as apart from the inflorescence, which will be dealt
with in another paragraph.
Female plants with male flowers. —A plant of female habit and appearance
has also once been recorded in which only male flowers occurred, united in a
dense inflorescence. In India it is not uncommon to find an otherwise female
plant with a single branch, or more than one branch, which bears only male
cymes ; this condition recalls what one would expect if it were possible to graft
a male flowering branch on a female plant. This condition, though quite usual in
plants in seed-beds, is never to be seen in fields, such male branches being care-
fully removed by the cultivator. At times, however, the manifestation of male
influence is less marked and we find that only the basal pair of female flowers of
a female inflorescence are replaced by cymose panicles of male flowers, sometimes
on both sides, at others only on one side. This phenomenon, whether unilateral
or bilateral, has always, so far, been found associated with complete suppression of
the axillary spikelet of female flowers normally developed between the basal pair.
The abnormality is, however, apparently rare ; it has been found by the writer only
six times, five of the instances being unilateral, only one of them being 2-lateral.
Mória Hemp. —On the other hand a very common abnormality in India is to
find the axillary spikelet which occurs between the basal pair of female flowers
developing stamens. The occurrence, which will be described in fuller detail in
a subsequent paragraph, is so usual that plants which exhibit it receive in India
a special name, Mória (PLATE 5, figs. 2-6).
The first definite allusion to Cannabis plants of male type bearing female flowers is that
by Autenrieth1 who observes, moreover, that according to his experience, the later the
1 De discrimine sexuali, p. 6; t. ii, figs. 17, 18.
D
20
In male flowers in India the writer has met with no abnormalities, but in Europe
very interesting examples have been recorded and figured by Autenrieth 1and
Gasparrini.2 The former has not clearly described the condition met with but
his figures1are sufficiently instructive. He shows in one figure what looks like
a normal male flower with a whorl of sepals, followed by a whorl of stamens, within
which lies a cluster of female flowers. But the companion figure of the same
instance, in which the perianth remains in situ , but from which the stamens have
been removed, shows several female flowers, not in a cluster but in a spiral towards
the upper part of a central axis, in the axils of bracteoles corresponding to
involving bracts (PLATE 5, fig. 15). The condition appears to be, in fact, the exact
converse of a condition that is repeatedly met with in the inflorescence of a female
plant of Mória type.
The instances observed by Gasparrini, though very different from that of
Autenrieth, are not less interesting. He found—and has figured one example of—
male flowers where the five perianth-segments (these he has omitted from the
figure) were normal, but where the stamens, in place of being in a whorl, were
disposed spirally on a central axis terminated by a more or less developed, more
or less deformed ovary, free or adnate to the next adjacent stamen ; the deformity,
as a rule, was limited to the ovule (PLATE 5, fig. 14). This condition is therefore
precisely that met with in the upper part of the abnormal female spikelets of Mória
hemp (PLATE 5, figs. 5, 6) and is very similar to that in the spikelets where only
stamens are developed.
In female flowers of normal female plants the abnormalities observed have
been quite few and very slight, the most striking being the occasional absence of
the external (anterior) style and stigma. In female flowers of plants of the Sheória
type, on the other hand, deformity is very common and remarkably variable.
The greatest, and at the same time the commonest, abnormality, is to find in the
axil of an involving bract, which is itself pedicelled in place of sessile, an organ
that resembles nothing so much as a mere prolongation of the pedicel crowned
by a solitary stigma. There is no trace of a true perianth ; from the position
assumed by the stigma it corresponds to the posterior (internal) style of a normal
flower (PLATE 5, fig. 8), The next most common abnormality is a staminody
of the pistil. Here an otherwise perfect female flower with a perfect ovule and
ultimately a perfect seed, enclosed in a complete true perianth, is surmounted
by only one posterior (internal) style ; the anterior (external) style is replaced by a
filament supporting a perfect anther, which is sometimes bent downwards and
forwards so as to be organically united with the exterior aspect of the ovarian wall
(PLATE 5, figs. 9, 10).
1De discrimine sexuali, pp. 28, 29; tab. i, figs. 9, 10.
2 Ricerche sulla embriogenia della Canape, pp. 23, tab. iii, fig. 8.