4
The monsoon was exceptionally heavy in the month of August all over
the Province, except in Ludhiana, Jullundur, Hoshiarpur, Kangra, and Sialkot.
It was something about four times the normal in the south-west districts
of Multan, Muzaffargarh, and Dera Ghazi Khan. In September the fall
was a little below the normal in the south-west of the Punjab, but up to the
standard in the north, and the east. The monsoon" ended about the close of
the first week of, October, about a fortnight later than usual. There was only
a slight fall on the 16th of December.
The weather was thus less disturbed than usual from January, to April,
it approached the normal in May» June, and September, but was mostly wet in
July, August, and the early part of October, and exceptionally dry during the
rest of the year.
Clouds were noticed in the sky from July to October and the humidity
was above the normal during the rainy season.
Temperature,
The temperature was fairly normal during the year, except that the maxi-
mum temperature which was about 2°—3° below
the normal from May to November, and the
minimum below by about the same number of degrees in May, November, and
December, but it wag higher in October by 2°.
Conclusion.
Although the rainfall during the first two months of the third quarter
of the year was much in excess of the normal,
and the air damper, it barelv amounted to the
normal in September in the north and east, and was defective in the south-
west.
The great heat of July and August was not favourable to the develop-
ment of anopheles, and the breeding places, which had been formed during
July and August, dried up very quickly during September, when the rainfall
was low and showers were easily absorbed. Apart from this, the incessant and
heavy downfall of July and August disturbed breeding places so frequently by
the addition of fresh water, that there was but little chance for the few anopheles,
that are found in these months, to lay eggs which could reach the adult stage.
The heavy fall on the 6th of October the highest recorded in any, one day in
the Province during the year, served to flush out most of the anopheline breed-
ing places, and as cold weather conditions, which are inimical to the propaga-
tion of anopheles, set in very quickly, most of the danger, usually accruing
from a heavy monsoon, passed away. We gather from this year's experience
that an excessive monsoon is, in itself, not sufficient to cause a malaria epidemic
but that there must be breaks in it and moderate falls to provide suitable
climatic conditions.
Besides the climatic conditions that were unexpectedly unfavourable
to a repetition of the widespread epidemic of 1908, other factors must be
admitted—the prosperity of the people leading to increased resistance to
disease in the human host, and the absence of marked flooding, owing to the-
monsoon being in defect in the hill tracts in the third quarter of the year.
III.—Distribution of Endemic Malaria.
General increase in the incidence of
malaria.
The year under review witnessed a distinct general increase in mortalitv
returns under the Heading of fever in all the
districts but one—that of Hissar in the Ambala
Division.
Comparison of 1916 and 1915 fever
figures.
The "Fever" deaths in the Punjab accounted for 376,003. with a
death-rate of 19·44 per mille of population
against 284,784 with the mortality figure of 14·72
»per mille in the previous year—the lowest on
record since 1877 when it was 12·54.
Autumnal fever mortality.
The autumnal fever mortality-rate in the last decade was highest in the
year under review with the notable exception
of the year 1908, the year of the last great
epidemic.