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Art. II.—Observations on Atmospheric Influence, chiefly in reference to the Climate and Diseases of Eastern Regions, in Five Parts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2011

Extract

“Aer quoque ipse, qui purus sacram vitæ flammam alit, impurus factus, eandem statim extinguere potest, vel multis vaporibus onustus, aut novicis quibusdam effiuviis corruptus, ingentem morborum cohortem inducere.”— Medicinœ Gregorii Conspectus.

“To understand man, therefore, we must know wherefore it is that air is needful for his support: so to understand air, we must trace its relations to human life.”—Pascal.

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Original Communications
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1835

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References

page 13 note 1 See Work, chap. 1.

page 13 note 2 See Hippocrates, , “De aere et locis,” xl.Google Scholar

page 14 note 1 Vide Oper. Corn. Cels. lib. i.

page 14 note 2 Vide Oper. Galeni, lib. xi.

page 14 note 3 Vide Diod. Sic. Descrip. Indiæ.

page 14 note 4 See Nat. History, lib. iii. cap. xxxviii.

page 14 note 5 See his Work de Fato.

page 14 note 6 See Robertson's History of Ancient Greece—Introduction.

page 14 note 7 His work is replete with much curious matter and many interesting anecdotes of the ancients—he was a grammarian of Naucratis. Vide Athen. lib. xiv.

page 14 note 8 Vide Prob. xiii. quest, ii.

page 15 note 1 In the Tinnevelly district.

page 15 note 2 See Bontius, 's Account of the East Indies, pp. 107118.Google Scholar

page 15 note 3 See Blane on the Diseases of Seamen, pp. 177–204.

page 15 note 4 See Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws, vol. i. book xiv. chap. 2.

page 16 note 1 Account of Kábul, p. 248.

page 16 note 2 Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws, vol. i. book xiv. chap. 2.

page 16 note 3 See the same, vol. i. book xiv. chap. 3.

page 16 note 4 See Falconer, on Climate, p. 20.Google Scholar

page 17 note 1 Chatfield's Historical Review of Hindústán, pp. 224, 225, 226.

page 18 note 1 Ferguson's History of Civil Society, pp. 185, 186.

page 18 note 2 The ancients believed the Polar regions to be uninhabitable from the extreme cold which there prevails; (Diog. Laert. vii. 156). So Macrobius says, “Quia torpore ille glacialis, nee animali nee frugi vitam ministrat.”

page 18 note 3 See Robertson, 's Disquisition on Ancient India, p. 2.Google Scholar

page 18 note 4 See Bruce, 's Travels, vol. i. p. 368Google Scholar. Also Montesquieu on the Commerce of the Ancients, book xxi.

page 18 note 5 See Ferguson, 's Civil Society, p. 105.Google Scholar

page 19 note 1 See Robertson, 's Natural History of the Atmosphere, vol. ii. p. 247.Google Scholar

page 19 note 2 He was elected King of Poland in 1573, and quitted this dignity three months after to succeed his brother Charles IX. on the French throne.

page 19 note 3 See Moseley, 's Treatise on the Climate and Diseases of the West Indies, p. 114.Google Scholar

page 20 note 1 See Moseley, , p. 113.Google Scholar

page 22 note 1 I find both Strabo and Diodorus Siculus mention the circumstance of the Indian women burning themselves with their husbands: the latter, who wrote about forty-four years before Christ, describes the awful ceremony nearly as it is now practised.— Vide Diod. Sic. Hist. lib. xix.

page 22 note 2 Volney, 's Travels, vol. ii. p. 465.Google Scholar

page 23 note 1 In matters of small importance amongst the ancient Germans, the chief alone would often deliberate; but all great affairs were referred to the whole community. —Tacit. De Morib. German. cap. 10.

page 23 note 2 Tacitus speaks in praise of the energy of the ancient Germans.—Idem, 37.

page 23 note 3 No nation ever testified more liberality than the ancient Germans in their convivial entertainments.—Idem, lib. xxi.

page 23 note 4 Herodotus informs us, that good morals had more influence amongst the ancient Germans than laws in other countries—Herod, v. 19.

page 23 note 5 The ancient Germans held women in great estimation, and believed there was something almost sacred in their nature.—Cæsar, Bel. Gal. lib. i. cap. 50.

page 23 note 6 Tacitus mentions several German prophetesses who were held in the highest veneration.— Hist. iv. 6165.Google Scholar

page 23 note 7 See Robertson, 's General View of the Natural History of the Atmosphere, vol. ii. pp. 253, 254.Google Scholar

page 25 note 1 Ferguson, 's Civil Society, pp. 182, 183.Google Scholar

page 25 note 2 See Wilson, on Climate, p. 248.Google Scholar

page 25 note 3 See Professor Show's Oration on the Effects of Climate on National Character, delivered at Copenhagen in 1832.

page 26 note 1 See his Historical and Political History of the East and West Indies, vol. vi. p. 264.

page 26 note 2 See Work, p. 258.

page 26 note 3 In a well-written paper on the Medical Topography of New Orleans, to be found in the twelfth volume of the Edinburgh Medical Journal for 1816, the author observes: “It is one of the anomalies of the new world, not yet very satisfactorily accounted for, that the intensity of the heat in summer, and the cold in winter, is much greater than in the old world on the same parallels of latitude. No doubt the extent of land in comparison with ocean cannot fail to make a change in climate in any part of the earth; for instance (as Prout observes in his Treatise on Chemistry, Meteorology, &c. pp. 186, 187), ‘if the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans were to be converted into continents, would not the climates of the existing continents be completely altered by such an addition to the land, and the whole of their fertile regions be reduced to arid deserts ?’” But, after all, such suggestions are more ingenious than conclusive.

page 26 note 4 See article climate, in the last edition of the Encyclopœdia Britannica.

page 27 note 1 For an account of the climate of the coast of Guinea, and other parts of Africa, we refer to Dr. James Johnson's very valuable work on the Influence of Tropical Countries. In speaking of the climate of Sierra Leone, he says about a third part of the white population is carried off annually.—See Work, p. 338.

page 27 note 2 See Gerard's Letters published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta.

page 27 note 3 See same Letters.

page 28 note 1 Page 320.

page 28 note 2 See Journal, &c. p. 320.

page 28 note 3 India would appear to have been especially favoured in this respect; in addition to these abovenamed table lands, we may here notice Boaglekund, lying east of Bundlekund, which, by Colonel Ironside's account, is in its whole extent one continued table land. The province of Haiderábád is an elevated land enjoying a moderate temperature, although the capital of the same name is in latitude 17° 15' N. So is the Balaghát, or ceded districts, an elevated country, though not so high as Mysore. Also, the Mahabuleswar mountains in the presidency of Bombay, which are about 4,900 feet above the sea; and the Sikkim Mountains lying south of the Himalayas, and north of the Bengal district of Rungpúr, (the sanitarium of which elevated tracts is at Dargíling, about 330 miles from Calcutta, and a most healthy spot): lastly, I would mention the table land of Davaroypatnum, which is divided from the table land of Mysore by the Mayar river, and that on which Simla stands, a station lately established for invalids betwixt the Jumna and Sutledge, and 7500 above the ocean; it is in latitude 31°,06, and long. 79°,09.

page 29 note 1 See Moor, 's Hindú Pantheon, page 151.Google Scholar

page 29 note 2 Gehard speaks of Rol, in Basehar, which is at an elevation of 9350 feet, as being the highest inhabited land without the Himalaya, and where the wheat seldom ripens; the inferior limit of perpetual snow is calculated by some at the elevation of 11,400 feet above the sea; but by Webb's observations made on the summit of the Nittí Ghát, where no snow remained at an elevation of 16,1814, we have a right to conclude that the height of the snow line on the northern side of the Himalaya range, cannot be less than 17,000. See British India, vol. iii. p. 237Google Scholar: according to Leslie's formula, the line of perpetual freezing is at 14,621 feet of elevation.

page 30 note 1 Captain Hodgson tells us that even the natives themselves complain of faintness and difficulty of breathing at these extreme elevations, and ascribe them to exhalations from noxious plants.

page 30 note 2 The mean temperature throughout the year at Bangalore, is 73°, 24 of Fahrenheit. The garrison lies in latitude 12° 57′ N. in longitude 77° 38″ E.

page 30 note 3 For a cause, and a very interesting one, for the unhealthiness of the western tracts of Mysore, when compared with those lying farther east, I refer to an extract of a letter from my friend, the late Colonel Lambton.—See Asiatic Journal for 01 1825, p. 28.Google Scholar

page 31 note 1 Of the Hon. Company's Madras Medical Service, and well known for his valuable professional research during a long residence in India.

page 31 note 2 See Hough's Letters on the climate, inhabitants, productions, &c. of the Nilagiris, p. 18.Google Scholar

page 31 note 3 Captain H. Harkness, in his well-written and interesting “Description of a singular Aboriginal Race inhabiting the Summit of the Neilgherry Hills,” makes Dodabetta to be 8760 feet above the sea, and about 1300 feet higher than Otakamund. (See weather-table at the end of the volume.)

page 31 note 4 See his Letters, p. 36.

page 32 note 1 See same, p. 37. Mr. Hough's thermometer was hung in the open air in the morning and evening, and at noon in a room, through which the air was allowed to circulate.

page 32 note 2 By Mr. House's account, however, in one very cold year, 1825, and in Dec. that year, it was for three days together as low as 19°.—See Letters, p. 128.

page 32 note 3 See Asiatic Journal for 01 1825, p. 33.Google Scholar

page 32 note 4 The temperature of Malacca (in lat. 2° 12″) is also extremely uniform, not varying more than 14 or 16 degrees during the whole year, the medium temperature is about 80°—See Official Papers on the Medical Statistics and Topography of Malacca, by Dr. Ward and Mr. Grant, p. 13, published at Penang.

page 33 note 1 See Hough's Letters on the Climate, Inhabitants, Productions, &c. of the Nílagiris, p. 130.Google Scholar

page 33 note 2 See Montgomery Martin's History of the British Colonies, vol. i. p. 96.

page 33 note 3 See same, p. 72.

page 33 note 4 See same, p. 96.

page 34 note 1 See Hough's Letters on the Climate, Productions, Inhabitants, &c. of the Nílagiris, p. 118.Google Scholar

page 35 note 1 See Illustrations of the Botany of the Himalaya Mountains, Part i. p. 16.

page 35 note 2 Idem, p. 17.

page 35 note 3 Idem, p. 17.

page 35 note 4 It would, however, appear that Captain Webb found wheat at 12,000 of elevation.—See Illustrations, &c. p. 19.Google Scholar

page 36 note 1 See a paper by Mr. H. T. Colebrooke on the River Setlej.— Royal Asiatic Society's Transactions, vol. i. p. 357.Google Scholar

page 37 note 1 See Capt. Sykes's Account of the Wild Dog. — Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. iii. p. 405.Google Scholar

page 37 note 2 See Royle's Illustrations of the Botany of the Himalaya Mountains, Part i. p, 20.

page 38 note 1 See Royle's Illustrations of the Botany of the Himalaya Mountains, Part i. pp. 33–39.

page 38 note 2 The difference of the thermometer betwixt Palameota, on the Coromandel coast, in lat. 8° 35′, and long. 79° 37′, and Kúrtalam, is about 10° in the months of June, July, and August; i. e. while at the latter it is 75° at seven a.m., it is at the former 85°.

page 39 note 1 Ferguson's Civil Society, p. 181.

page 39 note 2 Idem, p. 188.

page 40 note 1 See Prichard, 's Researches into the Physical History of Mankind, Introduction, p. 2.Google Scholar

page 40 note 2 See Hooper, 's Lexicon Medieum, article Skin.Google Scholar

page 41 note 1 See Robertson, 's Natural History of the Atmosphere, vol. ii. p. 243.Google Scholar

page 41 note 2 Idem, vol. ii. p. 243.

page 41 note 3 See Pitta on the Influence of Climate, p. 17.

page 41 note 4 Since finishing this part of the Observations on Atmospheric Influence, &c., I have seen in the Asiatic Journal for 06 1834, p. 104Google Scholar, “Some Account of the Colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, by Mr. John Henderson,” in which are expressed opinions regarding the colour of the inhabitants, which appear to me singular, and are certainly at variance with those generally entertained on the same subject. He observes, “It has already been mentioned, that the country-born offspring of Europeans evince a tendency to a fairer colour of skin, eyes, and hair, than that possessed by their respective parents. Now, we can observe no such corresponding tendency to a fairer colour amongst the aborigines, but rather the reverse. These are all of a dark colour, which is rather found to be increased by the cold produced by a higher latitude. The inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land, which is in latitude 42° south of the line, are darker than those of Port Jackson, which is about 36°, and considerably more so tban those in the interior of New South Wales.” By this it would seem, that cold in these regions so far from conducing to make the colour of the natives lighter, has just the opposite effect.