Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/361

 SIT 353 by a self-registering thermometer the minimum a little before suprise would be less and the daily range greater, but the figures given abovo show a close approximation to the range, and we may fairly infer from them that the daily range, is not great, and this fact is inore important as far as health is concerned than the actual temperature, The cold weather is good and bracing, better than that of inost districts in the province, Vital statistics.—From examination of the mortuary returns for the last three years it would appear that 77 out of cvery 100 deaths in the district are due to fevers. The returns for 1872 put down 63 per cent. of total deatlıs to fever, Those for 1873 1874 83 per cent. 87 >> 39 The fever is supposed to be of the intermittent kind and of walarious origin; but these returns are obviously incorrect. The death rate calcu- lated from them and the census of 1869 is for 1873 a little under 12 per 1,000 of the population, and for 1874 under 11 per 1,000, giving an average life of about 87 years. In dealing with returns which gives such results great care is necessary. Fever.—The prominent symptoms of fever are common to other dis- cases, and I have no doubt that in many cases these symptoms were mis- taken for the disease, and deaths put dowu to fever which were caused by other diseases. From August to November intermittent fever is prevalent, but the type of fever prevailing in the greater part of the district is not a bad one; the cases met with at the dispensaries yield readily to treatment and are seldom fatal. From my experience of the district, I would not expect ihe mortality from fever to be great. The conditious most favourable to malaria are not present in the greater part of the district, at least to any great extent. I except from this statement the north-west part of the district, the parganas of Tambaur and Kundri in the Biswán tahsil and Kundri pargana in the Bári tahsil, that part of the district between the Gogra and Chauka, and a strip of land on the eastern side of the latter river; these parts arc low lying and marshy. The staple crop is rice, and the ground during the rains is more or less under water. Here the conditions favourable to malaria are present in abundance, and intermittent fever of a bad type is present during the latter months of the year. The mortuary returns would indicate that fever is nearly equally prevalent in other parts of the district. In this and other respects I believe tlie returns are incorrect. Small-pox.-The returns put down 12 per cent of the mortality to small- pox. This disease is much more easily dangerous than fever, and I am inclined to think the returns not far from the mark on this point. The disease is prevalent from March to September, and vaccination has made little progress in the district.