Page:How People May Live and not Die in India.pdf/19

 Take plenty of exercise, and use prudence and common sense as to the times of it.

So far for personal habits. But a man cannot drain and sewer his own city, nor lay a water supply on to his own station, nor build his own barracks. What follows pertains to Government:—

Let it be the first care to have a plentiful supply of pure water laid on for every purpose.

Drain all dwellings.

Have no cess-pits.

Attend rigidly to cleansing, not only to surface-cleansing.

Never build in a wet hollow nor on a sludgy river-bank, which would be avoided by sensible people even at home.

Never crowd large numbers into the same room.

Build separate barrack-rooms, instead of large barracks.

Place these so that the air plays freely round them.

Raise them above the ground with a current of air beneath.

Do these things, and the climate may be let to take care of itself.

But, if we would make India about as healthy as England, only somewhat hotter, let us have improved agriculture and agricultural drainage.

If all these improvements were carried out, the normal death-rate of the British soldier would be not 69 per 1,000, but 10 per 1,000, say the Commissioners.