The British And Foreing Medical Review Or Quarterly Journal Of Practical Medicine And Surgery Vol Xv

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ISBN 13 : 9781330815465
Total Pages : 592 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (154 download)

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Download or read book British and Foreign Medical Review, 1843, Vol. 15 written by and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-06 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from British and Foreign Medical Review, 1843, Vol. 15: Or Quarterly Journal of Practical Medicine and Surgery We concur with Major Tulloch as to the importance of the testimony derived from the Naval Reports, in corroboration of his own conclusions regarding the causes of disease. But we would remark, moreover, that no inconsiderable portion of the value of each succeeding Military Report depends on the opportunity of comparison on this head between it and its predecessors; for from no quarter can Major Tulloch's deductions derive more important or authentic confirmation than from his own further researches. At the very commencement of his Report we find a topographical and statistical view of Ceylon, having an important bearing on this point; and we shall extract from it those portions which have the most direct reference to a subject as interesting to us as to the gallant author. The Island of Ceylon lies on the western side of the Bay of Bengal, between 5 54' and 9 50' north latitude, and 79 50' and 82 10' east longitude; and measures 270 miles in extreme length, 145 in extreme breadth, and includes an area of about 24,664 square miles. It is bounded by a wide expanse of ocean in every direction except on the north-west, where the gulf of Manar - about twenty miles in width - separates it from the continent of India. The number of inhabitants is estimated at 1,100,000, or about 44 to the square mile. So limited a population in an island nearly equalling Ireland in extent, shows that the greater part must be uncultivated; in 1831, out of more than 2,000,000 of acres, only 300,000 were under crop, and 76,000 under pasturage. Ceylon is naturally divided into two extensive tracts of country - the upper and lower; the former occupying nearly the centre of the island, and consisting of a broken mass of highlands, towering to the height of many thousand feet; while the lower is merely a level belt of ground, varying from thirty to forty miles in breadth. Except in the vicinity of the principal villages or lines of communication, this flat belt of land, which stretches in every direction to the sea-coast, is in a great measure covered with forests, and is frequently wet and marshy, owing to the streams from the high grounds overspreading the surface during heavy rains, and evaporation being retarded by the dense foliage, which excludes the solar rays; while universal gloom and stillness indicate the locality as unfavorable to animal life. In some parts, however, the low grounds present a different aspect; and as the sea-coast is approached, indications of life and industry become more frequent, and cultivation is found rapidly advancing under the exertions of an increasing population. Along the banks of many of the streams, particularly at their embouchure, numerous villages are to be met with; and in the districts of Galle and Colombo, which are the most populous, the inhabitants average from 150 to 160 per square mile. The interior of the island is described as consisting of a succession of isolated hills, for the most part of a conical or oblong shape, but in a a few instances stretching into a table land of considerable extent, rising rapidly over each other from the level belt of land above described, to the height in some cases of above 8000 feet. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com"