Is there such a place as Egypt P To judge
by the political news received thence, there is not ; but there must be, for 12,000 British troops are there, and are said to be suffering greatly from enteric fever. During October, 126 patients were admitted into hospital suffering from this disease, and of these, 52—a most unusual proportion—died. Nearly ten per cent, of the troops, moreover, are disabled by some minor complaints, --diarrhcea and ophthalmia being the most frequent. English troops always suffer in a new climate, dying in heaps, for instance, in Rangoon, which is now a sanitarium ; but the mortality iu Egypt is probably due to defective sanitary arrangements, and will be prevented by removal to better barracks, or to the Desert, which is always. healthy. Sir Andrew Clarke, an experienced engineer, familiar with all Indian methods, has been despatched to Egypt, to help the medical authorities, and gradually the commanding officers will learn the preventives which even in Calcutta are found effectual. The climate of Egypt of itself is not unhealthy, and as yet there has been no sign of an epidemic. Great care should be used about the drinking-water. The water of the English cities in. which troops are stationed is so pure, that the soldiers suffer from any change, and contract diarrhoea from water which edives, accustomed to it from childhood, drink with impunity. .The Nile water is very sweet, but always affects new-comers.
Previous page
