A paper on the influence of clays and limestones on medical geography : illustrated by the geographical distribution of cancer among females, in England and Wales / by Alfred Haviland.

  • Haviland, Alfred, -1903.
Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A paper on the influence of clays and limestones on medical geography : illustrated by the geographical distribution of cancer among females, in England and Wales / by Alfred Haviland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    through which these winds cannot blow—this map shows un- mistakably that within such unvcntilatcd, or at least imper- fectly ventilated, areas, are to be found the highest mortality from heart disease. Since this map was constructed, I have shown by later investigations throughout Scotland that the same rule obtains all over Great Britain, from the Land's End to Duncansby Head. I need scarcely say that the discovery of this important fact in the natural history of this class of diseases was wholly unexpected, although when displayed by means of coloured maps easily understood. So far such is an outline of the effect of physical configuration of the country on medical geography. We shall presently find, however, that the geological character of the areas under investigation must also be taken into consideration. Whilst pursuing the studies indicated above, I was struck with the close relation that the Jiigh and lozv mortality' from some causes of death bore to certain well-marked geological features in the localities where these causes either prevailed or were infrequent. After com- pleting my heart disease and phthisis maps, at the instance of the London Medical Society in 1868 I investigated the distribution of cancer among females in England and Wales, and whilst engaged in constructing the map illustrating the' results, I became convinced of the close relation that the high and lo%v mortality districts bore to the geological character of their areas. It became evident, after further investiga- tion, which I have continued up to the present hour, that the medical geography of certain fatal malignant diseases among females, which have been certified by qualified English medical practitioners as cancer in some one of its forms, would be a valuable contribution to the natural history of that dreadful disease, not only because it showed a preference for certain haunts, which could be defined, but because it further showed that within those very haunts there resided a something associated with the presence and malignity of this dread disease which was capable of being influenced by certain geological formations; for it is evident to any one examining the map of the medical geography of cancer among females that the high mortality districts are always rnore or less associated with certain hydrographic and geo- logical features, such as-floods antJ clays; whilst the loiv