Volume 1

Notes on some of the more common diseases in Queensland in relation to atmospheric conditions, 1887-1891 : illustrated by charts prepared from information supplied by the Registrar-General's Department and Chief Weather Bureau, Brisbane, including returns from the hospitals of the colony / by David Hardie.

  • Hardie, David.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on some of the more common diseases in Queensland in relation to atmospheric conditions, 1887-1891 : illustrated by charts prepared from information supplied by the Registrar-General's Department and Chief Weather Bureau, Brisbane, including returns from the hospitals of the colony / by David Hardie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of 111*2 per 100,000 population per annum, while that of other years (leaving out 1887, where we have seen the mortality is also high), is (39'0, and then falls considerably in July. It is important to note here that the temperature in July is not only lower by 52 deg. than that of June, but, with the excep¬ tion of an almost equally low temperature in June, 1887, is lower than that of any other month under review. It has already been stated that the rapid decline in temperature in the presence of low rainfall and low relative hmnidity in June, 1887, is accompanied by a corresponding fall in mortality, and under similar conditions we find a similar fall in July, 1890. This fall cannot well be due solely in either case to the low relative humidity of the atmosphere or low rainfall, for these are comparatively low in 1888, and yet the mortality is high. It seems more probable, as has been suggested, that while a low temperature combined with high humidity generally tends to raise the death-rate from diphtheria, an absolutely low temperature beyond a given point, if combined with low rainfall, retards the development of those germs that are known to be the immediate cause of diphtheria, and that in consequence of this the mortality falls. It may be noted here that this is all the more suggestive when it is remembered that the death-rate from bronchitis and pneumonia is particularly high in the month of July, and as it is probable that the predisposing causes —colds and catarrhs—are equally prevalent, a diminution in the death- rate from diphtheria must necessarily mean that the exciting causes— the bacilli of diphtheria (Loeffler)—are all the less common or less virulent in their action. With regard to the direction of the wind in its relation to diphtheria, it is impossible from mere monthly observations to come to any very reliable conclusion regarding the matter, on account of its variation from day to day, but the following remarks, based as they are upon reliable records, may be ventured upon. For the month of April the mortality is very high in 1887, and here we find that the west wind was not observed once, and the south¬ west only twice. The south winds, on the other hand, were very prevalent, being observed 50 times, and forming 71 per cent, of the whole, while for the other years, 1888-91, they were on an average observed only 27 times and formed 42 per cent, of the whole. For the month of May the death-rate is high in both 1887 and 1890, and the following figures will show the relative proportion of south, south-west, and west winds:— South wind South-west wind West wind 1887 1890 1887 1890 1887 1890 . Times observed. Per cent, of Whole. ... 32 .. 54 ... 38 ... 57 ... 4 ... 7 ... 2 ... 3 ... 18 ... 30 ... 3 ... 4 It would at first sight appear as if the south wind were intimately connected with a high mortality for the month of May also, but vre find that in 1891 it was also prevalent, being observed 37 times and forming 51 per cent, of the whole, and yet the mortality was low. .Neither can it be said that the west wind is invariably connected with a high