1841-1886
117
STATE OF HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS. 519
remedy more or less at the command of every inhabitant. The Government is called upon also to promote sanitary measures by causing the various hollows, receptacles of decomposing filth, about the town to be filled up, by covering over the great central drains, whence emanate sickly effluvia, and by planting the waste grounds in places where the plantations would afford shade and shelter. I would especially recommend the planting of the flat behind the barracks, the slopes round the church, and the Government offices, and below the general's house, which on the one side would break the strong gusts that sweep down the gully, and on the other shade the barracks from the rising and mid-day sun.
It has long been in contemplation to erect a "Sanitarium" on the hill, below the Victoria peak. The first impression of this scheme may strike a person as absurd. Attention to the following facts will clearly show, I hope, that the idea was based upon sound reason. At Penang, Singapore, and Madeira, such an institution has been erected, or contemplated, on very great elevations.
The most prevalent diseases in Hong Kong are fevers of the remittent and intermittent type, dysentery, and rheumatism. There are no circumstances so favourable for the development of either of those diseases as excessive atmospheric heat and great humidity. It has been established as a meteorological fact, admitting of no doubt, that the quantity of humidity existing in the atmosphere, as well as the temperature, diminishes with elevation. On the slopes of the Andes this fact is most apparent. On an altitude of 242 feet above the level of the sea the temperature falls one degree. In advancing one degree to the north, the same result is obtained. Thus an ascent of 242 feet is, as respects temperature, equal to a degree of latitude. In great altitudes there exist strata of climates. The citizens of the Andes may, by a comparatively short ascent, experience at pleasure every season of the most favoured climates. When it is remembered what are the invigorating effects of “change of air" on the attenuated constitution, it will be at once conceded that such facilities of obtaining it constitute a great privilege.
The contemplated site of the proposed "Sanitarium" is 1774 feet above the level of the sea; and by repeated experiment the average range of the thermometer is found to be 10 degrees less at this elevation than it is in the town of Victoria. Moreover, the position, which is attainable by a practicable road, is exposed to the south-west monsoon; and in consequence of the diminished pressure of the superincumbent strata of air in this position, all obnoxious exudations ascend from the sphere of respiration. That the atmosphere on the hill is drier than that in the valleys, and hence more opposed to the operation of endemic causes of disease, has been, I think, clearly shown. The existence of clouds occasionally on the hill may be thought to be evidence against this fact. Frequently the clouds which obscure the peak are below it; and an observer standing on the top of the hill may look down from a serene atmosphere upon a lake of cloud filling up the valley beneath.
Some part of the excess of heat in the valleys over that found on the hill must be ascribed to radiation; it is nevertheless evident, that in ascending the hill 10 degrees of heat are escaped. It has been shown that a perpendicular ascent of 242 feet above the level of the sea diminishes the temperature in the proportion of one degree of latitude, that is, by one degree of heat: by this rule the elevation of the Victoria hill is, in respect of temperature, equal to about seven degrees of latitude, 242 being to 1774 as 1 is to 7, which, indeed, makes a residence on the hill as great a change to the invalid as visiting Ningpo. Need further argument be adduced on this point? The proposition is in every respect practicable; its accomplishment will obviate the risks, the impracticable absence from duties and friends, the great expense, and the anxieties which are at present entailed on those who are now compelled to resort to Macao and other places to recruit their health. The Government and the inhabitants should mutually assist in this desirable object by all means in their power.
Hong Kong, Feb. 21, 1849.
(True Copy.)
(Signed)
WILLIAM MORRISON, F.R.C.S. of England; Colonial Surgeon.
W. CAINE, Colonial Secretary.
1841-1886
117
STATE OF HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS. 519
remedy more or less at the command of every inhabitant. The Government is called upon also to promote sanitary measures by causing the various hollows, receptacles of decomposing filth, about the town to be filled up, by covering over the great central drains, whence emanate sickly effluvia, and by planting the waste grounds in places where the plantations would afford shade and shelter. I would especially recommend the planting of the flat behind the barracks, the slopes round the church, and the Government offices, and below the general's house, which on the one side would break the strong gusts that sweep down the gully, and on the other shade the barracks from the rising and mid-day sun.
It has long been in contemplation to erect a "Sanitarium" on the hill, below the Victoria peak. The first impression of this scheme may strike a person as absurd. Attention to the following facts will clearly show, I hope, that the idea was based upon sound reason. At Penang, Singapore, and Madeira, such an institution has been erected, or contemplated, on very great elevations.
The most prevalent diseases in Hong Kong are fevers of the remittent and intermittent type, dysentery, and rheumatism. There are no circumstances so favourable for the development of either of those diseases as excessive atmo- spherical heat and great humidity. It has been established as a meteorological fact, admitting of no doubt, that the quantity of humidity existing in the atmosphere, as well as the temperature, diminishes with elevation. On the slopes of the Andes this fact is most apparent. On an altitude of 242 feet above the level of the sea the temperature falls one degree. In advancing one degree to the north, the same result is obtained. Thus an ascent of 242 feet is, as respects temperature, equal to a degree of latitude. In great altitudes there exist strata of climates. The citizens of the Andes may, by a comparatively short ascent, experience at pleasure every season of the most favoured climates. When it is remembered what are the invigorating effects of “change of air" on the attenuated constitution, it will be at once conceded that such facilities of obtaining it constitute a great privilege.
The contemplated site of the proposed "Sanitarium" is 1774 feet above the level of the sea; and by repeated experiment the average range of the thermometer is found to be 10 degrees less at this elevation than it is in the town of Victoria. Moreover, the position, which is attainable by a practicable road, is exposed to the south-west monsoon; and in consequence of the diminished pressure of the superincumbent strata of air in this position, all obnoxious exudations ascend from the sphere of respiration. That the atmo- sphere on the hill is drier than that in the valleys, and hence more opposed to the operation of endemic causes of disease, has been, I think, clearly shown. The existence of clouds occasionally on the hill may be thought to be evidence against this fact. Frequently the clouds which obscure the peak are below it; and an observer standing on the top of the hill may look down from a serene atmosphere upon a lake of cloud filling up the valley beneath.
Some part of the excess of heat in the valleys over that found on the hill must be ascribed to radiation; it is nevertheless evident, that in ascending the hill 10 degrees of heat are escaped. It has been shown that a perpendicular ascent of 242 feet above the level of the sea diminishes the temperature in the proportion of one degree of latitude, that is, by one degree of heat: by this rule the elevation of the Victoria hill is, in respect of temperature, equal to about seven degrees of latitude, 242 being to 1,774 as 1 is to 7, which, indeed, makes a residence on the hill as great a change to the invalid as visiting Ningpo. Need further argument be adduced on this point? The proposition is in every respect practicable; its accomplishment will obviate the risks, the impracticable absence from duties and friends, the great expense, and the anxieties which are at present entailed on those who are now compelled to resort to Macao and other places to recruit their health. The Government and the inhabitants should mutually assist in this desirable object by all means in their power.
Hong Kong, Feb. 21, 1849.
(True Copy.)
(Signed)
WILLIAM MORRISON, F.R.C.S. of England; Colonial Surgeon.
W. CAINE, Colonial Secretary.
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