Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- CHAPTER I
- CHAPTER II
- CHAPTER III
- CHAPTER IV
- CHAPTER V
- CHAPTER VI
- CHAPTER VI
- CHAPTER VII
- CHAPTER VIII
- CHAPTER IX
- CHAPTER X
- CHAPTER XI
- CHAPTER XII
- CHAPTER XIII
- CHAPTER XV
- CHAPTER XVI
- CHAPTER XVII
- CHAPTER XVIII
- CHAPTER XIX
- CHAPTER XX
- CHAPTER XXI
- CHAPTER XXII
- APPENDIX I
- APPENDIX II
- Plate section
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- CHAPTER I
- CHAPTER II
- CHAPTER III
- CHAPTER IV
- CHAPTER V
- CHAPTER VI
- CHAPTER VI
- CHAPTER VII
- CHAPTER VIII
- CHAPTER IX
- CHAPTER X
- CHAPTER XI
- CHAPTER XII
- CHAPTER XIII
- CHAPTER XV
- CHAPTER XVI
- CHAPTER XVII
- CHAPTER XVIII
- CHAPTER XIX
- CHAPTER XX
- CHAPTER XXI
- CHAPTER XXII
- APPENDIX I
- APPENDIX II
- Plate section
Summary
The most common diseases in Barbados are chest-complaints, and dysentery, with inflammation of the eyes, from the reflected glare of the sun, and the quantity of finely-pulverized chalk always floating in the atmosphere. There is a horrid and loathsome species of the Elephantiasis, vulgarly known as the Barbados leg: it was formerly far more severe and common amongst the negro and coloured population than it is now; still we cannot walk half a mile without seeing some cases of it,—some poor wretch trailing a limb larger than the body, and covered with excrescences and ulcers. Dr. Stewart, a physician, resident in Bridgetown, while I was in Barbados, found quicklime, mixed with warm sea-water, a valuable remedy; but I suspect that if the disorganization of the tissues has gone to any extent, the disease is incurable.
Dr. Maycock assured me that tetanus was epidemic in the island; but, except the bilious remittent fever, the scourge of all our colonies, I am not aware that there is any malignant disease peculiar to Barbados.
The island may be said to have been healthy for some years past; but when the epidemic does make its appearance, it is very fatal, and very soon assumes a contagious or virulent character. The last visitation was a very severe one, and many of the inhabitants, as well as of the military, were carried off.
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- The West IndiesThe Natural and Physical History of the Windward and Leeward Colonies, pp. 69 - 75Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1837