ison on the cellular system,
and after the most approved English model; but the change of site did
not effectually remove the disease, for as late as the year 1884 "there
were 262 cases under treatment. In the first nine months of that year
the deaths were comparatively small, but during the latter three months
they increased, constituting nearly one half of the total deaths during
that period." Dr. Kerr attributed this increase to exacerbation in the
type, and epidemicity of the disease.

It is not necessary, nor is it within our province, to attempt a
description in detail of this disease; and happily it is mostly confined
to Ceylon and the Malay Archipelago, though it occurs occasionally in
China and Japan, where in the former country it is known as "Tseng," and
in the latter as "Kak-ki." It is referred to in a book we have quoted in
the body of this work, viz., that written by "Godinho de Eredia" in
1613, reproduced by M. Leon Janssen in 1882. It is called there
bere-bere, which in the Malay language signifies a "sheep," or a "bird
which buries its eggs in the sand," and is not now known by the Malays
under that name, as far as we can gather, as a "disease." Godinho de
Eredia says that the Malays cured it by the use of a wine made from the
nipa palm, from whence we know a saccharine fermentable juice exudes
from the cut spadices of this and other species. They call this juice
"tuaca." Marco Polo alludes to the same wine in his second book, chapter
xxv.

Some authorities say it arises from malarious exhalations, favoured by
damp, or over-crowding in buildings improperly ventilated. To this
latter cause we are inclined to attribute the outbreak in the Singapore
prison; for when the prison was occupied by the Indian convicts, the
area of open space round the different wards and buildings was well
exposed to the action of sun and wind, but after its conversion into a
criminal prison, this open space was divided off by high division walls,
and for the purpose of shot drill and work sheds the enclosure was
still further crowded. Perhaps the disturbance also of the soil may have
had something to do with it, for we have known instances in the town
where the excavation of subsoils had liberated noxious gases.

It was, however, very remarkable that during the period of over
twenty-five years when this jail was occupied by the Indian convicts,
not a single case of beri-beri was known to have occurred. The medical
officers w