At Panama the seasons are divided into two well defined periods: the dry, or winter, and the wet, or summer seasons. By this occurrence of maximum moisture and maximum heat, the health conditions are made the worst possible.

The dry season includes the months of January, February, March and April, the rainy season the remainder of the year. During the dry season the average temperature at Colon for 6 years was 70.5° F, with a monthly maximum of 90.9° F, which came in January, and a monthly minimum of 68.4° in the same month. During the rainy season the maximum average temperature for any month occurred in October and was 91.9° F. The minimum was 66.9° F., for August. A record of 15 years at Colon shows a maximum rainfall of 154.9 inches and a mean of 130.2 inches. Four years’ records at Panama show a maximum of 84.73 inches and an average of 66.8 inches. At Culebra the records for 3 years showed a maximum of 98.97 inches and a minimum of 64.25 inches.

The most common forms of disease on the Isthmus are due to fevers. According to good authority the most sickly period is September, October and November, during which time dysentery and a severe bilious fever are very common. Foreigners seldom acquire the immunity of the natives from local diseases. The Isthmus by various writers has been called, “The Grave of the European”, “The Pest-House of the Tropics”, and one author says that here truly “Life dies and death lives”.

On account of the health conditions the labor question is greatly complicated. For this reason extreme care has been taken by the United States Government to do all in the power of science to make the zone a healthy locality. Sanitation expenses will average at least $2,000,000 per year. The work has been under the direct supervision of Colonel W.C. Gorgas. The war on the mosquito has been continual and unrelenting. For the first two months of the fiscal year 1908–’09, the work in the Canal Zone, consisted of the collection and disposal of garbage and night soil, the cutting of grass and brush, and sanitary drainage and oiling. In the terminal cities the work consists of inspection, fumigation, grass cutting, surface drainage, and oiling undrained areas.

This department also has charge of the hospitals and of the quarantine. As far as possible all the sick are concentrated at Ancon.

Last year’s records show an improvement over the preceding year. The total number of employees admitted to the hospitals and sick camps amounted to 46,194, representing 23.49 as the number of men sick daily as against 23.85 for the preceding year. The number of deaths was 530. According to these figures the Canal Zone is one of the healthiest communities in the world; but it must be remembered that the population there consists of men and women in the prime of life and that a number of the sick are returned to the United States before death overtakes them.

There were no cases of plague or yellow fever originating on the Isthmus during the year 1908–’09. The last case of yellow fever occurred in May, 1906.

A supply of perfectly healthful water has been secured by the construction of reservoir at different points of the Zone, and the Commission hotels and cottages have all the advantages of an excellent modern water system.