2
ANNUAL REPORT ON THE
women of this class from entering the lines or barracks. The medical officers of these corps .
inform me that the Regimental Police have orders to prevent women of doubtful appearance from
entering the lines or loitering in their immediate neighbourhood, and .that soldiers admitted
into hospital for venereal diseases are taken on the day of admission in search of the women
who diseased them whenever they state that they can point her out. The exclusion of the
women from the lines is, however, the really beneficial measure, as it is very rarely that a
soldier really points out the woman from whom he contracted disease.
Registration cannot be looked on as efficient, taking into consideration the facts that only
60 women are on the register with a civil population estimated at 47,500 and a military force
(even now when the strength is temporarily considerably below the average) of nearly 800
Europeans and about 1,300 or 1,400 native troops. Registration extends over an area of
4 miles. There are two classes of women on the register, viz., first class for Europeans and
second class for natives. The close proximity of a large town to a cantonment renders it com-
paratively easy for men to consort with unregistered women who cannot be detected unless the
men will point them out. During the past year two women have presented themselves voluntarily
for registration, and nine have been convicted by the Cantonment Magistrate of carrying on
clandestine prostitution and placed on the register.
The women have, as a rule, been regular in their attendance at the weekly examinations.
During the year 17 registered women were fined by the Cantonment Magistrate for breaches of
Lock Hospital rules, and chiefly for absenting themselves from examination.
The total number of admissions among the registered women during the past year was
considerably less than in 1879, the number for 1879 being 114 and in 1880 only 91. As
among the soldiers the decrease has been chiefly under the head of Primary - Syphilis, the
admissions for which numbered 20 in 1880 against 39 in 1879. The type of disease has been
almost invariably mild, and the sores of the soft kind and virulent cases and hard sores have,
I believe, been equally exceptional among the men.
The results of the working of the institution during the past year appear to me to be very
encouraging, and I hope they will lead to further exertions on the part of the police to bring
all women practising prostitution within the limits of the cantonment under the notice of the
Cantonment Magistrate, and endeavour to get them put on the register, and so still further
reduce the dangerous element of clandestine prostitution.
Extracts from the Annual Medical Report of the Lock Hospital at Saint Thomas'
Mount by Surgeon-Major R. DEMPSTER.
Owing to the large number of admissions for venereal disease from men of the Royal Artil-
lery the police have been particularly on the alert and have worked well, and have compelled
the more regular attendance of prostitutes for the weekly examinations ; but, notwithstanding
their vigilance, there are doubtless many unlicensed prostitutes within cantonment. Every
effort is made to bring suspected women on the register. Prostitutes belonging to the Mount
have been generally regular in their attendance at the weekly examination, but not so those from
Pallávaram and Poonamallee ; the latter have to come from a distance of 4 and 7 miles respec-
tively. All registered prostitutes are required to attend at the hospital for examination every
Friday. Those found diseased are admitted.
During the past year there was a large increase of admissions, 221 against 189 the
previous year, and the average daily sick was 31 . 08 against 12.74.
Owing to the great prevalence of venereal disease among the men of the Royal Artillery
increased precautions were taken at the weekly examinations, and the women, with the least
suspicion of disease, were detained for a few days for subsequent repeated examination, and
were then either admitted or discharged accordingly. This practice and also the detention of
women with menses, and from this fact that women were kept longer in hospital, a clear 10 days
after all trace of disease having disappeared before their discharge, will account in a great
measure for the increased admission and average daily sick.
Many cases of disease have been detected by men being encouraged to point the women
infecting them. The majority of cases of gonorrhœa and primary syphilis were readily amenable
to treatment, but not so those of ulceration of os uteri, which have been, as a rule, of an
obstinate character, pointing to their non-venereal origin.