EXTRACTS
FROM THE
ANNUAL REPORTS ON THE MILITARY LOCK HOSPITALS,
FOR THE YEAR 1884.
Extracts from the Annual Medical Report of the Lock Hospital at Bangalore,
by Surgeon J. LEONARD.
There has been a decrease both in the total number of venereal cases and under each class
of disease throughout the year, viz., 543 to 646 of the preceding year, the comparison being 263
primary syphilis, 51 secondary syphilis, and 229 gonorrhœa, against 281, 57 and 308 respectively.
There has been no change in the constitution of the Cantonment Sub-Committee composed
as under, which exists simply in name, for, as in past years, no meetings were convened during the
year under report.
President :
The President, Cantonment Municipal Commission.
Members :
The Deputy Surgeon-General, Her Majesty's
Forces, Mysore.
The Deputy Commissioner, Bangalore.
The Assistant Quartermaster-General, Mysore.
The Cantonment Magistrate.
The Assistant Superintendent of Police.
Secretary :
The Medical Officer in charge.
The Contagious Diseases Act, with the modifications of the late Chief Commissioner of Mysore,
is still in force, and the Superintendent of Police continues the duty delegated to him of keeping
a register of brothels and prostitutes within the area of 14 square miles implied by the Act.
The result, however, of the withdrawal of the detective agency noticed in previous reports is yet
apparent in the further decrease of the small number of " registered " prostitutes on the list
compared with the large number of unregistered prostitutes there must be in Bangalore, when no
special or stringent measures are used for detecting and registering women carrying on clandestine
prostitution.
There were 85 prostitutes on the register at the close of 1883, to which 9 were added during
the year under report, making 94 in all ; of these, 15 either withdrew their names from the
register or deserted, and there remained only 79 on the 31st December 1884.
The women have been regular in their attendance at the weekly examinations, 31 only
being reported for non-attendance, on account of which 6 were imprisoned and 25 warned.
Three days in the week are set apart for examining registered prostitutes, as all cannot be
examined in one day, while unregistered prostitutes sent to the hospital are examined at once.
All women are subjected to a careful examination with the aid of the speculum and treated
according to the disease from which they suffer.
A comparison of the above figures points undoubtedly to the fact that venereal affections are
contracted in the majority of cases by the soldiers in this garrison having intercourse with women
other than those whose names are borne on the register of prostitutes. This conclusion confirms
the necessity which has been frequently advocated of extending the Contagious Diseases rules to
all women carrying on indiscriminate or clandestine prostitution ; and that this result may be
more readily brought about, the re-establishment of an efficient detective agency, with the object
of apprehending and registering all those indulging in illicit prostitution, is absolutely necessary.
That the present police arrangements are utterly inefficient a glance at the above figures will
abundantly testify, and as long as they exist, so long also will the present state of things continue.
That only 79 names appear on the register of prostitutes in a large garrison like Bangalore, with
a civil population of nearly 100,000, and the large number of admissions for venereal diseases