Chapter I.]
GENERAL STATISTICS OF THE ARMY FOR, THE SIX YEARS.
13
The special returns for married and unmarried soldiers have been discontinued since 1871.
The results for the five years 1867-71 were summarised in the Annual Report of the Sanitary
Commissioner for 1871, pages 49-52, and as they seemed consistent, it was deemed unnecessary
to continue the enquiry.
The general statistics of the Three
Presidencies contrasted on the re
-sults of the period 1871-76.
In the two tables which conclude this chapter, the results for the Army of India are aggre
-gated and the ratios shown year by year, as well as for the period;
and the results of the period for the Armies of the Three Presi
-dencies are placed side by side, to contrast the ratios of disease
and death as these are manifested in Northern, Western and
Southern India.
With the highest death-rate and daily sick-rate, Madras gives the lowest admission-rate.
The meaning of this is, that in the climate of Southern India, while dysentery and hepatitis
come forward in an excessive ratio, the climatic fevers of Northern and Western India compara
- t i v e l y d i s a p p e a r ; a n d , i n d e e d , t o s h o w t o t h e f u l l t h e c o n t r a s t o f t h e f e v e r r a t i o i t i s n e c e s s a r y
to exclude the statistics of Kamptee, which, as regards liability to fever, is associated naturally
and geographically with Bengal and Bombay, and not with Madras.
The ratio for enteric fever is as high in Madras as in Bengal or Bombay; and it is not
in the cases of fevers returned as "continued" or "remittent" that the contrast is chiefly
marked, although for such fevers Bengal shows an admission-rate of 175 per 1,000 as con
- t r a s t e d w i t h a r a t i o o f 1 1 1 f o r M a d r a s .
In the years 1871-76, Kamptee gave more than the half of the admissions of the Madras
Presidency attributed to intermittent fevers—3,174 out of 6,253 admissions. Leaving out
these admissions and the strength of the troops cantoned in this station, the ratio for inter
- m i t t e n t f e v e r f o r t h e M a d r a s P r e s i d e n c y s t a n d s t h u s , i n c o n t r a s t w i t h t h e r a t i o s f o r B e n g a l
and Bombay:—
Ratio for Intermittent Fevers in the Three Presidencies contrasted.
Admitted per 1,000 of Strength.
Madras
(excluding Kamptee).
Bengal.
Bombay.
1871
6 4 . 0
417.3
510.3
1872
60.7
315.4
502.0
1873
55.9
352.7
411.6
1874
32.9
358.7
334.6
1875
40.1
336.9
3 8 4 . 8
1876
4 8 . 2
398.3
4 1 1 . 8
1871-76
50.3
362.8
426.9
This statement shows that cases of intermittent fever are seven times in the Army of
Bengal, and eight times in the Army of Bombay, more numerous than in the Army of Madras.
As a consequence, in the six years, the Madras Army afforded only 141 admissions on account
of spleen enlargement—an average of 24 annually, out of a strength exceeding 11,000.
To compensate for this, dysentery and hepatitis, taken together, are doubled in Madras as
compared with Bengal and Bombay:
ADMISSION-RATE FOR DYSENTERY AND HEPATITIS IN THE ARMIES OF THE THREE PRESIDENCIES CONTRASTED.
Admitted per 1,000 of Strength.
DYSENTERY.
HEPATITIS.
Madras. Bengal.
Bombay.
Madras.
Bengal.
Bombay.
1871
73.0
34.2
23.2
66.5
59.7
44.5
1872
85.1
35.0
34.6
59.3
56.0
3 4 . 9
1873
91.8
29.1
27.1
81.7
50.5
52.0
1874
82.2
26.2
23.7
82.5
45.2
4 8 . 0
1875
68.7
27.9
29.0
71.1
40.8
4 0 . 4
1876
63.9
26.7
27.5
63.3
46.3
44.1
1871-76
77.7
29.8
27.5
70.8
49.7
44.0
Dysentery and Hepatitis combined.
Madras.
Bengal.
Bombay.
1871
139.5
93.9
67.7
1872
141.4
91.0
69.5
1873
1 7 3 . 5
79.6
79.1
1874
1 6 4 . 7
71.4
71.7
1875
1 3 9 . 8
68.7
69.4
1876
127.2
73.0
71.6
1871-76
148.5
79.5
71.5