STATISTICS OF THE BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA FROM 1871 TO 1876.
[Section I.
6
Army of Bengal in the epidemic year 1869 contrasted with the Army in the preceding year
1868, a healthy and non-epidemic year.
Daily sick per
1,000.
Number of admis
sions.
Deaths excluding
cholera.
Cholera deaths.
1868 . . 52.5
45,394
578
57
1869 . . 59.5
59,882
915
570
The Army of India cannot be insured against a similar experience in time to come ; we
must be fully prepared for the possible occurrence, and we must not be disappointed if, in the
future, such exceptional visitations come in to affect our average after a succession of favourable
seasons.
Very consistent, too, is the incidence of mortality when viewed month by month.
The great mortality from fever and bowel complaints of the last quarter of the year, so
The Mortality of the Army in rela-
tion to the Influences of the Seasons.
Aggregate of the monthly results of
the six years 1871—76.
characteristic of our older statistics, has almost disappeared, and
in November begins a condition consistently maintained to the
end of January. February, March, and April, taken as a quarter,
exhibit disease at a minimum ; and in the six months from May
to October we have before us a maximum in which the exag-
geration is normal and legitimate. Deducting the cholera deaths of the period, 5,158 men died
in the six years 1871—76, and these deaths were distributed month by month thus :—
Month.
Died.
Died per cent. of
total deaths.
Death-rate per 1,000.
November
.
406
7.9
23.8
1.16
3 . 5 2
December .
.
407
7.9
1.17
January .
.
409
8.0
1.19
February .
.
348
6.8
20.0
1.00
2.93
March
.
.
345
6.7
.98
April
.
.
336
6.5
.95
May
.
.
430
8.3
56.3
1.22
8.30
June
.
.
537
10.4
1.53
July
.
.
4 7 4
9.2
1.35
August .
.
469
9.1
1.34
September
.
532
10.3
1.52
October .
.
465
9.0
1.34
TOTAL .
.
5,158
100.0
14.75
Heat apoplexy, which is a variable item from year to year, doubles in June ; and fevers,
dysentery, and hepatitis cause the high death-rate of September ; in June 1.53 per 1,000 died,
and in September 1.52—and these were the highest monthly ratios. July, August, and October
follow with ratios of 1.34, 1.34, and 1.35 per 1,000 ; May, with heat influence tending towards
its maximum, gives 1.22 ; February, March, and April, when excessive climatic influences are in
abeyance, give an average of .98 ; and the cold-weather mouths, November, December, and
January, afford ratios of 1.16, 1.17, and 1.19: and the whole makes up an annual loss of 14.75
p e r 1 , 0 0 0 .
In no month of the seventy-two -from 1871 to l876, did the daily sink-rate of the Army
The Daily Sick-rate fluctuated
between a maximum of 68 and a
minimum of 47, taken over the
seventy-two months of the period.
of India, as a body, reach 7 per cent.; and it fell below 5 per
cent. in six months only of the period. From 5 to 6 per cent. was
the range in forty-five out of the seventy-two mouths; the
maximum reached was 68 per 1,000, and this in only one month,
and the minimum of 47 occurred in two months only.
Number Daily Sick per 1,000 of the Army of India from 1871—76.
Number of months. .
47—50.
51—55.
56—60.
61—65.
66—68.
72
12
22
17
15
6
We have the opportunity of contrasting in three periods of five year the ratios for the
The Ratios of Sickness, Mortality,
and Invaliding for the Army of Bengal
only, for fifteen years from 1861 to
1875, contrasted in five-year periods.
Army of Bengal. The daily sick-rate for the five years 1871—75
is identical with that of the five years 1866—70, being 57.5
per 1,000, which contrasts with a ratio of 70.6 for the five
years preceding 1866. The admission-rates are as below :
1871—75, 1439.8; 1866—70, 1571.3; 1861—65, 1830.5._ The
cholera death-rate fell from 9.02 in 1861—65 to 6 . 98 in 1866—70, and to 3.23 in 1871—75:
and deaths from climatic diseases, which varied between 16 and 20 per 1,000 from 1861 to 1870,
and rose to 25 only in the bad year 1869, sank to an average of 13.59 in the period 1871—75.
Taken as a whole, this statement may be regarded as indicating that causes are in opera
tion which tend to define the bounds which disease in India, when unwatched and unheeded, is
certain to transgress.