Section II.] GENERAL DEDUCTIONS FROM THE STATISTICS OF THE PERIOD. 85
It is remarkable to note how, as we proceed northwards, the relative components of the
death-rate of Native troops alter their positions, bowel complaints diminishing and respiratory
affections gradually predominating in the ratio:
Died out of each 100 deaths, 1867 to 1876 (Cholera and violent deaths excluded).
Bengal.
Ganget i c Pr ovi nces.
M e e r u t a n d R o h i l c u n d .
Punjab
Punjab
Frontier.
Respiratory diseases
11.8
18.0
19.7
33.3
38.4
Dysentery
25.3
41.6
16.9
24.9
12.0
22.2
14.6
20.7
9.4
14.1
Atrophy, dropsy, and spleen
disease
16 . 3
8.0
10.2
6.1
4.7
Fevers
22.6
22.7
26.0
28.0
27.1
Phthisis
7.4
10.6
11.9
5.1
4.0
Heart disease
2.1
1.6
3.4
1.7
1.7
Apoplexy
1.8
2.8
2.0
1.3
3.3
Hepatitis
1.2
3.0
2.8
.7
.9
All other diseases
11.5
16.4
12.0
9.2
10.5
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
The pneumonia of Northern India takes the place of the dysentery of Eastern Bengal.
The death-rate per 1,000 of 1867-1876 for the two classes of
disease combined is in Bengal Proper 5.57, and in the Punjab
5.67. But in the north the ratio for respiratory disease is
3.94, while in the east it is 1.77; and 3.80 die of bowel com-
plaints in Bengal, against 1.73 who die from these affections in the Punjab. This is another
very perfect illustration, showing how the human system sympathises with the special climatic
conditions afforded to it. It must not be inferred from this that pneumonia is rare in Lower
Bengal. The tendency for the lungs to fill up is always present when the system is anæmic;
and in the cold weather pneumonia is always apt to be developed, although less frequently in
Bengal than in Northern India.
How a Native Army employed in an unhealthy climate may melt away was shown in the
Bhootan campaign of 1865. Our Table II of 1865 gives the statistics month by month of
the Native regiments which served with the Bhootan force.
The force was 7,000 strong in March 1865, and before October, upwards of 2,000 men
had been removed by death, or had been sent to their homes. In the field, 520 men died; and
in the year following, 169 deaths were noted among the men sent sick to their homes.
The whole force passed through the hospital nearly four times, and the number daily sick
from May to October was never less than one-fifth of the total strength.
Wh a t h a p p e n e d t o n e a r l y a l l ma y b e i l l u s t r a t e d b y t h e l o s s i n a s i n g l e r e g i me n t o f t h e
force. In the two years 1865 and 1866, the 12th Native Infantry lost 105 men by death, 101
by invaliding, and 96 by taking their discharge or by being recommended for discharge by
the medical officer. The total loss was 302, or nearly one-half of the strength of the corps;
and yet the men were well rationed and well cared for in every respect.
The following are examples of the loss by death and invaliding during a tour of service in
Lower and Eastern Bengal.
The 10th Native Infantry stationed in Lower Bengal from 1872 to 1876, and averaging
677 strong, lost in the five years 375 men, of whom 205 were discharged invalided, and 170 died.
The loss was equal to 554 per 1,000, of which 303 was due to invaliding and 251 to deaths.
As a contrast, in the same five-year period, the 16th Native Infantry, also stationed.
in Lower and Eastern Bengal, lost in all 180 men out of an average strength of 716,—a ratio
of 251 per 1,000, made up 155 by invaliding and 96 by death.
Taking four-year tours of service, the following are illustrations showing the loss which
has resulted in typical cases in the different provinces of
India:—
The 38th Native Infantry at Buxa in Bhootan, and Barrackpore, lost, in the four years from
1873 to 1876, 224 out of a strength maintained at 675; 115 men were invalided for dis
- c h a r g e , a n d 1 0 9 d i e d . T h e a g g r e g a t e l o s s o f t h e f o u r y e a r s w a s e q u a l t o 3 3 3 p e r 1 , 0 0 0 o f t h e
strength, due 171 to invaliding and 162 to death.*
The 4th Native Infantry in two years spent on the Eastern Frontier, lost 98 men by in
-validing and 56 by death, equal to 24 per cent. of its strength. Stationed at Bhaugul
- p o r e a n d i n t h e S o n t h a l P e r g u n n a h s f r o m 1 8 7 3 t o 1 8 7 6 , t h e l o s s w a s , i n t h e f o u r y e a r s , 1 3 6 ;
invaliding caused a loss of 108 men, and 28 deaths occurred.
*In 1877, this regiment, still at Barrackpore, lost 231 men, of whom 79 died, and 130 were invalided.
The characteristics of the death-rate
o f E a s t e r n B e n g a l . T h e d e c a y o f N a t i v e
regiments in Eastern Bengal illustrated.
Aggregate loss in a four-years' tour
of service in different provinces.