( 91 )
54. Now, if this subject be worked out to its logical conclusion, we shall not be
much beyond the mark in assuming that the small force of men quartered in the fort
will soon, in the number of its admissions, eclipse the garrison of cantonments altogether.
55. I n f l u e n c e u p o n t h e t r o o p s i n c a n t o n m e n t s . — A g a i n ,i
f t h e u n h e a l t h i n e s s o f t h e
battery at the fort is to be justly attributed to the amount of venereal disease existin g
amongst the unregistered, and consequently unexamined, females residing in the city,
it is surely not unfair to assume that a large proportion of the disease contracted by
the troops in cantonments is due to the self-same cause.
56. As a proof of the justness of the assumption, I would invite attention to the
fact that during the whole year not a single case of syphilis occurred amongst the
registered women, whilst amongst the unregistered women 11 cases were found, and
130 have occurred amongst the men.
This fact alone speaks volumes, and is in itself conclusive proof of the mischief
which has resulted from the closure of the city hospital.
57. It is fallacious to urge that because since the date of the abolition of the
hospital the percentage of disease amongst all the garrison has diminished, that the
continued maintenance of the hospital is unnecessary ; the real fact cannot and must
not be lost sight of, that whilst, owing to the extraordinary precautions which have
been taken to control the men in cantonments, disease amongst them has diminished,
amongst the very body of men dwelling almost in the city, and of necessity very much
influenced by the conditions which prevail there, disease, so far from diminishing, has
obtained an ascendancy never before equalled ; and that, too, in a steady ratio of aug-
mentation, the termination of which I confess I cannot see.
58. Dividing out the time since the hospital was closed into four periods of four
months each, we find 12 admissions in the first period, 13 in the second, 11 in the third,
and 18 in the fourth.
59. The question for consideration is, how will this end?
We cannot keep the soldiers out of the city, neither can we control without a
lock-hospital the disease existing in the city. Under these circumstances, organized
attempts at the suppression of venereal disease become, generally speaking, a miserable
failure.
60. The position is something similar to the recent Russian attempts to subdue
Plevna whilst the Sophia road remained open.
The city is our "Sophia road," and whilst the soldiers can constantly gain rein-
forcements of disease from the city, so long will any attempts at reduction in canton-
ments be but a partial success.
Cut off access to " Sophia" and victory must follow.
6 1 . I n c o n c l u d i n g t h i s s u b j e c t I w i l l i n v i t e a t t e n t i o n t o a r e t u r n I r e c e i v e d f r o m
the deputy surgeon-general, Indian forces, Lucknow circle.
Venereal disease in the native regiments. —I applied for information concerning the
number of admissions for venereal disease during the year amongst the men of the two
native regiments quartered in Lucknow.
62. The results were as follows : the 4th Regiment Native Infantry had had but
12 admissions ; of these ten admissions resulted from disease contracted in cantonments,
one from the same at Fort Machi Bhawun, and one from disease contracted at the man's
own home.
The 6th Bengal Light Infantry had 94 admissions. The medical officer remarks :
" With no exception (that I am aware of), the men stated that they contracted the
disease in Aminabad."
These returns did not show the nature of the venereal disease contracted.
6 3 . W i t h o u t e n t e r i n g i n t o t h e s u b j e c t o f t h e e x t r a o r d i n a r y d i f f e r e n c e e x i s t i n g
in the number of cases admitted in the two regiments, it is necessary to call attention
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