80
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF MADRAS.
occasion it was brought to light that a woman who obtained this concession resumed prostitution
immediately without reporting the fact to the authorities ; she had to be brought on the register
for a second time." Surgeon-Major Rean, M.D., in his remarks on giving over charge of the
Lock Hospital, states, "It is noticed that if a registered female absents herself for some weeks
and she is brought up for examination, she has generally contracted disease, her non-attendance
being due to the consciousness that she would be detained in hospital, and these facts point to
the necessity of the detective agency being particularly active in bringing up all prostitutes who
absent themselves from the regular examinations."
Although the admissions of European troops have increased, yet on analyzing the table
(vide above) there is reason to hope that the working of the Contagious Diseases Act has not been
inoperative, and that a fair amount of success has been obtained, for the number of admissions
from secondary syphilis are very much reduced, and it is this affection especially which so
undermines the constitution of the soldier, and not the simple primary soft sore which appears to
be yearly becoming the predominating infecting virus in parts where lock hospitals are established.
This table shows the admissions in this force for secondary syphilis during the past five years:—
Years.
Strength. Admissions.
Secondary Syphilis.
1874
. . ..
. .
. . . .
..
..
2 , 4 5 9
64
1875
..
..
..
. .
..
..
..
2,282
72
1876
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
3,243
71
1877
..
..
..
..
..
. .
. .
2,879
67
1878
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
2,524
41
Doubtless a soft sore or chancroid is a great evil and source of inefficiency during the time
the individual is under treatment, but he returns to duty rarely the worse for the disease he has
been laid up with. Taking this view 41 admissions only for secondary and tertiary syphilis
from an average strength of 2,524 is not large, and probably in the majority of cases the disease
was contracted elsewhere, or the same man may have been admitted several times during the year.
Certainly there still remains a vast amount of primary syphilis and gonorrhœa to be accounted for,
and the increase in the past two years must be attributed to the large number of unfortunate
women driven by want to habits not consonant, with their wishes, but to the necessity they were
placed in to obtain their daily food at any cost.
Among the Native troops there has been an increase in the number of admissions from
syphilis and gonorrhœa.
1875. 1876. 1877. 1878.
Admissions from syphilis and gonorrhœa
..
. .
40
48
54
82
Finding that this increase was owing to the large number of cases in the 1st Regiment
Native Infantry, I requested the Medical Officer to favor me with his explanation. Doctor
Busteed says :—
1st.—Owing to the greater number of recruits which have joined since the corps arrived
from Burmah.
2nd.—Recruits are examined by the senior Medical Subordinate once a week until they
join the ranks from the Adjutant's drill.
3rd.— The Medical Officer personally examines for syphilis every admission for fever or
rheumatism whose disease does not seem genuine.
I would remark that the first reason does not hold good as another regiment, the 40th, had
a larger number of recruits joining in the same period, yet 5 cases only were admitted during the
year against 39 in the 1st Regiment M.N.I. Correspondence on this subject is attached.
Sickness
among
families in
regimental
lines.
—
Average
Strength of
Families for
6 Months.
Deaths. Births.
1st Regiment M.L.C. ..
..
..
..
2,628
67
112
1st
do. M.N.I. ..
..
..
..
1,851
34
46
40th do.
do. ..
. .
..
..
1,744
52
41
"Queen's Own" Sappers and Miners
. .
583
67
62
The Surgeon-General in Circular Memo. No. 35, dated 19th January 1878, having directed
statistics to be recorded in co-operation with the military authorities of the deaths and births
occurring amongst the non-combatant population belonging to each Native corps, returns have
been collected since the 1st of July 1878. The period is too short to render those of the present
report of great value, but they are sufficient to show that among some of the Native troops the
death-rates in their families is enormous. The result among the families of the Sappers is so
startling, viz. , at the rate of 22 per cent. per annum without any epidemic, that I requested the
Medical Officer to favor me with further particulars. He writes :
—
"In acknowledging your No. 85, soliciting information anent the heavy death-rate which
prevailed in the families of the "Queen's Own" Sappers and Miners during the past year, I
beg to offer the following explanation.