Conservancy
of the neigh
-bourhood.
Hospital.
Climate of the
station.
If regiment
has been on
the march.
66
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF MADRAS.
Epidemics.
Hospital
ventilation.
Drainage
and latrines.
Epidemics.—As remarked in another portion of the report, fevers in many cases of a severe
type have been very prevalent both among the civil and military population throughout a portion
of the year. The cause is to be lo oked for, I believe, in the climate, which has been exceedingly
variable both in temperature and rainfall.
Hospital ventilation.—The wooden floor of the main ward of the hospital having become
loose and full of holes a collection of sweepings had formed underneath, which was likely to
render the air of the ward impure; on my recommendation a floor was laid of bricks and chunam
coated with tar, on which the wooden floor properly joined was relaid. Overcrowding has been
avoided as much as possible by treating all simple cases, foot-soreness, ulcers, &c., as line-sick.
Drainage and latrines.—The drainage and sewage have been well attended to during the
year.
Water-supply.
Water-supply.—Water-supply good.
General
conclusions.
Lines.
General conclusions.—The year under review has been a very trying one to the regiment.
The men have suffered severely from ague, in many cases of a severe type; they have also
suffered a great deal from dysentery and diarrhœa. The sickness and deaths have been even more
numerous among the families than among the men of the regiment, 135 deaths having occurred in
a population of 1,388. As stated in a previous paragraph this amount of sickness is, I am of opinion,
to be accounted for principally by climatic causes, no local causes of sickness having existed, and
the diseases which were so prevalent in the lines, viz., fevers, dysentery, and diarrhœa, having
been equally severe among the civil population in and around Mercara.
Deputy Surgeon-General P. G. FitzGerald, M.D., inspected this crops on the
11th November 1878 and reports as follows:—
Lines.—The drainage is very good, although the drains have to be cleaned out and repaired
every year, being only trenches cut in the soil. The number of inhabited huts is 730, and the
average number of occupants of each hut has been 2.51 for the past year. The huts of the Right
Wing are tiled. A drain in front of lines of No. 1 Company was mentioned in last year's report as
requiring some attention owing to the want of a slope. This has been rectified to a certain extent,
and the water now can flow off from both ends of it, but still lodges in the centre, which perhaps
could be raised to a sufficient extent. The lines themselves are kept very clean, but the herds
- m e n ' s v i l l a g e , i n t h e s a m e b a s i n , i s a s d i r t y a s e v e r .
Sanitary con
- d i t i o n o f a l l
buildings.
Water-supply.
Sanitary condition of all buildings.—A new regimental latrine has been built since last
inspection in the western slope of the glacis of the fort. It is on the long trough principle,
with a drain for the urine in front of the trough. I don't know whose design it is, but the medi
-
cal officer tells me that the design, which was agreed upon between himself and the Engineer, is
not that which has been carried out. The existing arrangement does not work well. Nothing
can be more offensive than the interior when I looked at it. The sepoys did not know, apparently,
where they were expected to place themselves, and as the trough on which they should have perched
themselves was high, they preferred to squat down over the drain which is intended for the
urine alone.
Water-supply.—Water is obtained from six wells in the lines and one in the fort. These wells
are having improved platforms put over them, in which the battens, instead of forming squares
in which the soiled water is retained, as in the old platforms, form radiating lines along which the
soiled water flows down the slope and is got rid of.
Conservancy of the neighbourhood.— Dr. Dill believes that the health of the station has been
deteriorated by the enormous growth of the Lautana not only in the town but over all the ground.
west of the fort and especially in the old Sapper lines.
Hospital.—More light and air have been let into the latrines, and they have been changed
from the long to the short trough arrangement. The distance between the steps for the feet is
rather too great for the convenience of the sepoys, but on the whole the latrines have been greatly
improved: one of them is still too dark. The flooring of the main ward was taken up, and the ground
underneath bricked and covered with a layer of tar and sand and thoroughly cleaned out; but
difficulties were found to exist about forming ventilated openings. The other ward has not been
bricked, but its floor requires treating in the same way.
Right Ralf Rattalion 28th Regiment native Infantry.
STATION—FRENCH ROCKS.
Climate of the station.—The right half battalion arrived at this station on the 6th of
December 1878. The season since arrival has been very cold, and the bleak east winds of Decem
-
ber have occasioned fever of an intermittent type.
If regiment has been on the march.—The Right Wing was on the march from the 28th
November to 6th December 1878, and there has been nothing worthy of note.