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largest number of in-door patients was admitted during the months of
November, October, August, September, December, and July. The month of
February is shown to have been the most healthy of the year. The greatest
mortality occurred in November; and the lowest in June. The large number of
deaths in November is exceptional, and is attributed to the unusual prevalence
of cholera during that month, as during previous years the largest proportion,
o r 3 1 . 4 3 p e r c e n t . o f t h e p a t i e n t s t r e a t e d , w e r e s u f f e r i n g f r o m i n t e r m i t t e n t
and remittent fevers with their sequelæ. The diseases next in order of
frequency appear to have been dysentery, diarrhœa, and cholera, and, as
compared with 1874, bowel complaints generally seem to have been more
prevalent. It is noteworthy that of the patients suffering from typhoid
fever 69 per cent. were Europeans. There was a marked and deplorable
increase in the number of deaths from small-pox. Eighty deaths occurred
from this disease in the hospitals, as against seventeen only in the previous
year. The disease would also appear to have been of a severe type, as the
mortality was 37 per cent. of the total number treated. The municipal returns
show altogether 775 deaths from small-pox during the year. This mortality
is twelve times the average of the nine preceding years, and gives evidence
of an outbreak of some virulence, though it was fortunately of limited
extent.
4. The number of cholera cases treated in the hospitals was greater
than in any of the five preceding years, and, with the exception of 1873, the
death-rate was greater than in any year since 1868. The total number of
admissions for this disease was 787 against an average of 493 during the
five preceding years, and of these 405 died; giving a death-rate of 515 per mille.
The highest death-rate occurred in the Presidency General Hospital, where
no less than 50 Europeans, out of 75 treated, or over 66 per cent., succumbed
to the disease. From the statement showing the localities from which cholera
cases were admitted, it appears that there was a considerable increase of the
disease in every division of the town and suburbs, with the exception of the
River Division and the well-drained and well-watered quarter in which Euro-
peans chiefly reside. This increase is chiefly observable in the third division
and in Howrah, where the number of cases rose from 45 and 61 to 110 and 114
respectively. Of the 75 patients received in the Presidency General Hospital, no
less than 60 came from the shipping, and though the total number of cholera
cases received from the riverside decreased from 143 in 1874 to 104 in 1875, it
would seem that the sanitary condition of the port is still far from satisfactory.
An examination of the detailed returns tends to show that this is owing less to
emanations from the unembanked foreshore than to the discharge of the Fort
sewage into the river. The most unhealthy situations were the Esplanade,
Prinsep's Ghât, and Hastings' Ghât moorings, from which 18, 21, and 15
cholera cases respectively were admitted into the hospitals ; while one case only
was admitted from Coilah Ghât, Baboo Ghât, and Chandpal Ghât respectively,
three from Bankshall Ghât, and nine from the jetties. These figures, indeed,
appear to indicate that those parts of the river are most unhealthy which
come directly under the influence of the sewage discharge from the Fort. This
question has engaged the attention of this Government and of the Govern-
ment of India during the year, and a scheme is under consideration for
disposing of the sewage of the Fort by connecting the drains with the munici-
pal sewers.
5. The mortality from -all the most frequent diseases, dysentery and
debility excepted, was higher than in 1874, and these results agree generally
with those shown in the municipal returns. Of the 22,806 in-door patients
treated, 3,815 died, giving a death-rate of 167 per thousand, as against
152 and 143 per thousand in 1874 and 1873 respectively. The death-rate
returns, however, present very marked differences in the several institutions,
ranging as the figures do from 22 per mille in the Police Hospital, and 65 per
mille in the General Hospital, to 280 in the Campbell Hospital, and 319 in the