OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF MADRAS.
and the 41st Regiment, stationed at Vizianagrum, last; the former regiment showing
a percentage of daily sick to average strength of 1.35 and the latter of 7.19.
Between these two extremes the remaining regiments of the army find their position
in the scale. In the same list the minimum mortality rate of .44 stands against
the 25th Regiment N.I. at Cannanore, and the maximum rate of 2.90 against the
14th Regiment at Vellore. During the year under remark the sepoys and their
families have suffered more or less severely from the incidence of the famine and
from the very high prices which have ruled in the bazaars, and though this suffering
has not added so largely to the general mortality and invaliding as might have been
anticipated, it has certainly had the effect of lowering the health standard of the
army, a lowering which in all probability will appear in coming years in the shape
of increased mortality and invaliding. A year like 1877, which tried the constitu
-tions of all within the area of the terrible famine, must be expected not only to
produce direct effects, but also to project its influences into the future. At all
times the Madras sepoy lives on his pay with more or less difficulty, for the
claimants on his purse are not confined to the immediate members of his
family, but extend to those who are often able to earn a livelihood for them
-selves. In ordinary seasons these claims are met with some self-sacrifice, yet
not without a corresponding diminution in the physique of the sepoy; but in seasons
like that under remark, the pressure is so seriously increased that its actual result
to the soldier can only be estimated accurately by watching the invaliding and
mortality returns of the regiment on the one hand, and by personal observation of
the physique and capacity for work of the men on the other. Several factors, not
susceptible of numerical expression, concur in determining the health state of a
regiment, among which climatic and local influences are very important. Cold,
wet, windy and malarial stations affect injuriously the Native soldier, who, as a rule,
thrives best in warm and dry cantonments on the plains. At the same time it is to
be borne in mind that a station usually healthy may become unhealthy in conse
-quence of objectionable habits on the part of the population, of badly-constructed
and badly-drained lines, of insanitary overcrowded huts and of defective general
conservancy. The importance of such local causes is strongly seen in cases where
two regiments occupy adjoining lines in the same cantonment and yet present
medical experiences so different as those, for example, of the 36th and 23rd Regiments
at Bangalore. Local insanitary influences affect powerfully the women but especially
the children of a regiment, the diseases and casualties of which classes constitute a
very delicate test of the health condition of the lines and of their immediate
surroundings. It is also to be noted that the climatic influences of an unhealthy
station may for years affect the admission and death returns of a regiment occupying
a healthy station, a fact often observed in connection with regiments which have
recently returned from a tour of service in British Burmah. On the other hand,
regiments may become acclimatised to a certain extent by prolonged residence at
unhealthy stations, as may be seen by comparing the percentages of "daily sick"
and of "admissions" of the 28th Regiment N.I. at Mercara for 1874, 1875 and
1876 with those of 1877. Such acclimatisation, however, does not take place
without serious losses from invaliding and from death. The circumstances of
cavalry corps are, as a rule, favorable to low rates of mortality. They are
generally stationed at healthy cantonments, they are weak in strength and contain
a large proportion of old soldiers, the well-seasoned residue of the stronger corps of
former days. The admissions from His Grace the Governor's Body Guard for 1877
are however in excess of the average of the preceding three years, and the mortality
exceeds the corresponding average by 1.14 per cent.
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