16 REPORT ON THE
with 6,054 in 1879. The average daily attendance was 85.9, which in 1879
was 80.7. Of the new cases 3,879 were male and 1,587 female adults. There
were 846 children. There were 166 surgical operations performed upon
these people.
27.
I have introduced the foregoing accounts of the Obstetric and Ophthal-
mic Hospitals into the body of this report, instead of giving them the place
they formerly occupied in the notice of the Medical College Hospital, abstracted
from the hospital returns, as they are institutions entirely devoted to these
branches of practice, and so may be regarded as the special hospitals of
Calcutta.
28.
In the resolution on the report for 1879, the Lieutenant-Governor
expressed a hope that in future reports the experience of the surgeons of the
Medical College Hospital would be brought out and examined by the Surgeon-
General in connection with the question of antiseptic surgery. I can
only respond to the Lieutenant-Governor's wish by producing the reports which
I have received from the officers mentioned, which I do in appendix, or rather
so much of the reports as relates to the experience indicated. The subject
at the present time divides the opinions of the highest authorities, and the
conclusions conveyed in these reports represent two aspects of the question.
I am not competent to pronounce judgment in a case in which the best judges
d i f f e r ; a n d I c o u l d n o t a t t e m p t a c r i t i c a l e x a m i n a t i o n o f t h e v i e w s e x p r e s s e d
in the reports unless I had accompanied the reporters in their daily practice.
I have already shown the position in which, in my judgment, the question of
antiseptic surgery stands at present, on the evidence of the few facts brought
out in the hospital by the practice of the year, and have made reference to
some points in the special reports which bear on the argument and on hospital
management. For the rest, I will content myself with leaving each
surgeon to relate his experience and his opinions in his own words,
observing only that Listerism, in its introduction here, has been accompanied
by great improvements in matters of ordinary hospital administration, and
that hereafter, when there shall have been experience sufficient for the due
consideration of its merits, it will be necessary to keep other powerful
influences in view.
29.
Enteric Fever .—In continuation of the remarks submitted last year on
the subject of enteric fever in Calcutta, 1 invite attention to the figures in
the following statement, which relate to the year under review. The figures
show the numbers of cases admitted. Those at the Howrah General Hospital
were treated in the European ward. It will be seen that no case of this
affection was returned among Native patients.
STATEMENT No. X.
ENTERIC FEVER.
REMITTENT FEVER.
1871.
1872.
1873. 1874. 1875. 1876. 1877. 1878. 1879. 1880. 1 1871. 2 1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. 1876. 1877. 1878. 1879. 1880
Medical College
3 5
9 5 6 6 1
. . . 2 ... 42 8 0 86 58 125 95 124 152 152 164
1 8 0
Presidency General Hospital
15 17
6 11 12 17 18 9 11 6 45 19 22 1 0 48 27 39
3 8 34 49
Howrah Hospital
... ... ... .. ...
. . . 4 2 4 2 16 28
8 8 146 172 210 359 393 228 107
Mayo Hospital
... 6 2 1 5 6 ... ... .,. ...
6 15 13 22 35 36 174 224 130 208
Campbell Hospital
94 86 2 8 2 ... ... ... ... ... ...
1 8 1 239 212 495 466 438 432 466 333 354
Police Hospital
4 12 8 1 1 ... 14 11 2 1 ... ... ... ... ... 1
. . . 11 29 28
Total
116 1 2 6 5 3 30 23 43 35 13 18 8 290 381 421 731 847 806 1,128 1,284 918 926
Dr Coates, noticing the absence of enteric fever from the wards of the Medical
College Hospital, gives a full account of those severe fevers which are attended
by some of the phenomena that made up the condition called typhoid, and
which follow a definite course, not being influenced by febrifuge medicine. Of
these there have been cases in this College in 1880 as in former years, but
if they are not malarious, they are not specific in the sense of enteric,
though I have no doubt they have composed a large majority of the entries
in former years under the latter head. The admissions for remittent fever
are seen to move with the health of the town as set forth in my opening
paragraph.