26
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF MADRAS.
TABLE II.—Prevailing Diseases and Causes of Mortality of Troops treated in Hospital.
Diseases.
Total Number of
Admissions.
Deaths.
Fevers
...
. . .
. . .
. . .
1,042
11
Rheumatism
. . .
. . . . . .
195
1
Eye diseases
. . .
. . . . . .
64
...
Respiratory diseases
... 65 0
Including phthisis
... 5 3
70
3
Dysentery
...
. . .
...
61
3
Diarrhœa
. . . . . . . . .
73
...
Abscesses and ulcers
. . .
...
60
...
Skin diseases
. . .
. . . . . .
250
...
General debility
. . .
...
98
. . .
Wounds and injuries
. . . ...
. . .
Invaliding
and sick
leave.
Cholera.
Small-pox.
Malarial
fevers.
B. —In advertence to Table II, the prevailing diseases have been fevers, skin
diseases, rheumatism and wounds and injuries. All other diseases are
numbered by units and tens.
Invaliding and sick leave.
TABLE III, showing those Pensioned and sent on Sick Leave from the several Corps in the District.
Corps.
Pensioned. Sick Leave.
Right Wing, 2nd Regiment N.1
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . . 15
7
Left Wing,
do.
do.
. . . . . .
. . . . . .
. . . 8
4
7th Regiment N.I.
. . .
. . .
. . .
...
...
... 28
2 2
12th do.
do.
...
. . .
...
...
. . . . . .
. . . 3
17
41st do.
do.
...
. . .
...
...
...
...
... 21
17
Native Details, Vizagapatam
...
...
...
...
. . . . . . 5
3
Total ... 80
70
There have been 12 more men pensioned in the force and 5 less sent away on sick
leave during the year under review than in that which preceded it. The increment of
pensioners, and high number of those who have left their regiments on sick certificate, are due
in great measure to the 28 in the former and 22 among the latter who have become
permanently or temporarily unfit in the 7th Regiment, which has not yet recovered from
the ill effects of residence in the Straits of Malacca.
Cholera .—One case occurred among the sepoys and one among followers of the 12th
Regiment N.I. at Cuttack, and both recovered. One also occurred in the 2nd Regiment
Wing at Berhampore, and succumbed to the disease ; and there were two cases in the 41st
Regiment, one of which was fatal out of hospital, while the other proved amenable to
treatment.
Looking to the extensive prevalence of this zymotic over the district, there is, in the
fewness of cases which have occurred among our troops, incontrovertible evidence in favor of
the general hygienic conditions in which those troops have lived, however much in particular
respects those conditions demand improvement.
Small-pox .—And the same remark applies to this zymotic also. There were but four cases,
all of which occurred in Berhampore. Three were protected and one of them died, but so
evidently from a chill consequent upon premature bathing contrary to orders, that his death
should not be credited to the mild attack of discrete small-pox from which he suffered. One
case of the confluent form occurred in an unprotected recruit, who recovered. Among the
families two children and one woman were seized, but all were protected and recovered. These
facts speak trumpet-tongued in favor of vaccination, as well as of the general sanitary conditions
in which the troops of the district have been placed.
Malarial fevers.—These have happily diminished in prevalence. They numbered 1,436 in
1875, and that number has reduced to 1,042 in 1876. In Sumbulpore, a hot-bed of malaria,
there were only 218 cases against 312 in the previous year ; and in Cuttack only 110 cases
occurred in the 12th Regiment, against 1,017 in the 41st Regiment during the preceding twelve--
month ! But considerable though the reduction is, it would have been still more marked but
for the Bustar expedition, which occasioned no less than 128 cases in May, 52 in Jnne,
and 26 in July; in all 206 cases in the Wing of the 7th Regiment N.I., while it also