vii
25. Towards the end of the year the effects of the famine became apparent in
raising the price of food at many of the stations in the
Poona division. One or two of the medical officers
report that sepoys with large families are obliged to curtail their own allowance ;
in other instances the quality of the food is said to be inferior. The medical
officer in charge of the 15th N. I. at Ahmednagar states that, in his opinion, much
of the bowel disease which prevailed in the regiment was due to the consump
-tion of damaged grain. The full effects of the scarcity on the health of the
troops will not, however, become apparent till later in the season. In the other
divisions food is generally reported as cheap and good. The want of fresh vege
-tables at Aden is evidenced in the number of men who suffer from scurvy. A
similar scarcity is experienced at Rájkot; measures should be undertaken to
provide supplies of fresh vegetables or potatoes at both these stations.
26. The annual loss in efficiency from shoe-bite, due to unsuitable and ill-fit
-ting boots, has been frequently brought to notice, and the
remedy suggested. As yet, however, nothing appears
to have been done towards effecting an improvement in this direction. It would
add much to the general health and well-being of the army were the sepoys
possessed of a better supply of warm undress clothing in order to guard against
the ill effects of chill when heated after exercise. The Sind troops, who are exposed
to greater vicissitudes of climate than those of the other divisions, should be
exceptionally well provided in this respect.
27. The duties do not appear to have been heavy, nor have they had any pre
-judicial effect on the general health. Gymnasia and
other means for affording salutary exercise, thus im
- p r o v i n g t h e h e a l t h a n d p h y s i q u e o f t h e m e n , a r e n o t , i n m y o p i n i o n , s o g e n e r a l l y
available as they should be.
28. The regimental hospitals are, as a rule, favourably reported on, and, with
a few exceptions, their ventilation and accommodation.
are pronounced sufficient. Some necessary alterations
and improvements have been carried out, and others will be attended to. At
Satara and Sirur new hospitals are required. Deputy Surgeon-General Joynt
brings to notice the dampness of the hospitals at Jacobabad, which, he states, is due
to defective construction. This condition needs to be remedied with as little delay
as possible. At Jacobabad, above all places, a removable source of unhealthi
-ness, like this, should not be allowed to continue.
29. In every regiment vaccination and re-vaccination, both of sepoys and
their families, have been most strictly attended to. Con
-sidering what a virulent epidemic of small-pox raged
among the civil population of the Presidency during part of the past year, the
comparative immunity of the army from the disease speaks well for the manner
in which protective measures were carried out by the medical officers.
30. Surgeon MacRury, of the 3rd Sind Horse, gives an interesting andinstruc
-tive account of the outbreak of cholera which occurred
among the troops of the Sind Frontier Field Force.
Although the data are not quite complete, there can still, I think, be little doubt
that this outbreak was due to the use of contaminated drinking water. Dr. MacRury's
remarks regarding the immunity of the troops from cholera while at Khelat and
Mustoong, although the disease was everywhere raging around them, are full of
interest. He does not attribute this immunity to any special precautions in the
way of quarantine, but believes that it was due more to the strict cleanliness
which was enforced throughout the camp, and to the protection of the water
- s u p p l y f r o m c o n t a m i n a t i o n . W h i l e f u l l y s h a r i n g i n t h i s o p i n i o n , I m a y t a k e t h e
opportunity of offering some further observations in connection with the subject
of quarantine in cholera. The contagion, by means of which a disease like this
is spread, is of so subtle a nature, that it may be carried from place to place in
Food.
Clothing.
Duties.
Hospitals.
Vaccination.
Epidemics.