PRESIDENCY DIVISION, ADEN, AND BOMBAY MARINE.
5
affections, 13 of the former and 29 of the latter. I regret to say syphilis of a very
bad type is exceedingly prevalent in Bombay, and the men of the regiment of loose
morals, who resort to the town, have suffered very severely; not only have the primary
attacks been of the sloughing variety of the disease, but nearly all the cases
have been affected in quick succession with secondary and tertiary forms of the
disease. I believe I am not the only medical officer at the Presidency who thinks
this disease ought not to be allowed to reign rampant in Bombay, without any attempt to
check its ravages. Eruptive fevers give only 2 admissions for chicken-pox as last year, both
mild cases, and calling for no remark; scurvy gives 4 admissions, and these not furnished
by the detachments serving in the Persian Gulf or on board the Indian Government vessels,
but contracted on shore from low living. This form of scurvy is much more intractable than
that contracted on boardship; the men suffer for months before any signs of impaired health
become visible, and it is only when they fear to be invalided that those not entitled to
pension allow themselves a more sustaining diet, and then begin to improve in health.
Local disease contribu tes 136 admissions, of which the skin, which includes that most fre
-quent disease amongst natives—scabies—gives as many as 45 admissions; but diseases
of the more important organs, such as the eye and lungs, have not been infrequent; 14 of the
former and 17 of the latter have been treated. And whilst diseases of the eye have readily
yielded to treatment, lung diseases, preceded as it often is with remittent fever of a low type,
has been found much more difficult to combat, requiring a free administration of stimulants
and nourishment. Diseases of another very important organ—the liver—have not been
absent, and diseases of the bowels, including diarrhœa and dysentery, have furnished their
usual quota. The remainder of this class of diseases call for no remark, unless I except gonor
-rhœa, to which, however, the men are less exposed than to the more constitutionally destructive
disease, syphilis; but amongst ulcers, although small in number, one case of sepigenous ulcer,
affecting the back of the elbow, is deserving of notice. The man had recently returned from
the Persian Gulf; and I am informed that the disease is not uncommon there, and is ascribed
to eating dates. Whatever its origin may be, it is exceedingly intractable, and recurs again
and again. As soon as one small spot of ulceration is healed, a small fresh corrosion of the
skin takes place, until the ulcer presents a very good specimen of skin-grafting; this ulceration
or corrosion in the case, which has more than once come under my observation, is superficial
in its character, but affects the true skin, but doec not touch the deeper structures. It became
necessary to invalid the case in question.
8. One from remittent fever, complicated with double pneumonia, and 2 from
phthisis pulmonalis, both cases admitted in the third stage of
the disease.
Principal causes of mortality.
Mortality according to race.
9. Two Mussulmans, or 1.3 per cent to strength, and. one
Hindu, or 0.2 per cent to strength.
1 0 . S m a l l - p o x o c c u r r e d a m o n g s t t h e f a m i l i e s o f t h e r e g i m e n t ; b u t t h e c a s e s w e r e e a r l y
isolated, and no sepoy was affected. There were 9 cases in
all, with the result of 1 death and 8 recoveries; the first case
occurred in January, and the last in April.
11. One hundred and eighteen children were primarily vaccinated—112 successful, and 6
failed; 50 persons re-vaccinated, of which number 19 only were
successful. At the commencement of the outbreak of small
- p o x i n t h e n a t i v e t o w n i n t h e e a r l i e r p a r t o f t h e y e a r , a l l t h e w o m e n a n d c h i l d r e n w e r e
mustered for examination, and 87 doubtful subjects were selected for vaccination or re-vaccina
- t i o n , o f w h i c h n u m b e r 6 8 w e r e s u c c e s s f u l .
12. The general health of the men has been unusually good, only 52.6 per cent to
strength having come under treatment during the year. Con
-sidering the class from which the regiment is recruited, the
physique of the men is fair; but they cannot compare in height,
breadth of chest, or muscular development, with the sepoys recruited in the North-West
Provinces.
13. The most noticeable feature in the return is the great reduction which has been
effected in the daily average number of sick men. In 1875
these amounted to 17.4, and the average for the previous 5
years amounts to 194, while for the year under report the number Of daily non-effectives is
only 12.5. If it were possible to substitute a more nourishing diet for the sepoys, the men
would not be so liable to such low forms of fever complicated with lung and hepatic disease,
as they now suffer from, more especially during the warmer months of the year, when the
Winds are more or less northerly, and the Sonapore drain becomes more than usually offensive,
and without doubt assists a spare diet in the production of disease.
B 1 9 6 —2
Epidemics.
Vaccination and re-vaccination.
General health and physique of
the men.
Resumé of the whole.