48
A SKETCH OF THE MEDICAL HISTORY OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BOMBAY.
21 cases, 3 measles, and 18 chicken-pox, out of which 12 were admitted during December;
the other cases occurred in January and June, October and November, and measles in May
and June; all were slight cases, and were treated in tents pitched in the hospital compound.
Rheumatic affections 12; one of these cases was a severe case of acute rheumatism, with great
constitutional disturbance, and is alluded to under the heading of special treatment. Vene
-reals: soft chancre 1, secondary syphilis 1; the subject of this was a recruit; he had disease of
the palate and nose when he joined the head-quarters of the regiment, and has been discharged
from the service since; gonorrhœa 2; bubo 2; in all 6 cases, of whom 5 were contracted in
this station. Scurvy: 6 cases were treated in hospital, and 76 were treated in the lines,
giving a percentage of 13 scorbutic cases to strength. It is remarkable that as soon as there was
a deficiency of food, owing to dearness of grain in August and September, the number of men
suffering from scurvy increased, and especially among men who are in the receipt of small
pay. Diseases of the nervous system: 5 admissions, of which 1 case proved fatal from
hemiplegia, giving a percentage of 1.3 admissions to treated, and 0.26 deaths to treated. Heart
disease 4:1 case of pericarditis which proved fatal (1.06 admissions to per cent. of treated).
Diseases of the lungs: 30 admissions and 1 remained of last year, total 31 cases—mostly
cases of asthma and bronchitis—giving a percentage of 8.2 to treated. One case of pleurisy,
which was subsequently complicated with pneumonia and bronchitis, is now convalescent.
Bowel complaints: diarrhœa 9, and dysentery 20. One man suffering from chronic diarrhœa
had to be sent for a change of air. Some of the dysentery cases, although severe, readily yielded
to treatment with ipecacuanha, bismuth, and opium. Diseases of the eye: 28 cases, mostly
conjunctivitis, arising from cold. Surgical cases: there were 37 cases of injuries and 1 re
-maining of last year, total 38 cases treated, giving the next largest number of admissions after
malarial fevers: all these were accidental. In three cases gangrene was the result. The
first of these cases occurred in Aden, the patient arriving with the 2nd detachment; the part
affected was the toe of the foot. It was in a gangrenous condition when the man arrived here,
and the toe had to be amputated under chloroform. The patient has just returned after sick
furlough, completely recovered of his injury, which was caused by a splinter of wood. In the
second case gangrene had set in on the instep as the result of contusion, causing rapid slough
-ing of a large surface of the skin, the tendons being exposed; the patient is now convalescent.
The third case sustained a contusion of the big toe of the right foot, and the nail had to be
taken off; a gangrenous ulcer was the result; and at the present moment the final phalanx is
found to be necrosed, which will have to be removed as soon as circumstances admit of it. The
first and last case occurred in sepoys who had served in Aden, having very impaired constitutions.
The other surgical cases were abscess 8, and ulcers 5. Skin diseases 32, mostly scabies,
which was quite unknown in Aden. Poisons 1; this was a case of poisoning by datura,
which occurred under peculiar circumstances. The patient was on his way to the weekly
market to buy grain, when two men met him, coming from the direction of the town of
Sháhpur, and entering into a conversation with him, got him to partake of some sweetmeats;
after this the patient began to reel, and feeling that he was becoming incapable of supporting
himself, desired to be taken to the lines, when the men volunteered to accompany him. After
this he became unconscious, and when he recovered his unconsciousness he found himself on
the sand bed of a river lying about 30 miles away on the Vingorla road, whence he eventually
found his way home. On his admission, some 30 hours after, his pupils were found dilated
and insensible to the stimulus of light. He was very drowsy for a number of days, but has
made a complete recovery.
17. There has been a scarcity of rain this year, and much sickness in consequence,
such as ague and bronchial affections, owing to the sudden
changes in the temperature, and the early prevalence of the
east winds, and thus lengthening as it were the autumn by cutting short the period naturally
belonging to the rainy season.
18. Cholera has sent in 4 cases into hospital; one of these was a private who had just
returned from furlough, and while remaining under quarantine
in one of the hospital tents, where there had been no cases of
cholera before, he took ill with cholera some 24 hours after his arrival, and it is believed he
was infected by it on the way. Being a strong man he ate and drank everywhere on the
way; but his companion, who was weakly and did not take his meals as frequently on the
way as the other, escaped. The patient died of imperfect reaction 31 hours after the attack.
The other fatal case occurred in the month of July; the patient was the wife of a sepoy, and
she was in low spirits owing to the death of her child from a chronic complaint while cholera
was prevailing in the town of Belgaum. She was a Purwarri by caste, and the well water
looking suspicious was sent for analysis; but although a large quantity of albuminoid am
- m o n i a w a s p r e s e n t i n i t , i t i s b e l i e v e d t o h a v e a r i s e n f r o m t h e p r e s e n c e o f v e g e t a b l e o r g a n i c
matter, the well being placed close under a tree, and leaves had dropped into it; further, no
other case had occurred among those who used this water; consequently, the case could not be
Influence of rainfall.
Epidemics.