12 MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL,
S T A T I O N .
PERIOD.
Strength.
TOTAL NUMBER
OF
Daily
average
number of
sick.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH
PER ANNUM.
From
To
Admis- s i o n s . Deaths
.
Adm
i s- sions. Deaths.
Daily
average sick.
Dacca . . . . . 1st Jan. 1878 31st Dec. 1878 263.92 426
4 13.18 161.41 1.51 4.99
Number of deaths in hospital 4; out of hospital 5; total
9; per cent. of total strength . . 3.12
„ invalided . . . . . . . .
4; „
„
. . 1 . 3 8
„ sent on sick leave
. .
. . . .
20 ;
„ „
. 6.94
„ of days spent in hospital 4,643; per admission . 10.89; per man of' total strength . . 16- . 12
„ ,, on sick leave 2,024; per man . 101.20; „
„
. . 7.02
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength
. . 23.14
Principal
causes of
sickness.
Principal
causes of
mortality.
Epidemics.
XVI Principal causes of sickness. —As last year, the diseases which caused the greatest
number of admissions into hospital were fevers, dysentery, diarrhœa, and dyspepsia. Next
in order were goitre, bronchitis, and rheumatism.
Fevers, viz., continued fever, febricula, remittent fever, and ague, gave rise, in all, to
134 admissions. Out of these, 1 man died, and 3 were sent home on sick leave,—all being
admitted under ague (a) . The man who died was a young sepoy, who had also hypertrophy
of the spleen, and in addition suffered from chronic bronchitis and chronic diarrhœa. The three
men sent on sick leave were all more or less debilitated before their admission, and did not
suffer severely from fever. One young sepoy had fever almost continually for 65 days; he
was carefully examined on admission, and his organs found healthy, and he never complained
of anything until two days before his death. Cinchona-febrifuge, quinine, and arsenic, were
all tried without any effect, when he suddenly complained of slight pain about the liver.
On making an examination, the liver was found enormously enlarged; in a few hours typhoid.
symptoms set in, and coma coming on, he quickly died. At the post-mortem examination an
enormous abscess was found in his liver, containing from two to three seers of pus; the other
organs were healthy. Directly the liver disease was discovered, this case was transferred to
hepatitis, and a report of the case was forwarded to the Deputy Surgeon-General.
Dysentery only gave rise to 33 admissions this year, against 67 in 1877, and 73 in
1876. There were no bad cases, the man who died having been mentioned last year. I think
the diminution in the number of cases must be partly due to the improved quality of the
water since alum has been added to it.
Diarrhœa and dyspepsia gave rise to 31 admissions each, being a greater number than
last year. There was no difficulty in checking the diarrhœa, but dyspepsia is very difficult
to treat satisfactorily. Six cases were sent home on sick leave. I think this disease is chiefly
due to the bad water, and partly to the air of Bengal not agreeing well with up-country men.
All the men sent home soon recovered, except one.
Goitre.—The large number of cases of this disease is noticeable, being an increase of 20 on
the number last year. It is probably due to the bad water and damp, heavy atmosphere. I
have noticed numbers of cases among the people living about Dacca, in some the swelling being
very large; but the sepoys all came early for treatment, as before the swelling became large
it caused a difficulty in fastening the tunic. As I have already mentioned in the paragraph
on the water, I think this large number of cases must be partly attributed to the addition of
alum to the water. All the cases were treated with the biniodide of mercury ointment, and
were readily cured. The other diseases require no comment.
XVII. Principal causes of mortality. —Only four deaths occurred in hospital during the
year, one each from ague ( a), cholera, dysentery, and hepatitis. The cases of ague, dysentery,
and hepatitis have been already mentioned in the last paragraph. The man who died of cholera
was 38 years old, and I fear tried to persuade himself there was nothing the matter with him,
for he was vomiting about the lines for some time before coming to hospital.
Epidemics.—There were none, for although four cases of cholera occurred among
the sepoys, and four among the followers, there were never more than two under treatment at
a time, and that only once.
Vaccination.
XIX. Vaccination.—None.
Inspection.
Inspection. —Deputy Surgeon-General A. C. C. DeRenzy of the Assam
Circle inspected the left half battalion of the 10th Native Infantry at Dacca
on the 21st February 1878.
He first notices the inadequacy of any means for providing the sepoys
with pure water, and is certainly of opinion that the frequent occurrence of