6 MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL,
STATION.
PERIOD.
Strength.
TOTAL NUER
OF
Daily
average
number
of sick.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH
PER ANNUM.
From
To
Admis-
sions. Deaths.
Admis- sions. Deaths.
D a i l y
average
sick.
Head-quarters
Barrackpore 1st Jan. 1878 19th Oct. 1878
446.28 1,235
73
58.81 276.73 16.35 13.15
Meerut
20th Oct. „
31st Dec. „
Detachment at Barrackpore 29th Jan. „
15th Mar. „
135.16
48
5
11.70 269.80 28.09
8.28
Detachment at
Cawnpore 26th June „
4th Sept. „
36.90
33
21
14.77 171.79 109.32 40.02
Moradabad 5th Sept. „
31st Dec. „
Detachment at Roorkee
29th Oct.
31st Dec. „
21.
8
...
4.5
217.23 ...
21.42
TOTAL . .
..
...
490.84 1,324
99
68.89 269.73 20.16 14.03
Number of deaths in hospital 99; out of hospital 52; total
151; per cent. of total strength .
26.27
,,
invalided
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
45;
„ „
.
.
7.83
„
sent on sick leave .
.
.
.
.
.
.
91;
„ „
.
.
15.83
„ of days spent in hospital 25,144; per admission
18.46; per man of total strength
.
43.75
„ „ on sick leave 18,653; per man
204.97;
„
„.
.
32.46
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength
.
.
76.21
Principal
causes of
sickness.
The observations of the medical officer on the deplorable sickness, invaliding
and mortality incident to this regiment during the years 1877 and 1878, are
worthy of being fully entered in the Sanitary Report.
XVI. Principal causes of sickness. —A consideration of the annual return of this regiment
brings certain facts prominently forward; firstly, that the extraordinary sickness is almost
entirely due to malarious poisoning; secondly, that while the number of admissions for similar
disease has, as a rule, not been greater than in 1877, yet the mortality has been much higher;
thirdly, that as a large proportion of those admitted in 1878 were healthy, well-developed recruits
who had never been to Buxa (the former station of the regiment), a local origin must be sought
for the cause of disease. In the report for last year seven causes are assigned for the great
sickness in the regiment:
Firstly. —Original defective physique of sepoy.
Secondly. —Three years' residence in Buxa, Bhutan.
Thirdly. —Change to a malarious climate like Barrackpore.
Fourthly. —Unhealthy, badly drained lines.
F i f t h l y .—Very heavy duties.
Sixthly.—Dislike of men for service in Lower Bengal, and resulting depressive effect.
Seventhly.—Unvarying ration of native soldiers, and dislike of animal food.
In 1878 these explanations must be modified. Causes 1 and 2 while still, no doubt, operating,
had lost much of their importance from so few men coming into these categories. Cause 3 un-
doubtedly operated in the case of up-country recruits, but similar conditions do not proportion-
ately affect other regiments stationed in Lower Bengal: Cause 4, "unhealthy low-lying lines,"
unquestionably badly drained, with sub-soil water very high, the inevitable pollution consequent
on the occupation of the ground by men may be reasonably expected to rapidly increase when
drainage and evaporation do so little to remove the impurity. As a consequence, the originally
malarious site becomes uninhabitable from the intensity of the poison. Cause 5, "very heavy
duties," still existed, although all means were taken to lighten the duties, more especially in the
case of recruits. I am inclined to attach much importance to cause 6, "dislike to residence in
Bengal and resulting depressive effect." With the great amount of sickness and mortality, the
effect on the mental constitution of the natives could but be most depressive, and the regiment
had lost all heart. Cause 7, "the unvarying ration of the native soldier," may be dismissed as
not applying particularly to this regiment.
Starting in 1878 with 103 sick in hospital, many men on sick leave, and the ranks full
of enfeebled men, many with enlarged spleens, the condition of the regiment must have
been deplorable. These men when admitted into hospital rapidly succumbed to disease
which they may have recovered from on previous occasions. Hence the explanation of the
high rate of mortality. Ague (15 a ) in an obstinate form, complicated with diarrhœa and
complete loss of appetite, formed the larger proportion of admitted cases, leaving the patient,
if he survived, in an anæmic and shattered condition, frequently also with enlarged spleen.
The occurrence of two fatal cases of cancrum oris indicates how extreme this cachexia was in
some cases. In such a condition he easily fell a victim to dysentery, pneumonia, or other disease
if attacked, and, as might have been expected, the first effect of the removal of the regiment to
the colder climate of Meerut was decidedly prejudicial to such cases. The effect of the change
on the men generally, however, has been satisfactory. Time is necessary to recoup a regiment
so saturated with the poison, but fever is decreasing in amount and severity, and the men