OOTACAMUND,
7th October 1880.
Signed)
GODFREY CLERK, Colonel,
Officiating Adjutant-General.
4
MILITARY DEPARTMENT, 13TH OCTOBER 1880, No. 6462.
From Report.
Page.
15. Kamptee.—The barracks of one of the
batteries said to be badly arranged in-
ternally and not to face the prevalent
wind. Lock-up of the Infantry small.
Cooking ranges required. A lying-in
room and a nurse's room required in
hospital. Hospital Serjeant's quarters
required.
Remarks.
The barracks at Kamptee are being
gradually improved on a plan approved by the
Government of India. Each year the work of
carrying out these inprovements is continued,
and item after item taken up.
(True Extract.)
SANITARY REPORT, MADRAS COMMAND, 1879.
There was more sickness amongst the troops in the Command than in the preceding year ;
an examination of the returns of sickness shows that the diseases from which the excess
occurred were mainly those depending on meteorological conditions causing results not within
control by sanitary measures at present applicable. The deficient rainfall of the famine years
has been followed at some stations—if not generally—by great rains, and in the present year
paroxysmal fevers have been unusually common at those stations in a strength not greatly
different. The number of admissions for this class of fevers is upwards of a third greater
than in 1878 ; those for continued fevers were a little less than a third greater. In the
last-named group, enteric fever caused a larger number of illnesses than in 1878, but the
notices in the reports respecting this disease are so often incomplete and even contradictory,
they do not lead to the assurance that the recorded instances were those alone in which enteric
fever occurred. The reports afford no new facts in contribution to the controversy so long
in progress respecting the originating cause of enteric fever in India. Accumulated proof is
given of the already thoroughly-accepted fact that youth and recent arrival in a locality com-
bine the conditions which render a person most likely to be attacked with this disease. The
reports specify that the latrine arrangements on the earth system were satisfactory ; in very
few instances is there any qualification of the statement ; it is difficult to connect the causation
of the disease with excremental impurity in barracks, but on the other hand it is very far
indeed from being disproved. The probability of contagion being received outside the barracks
is not adverted to in the reports. It may be assumed that the water used for drinking in
barracks is, with one doubtful exception, uncontaminated ; and the practice is general of having
the cows which supply milk brought to the barracks to be milked in presence of some soldier
deputed for the purpose. No facts are given such as might justify suspicion that the enteric
fever contagion may be introduced into the body by any other than those present recognized
moans of air, water and certain foods. Venereal diseases were exceedingly common, and were
so in spite of the enforcement of the Contagious Diseases Act at most of the important stations ;
the suggestions made in many of the reports, that a wider extension and stricter enforcement
of the Act would arrest the evil, are, in my judgment, if adopted, not likely to be useful.
The following summary shews the defects specifically stated in the Annual Sanitary
Reports of the various medical officers :—
FORT ST. GEORGE.
Barracks.—Some improvements in the ventilation of rooms occupied by the Royal Artil-
lery were made.
ST. THOMAS' MOUNT.
A wall intercepts the breeze from the old barrack.
SECUNDERABAD.
The roofs of the barracks were in many instances imperfect .
MALAPURAM.
The barracks were burnt down; the men were consequently lodged in makeshift quarters.
CANNANORE.
The flagging of the barrack floors is a soft porous stone very retentive of moisture, and
therefore prejudicial and uncomfortable.