NORTHERN DIVISION OF THE ARMY.
77
The soil is composed of a loose, dark loam, and in various sites there is iron, which predomi
-nates in the immediate vicinity of these cantonments, which seem to be built on a bed of
ferruginous clay. The drainage of the station is very good, and in various places advantage
seems to have been taken of the natural features, in order to afford facility to the draining
of rain water. The close proximity to the native town and some villages (which like
most others are very defective in sanitary arrangements) is one of the main drawbacks.
I believe that the ferruginous nature of the soil here accounts in a great measure for the
marked immunity of the troops from epidemics of cholera. The climate of Augar is on the
whole good, and seems to have agreed with the men.
10. During the year there were 293 cases under treatment, 3 having remained on 1st
January 1878, and 290 fresh admissions; out of these 7 terminat-
ed fatally. As usual, throughout India, paroxysmal fevers head
the list of diseases, with 197 treated against only 43 of the previous year. Out of these
cases of malarial fevers, there were but 2 cases of remittent, 25 of the tertian, and the
rest of the quotidian, types. Venereal diseases (syphilis and gonorrhœa, including bubo) gave
14 admissions against 9. There were 3 cases of cholera, of which 2 died, against none. It
will also be seen from the return that 3 cases of variola were admitted, of which all recov
-ered, against 1. These figures are of the men. During the year 8 women and 6 children
were admitted: of the former 4 were for malarial fevers and 4 for cholera. Out of these
only 1 case of remittent fever terminated in death. Out of the 6 children treated 2 were
for capillary bronchitis, and each of the diseases (ague, cholera, diarrhœa and Bright's
disease) gave 1 admission; of these the case of cholera and that of ague recovered and the
rest died. No other case occurred calling for operative interference, beyond two very minor
operations; in the one an incision for fistula in ano, in the other a bubo was opened.
Barring these, in the treatment of purely medical cases, punctures, for hypodermic injections
of quinine, atropia, &c., were made. Recently I employed pneumatic aspiration for direct
depletion of the lung in a case of pleuro-pneumonia, and the liver for a case of subacute
hepatitis. In both the results were most satisfactory and encouraging.
Details of treated.
Mortality and its causes.
11. Attention is invited to para 10.
12. On the 7th June cholera appeared in the person of a lance naique, who occupied
a hut in the end row facing the south: and from the same row,
another sepoy was admitted on the following morning. These
cases, which were treated in the cholera shed, terminated fatally, the former on the day of
admission and the latter on the 10th. On the 8th also, a woman, wife of a subedar residing
in the adjoining row, was admitted. She was at the time suckling a babe about 5 months
old, which although taking the breast both before and during the mother's choleraic attack,
escaped the disease. I look upon this somewhat singular and interesting feature as very
noteworthy. The woman recovered. On the 9th two other women were admitted, one the
wife of another subedar, whose hut. was in the opposite side of the same block as that of the
last case, and the other was the wife of the second (sepoy) case, who was in attendance on
her husband when taken bad. She was then about six months advanced in utero gestation,
and not only did she recover from cholera, but went on to the full term and was delivered of a
healthy child, which is alive now. The next case was that of a child at 12 years, who
recovered. It was followed by that of a woman, mother of the preceding. She nursed her
child when attacked, and recovered. With her there were in the shed her husband (who
first attended on the child and then on his wife) and their three other children, all of whom
escaped cholera. Out of the seven persons attacked, two died and five recovered. Cholera
generally prevails throughout the hot and rainy months in the city of Augar, in consequence
of the constant intercommunication with the insanitary cities of Oojein and Indore, both
of which are notorious from a very early period in the history of the disease. At this time it
was raging in the surrounding villages; and two cases had occurred amongst the followers
of the 1st Regiment Central India Horse, during the month of April. Simultaneously with
this, a severe outbreak took place in a row of huts, situated in the South-East extremity of
the camp, and inhabited by women. There were no cases of diarrhœa in the Wing either
during or before the small outburst in June; but a few people had come to the city
dispensary for it. At the latter institution two or three cases of cholera were treated weekly
throughout the summer, which, strange to note, it is said had been an unusually mild one.
On the 22nd September an isolated case appeared in the person of a fifer, who lived in a hut
facing S. N. end row, and had immediately before his attack been dissipating in the city, to
which I could trace the disease. This case, which terminated in recovery, was the last that
occurred in the detachment. In March three cases of small-pox were under treatment.
The subjects were all said to have been vaccinated, but one had very slight cicatrices. From
the records I learn that appropriate hygienic measures had been adopted by Surgeon
Ferguson, to prevent the dissemination of the disease, and on referring to the returns, I also
find that all three recovered.
20 m
Epidemics.