82
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BOMBAY.
11. The total number of deaths during the year was twelve, against one in the previous
year. The Wing 23rd N. L. I. lost two men, one from small-
pox, and one from chronic bronchitis. Ten deaths occurred in
the Wing 6th Regiment N. I. The following are the causes of mortality—cholera 8, remittent
fever 1, pleurisy 1, total 10. Five deaths occurred amongst the followers; four women died
from remittent fever, and one from cholera.
12. Two cases of small-pox occurred in the month of March, one amongst the
followers in the person of a sepoy's wife, the other in the
person of a sepoy. Both were unprotected. The sepoy died
on the 12th March, but the other case recovered. Cholera was prevalent in the native city
of Indore, and also at Mhow, during the year under review, but there was not a single case
in the lines before the arrival of the Wing of the 6th Regiment N. I. Soon after its arrival
here, fifteen cases occurred in less than a week; one amongst the followers in the person of a
sepoy's wife, the rest were sepoys. The first case occurred on the evening of the 14th May,
and the last case on the 18th May. Nine cases proved fatal, eight sepoys and one follower.
The medical officer under whom the cases occurred has informed me that the probable cause
of the outbreak of cholera was the offensive water from a nullah, situated at a distance of
about three miles from the camp, where the men halted for an hour whilst on the march from
Mhow to Indore, and some of them partook of the water. This is further supported by the
following facts:—1st, that only those men who partook of that water suffered from the
disease; 2nd, that the families of the sepoys of this Wing, and the men of the Wing 23rd
N. L. I., who did not halt near the nullah, were altogether free from the disease.
13. Total number of primary vaccinations amongst the children of the Wing 23rd.
N. L. I. was 10, all of which were successful. There were 11
re-vaccinations, of which 6 were successful and 5 unsuccessful.
14. Five men were sent up to be invalided from the Wing 6th N. I. before the Annual
Invaliding Committee. The following are the causes:—chronic
rheumatism 2, muscular rheumatism 1, chronic bronchitis 1,
hœmorrhoids, internal, 1.
Mortality and its causes.
Epidemics.
Vaccination and re-vaccination.
Invaliding and its causes.
Requirements and recommend
-ations.
15. Quarters for the Native Medical Pupil and hospital
sweeper are the requirements I have to submit for the consider
-ation of the proper authorities.
16. The cinchona febrifuge has been used as a substitute for quinine in the treatment
of intermittent fever. It answers very well in the milder forms
of this disease, but 20 and 30 grain doses have no influence on
the severer forms of ague. Quinine succeeds generally in
checking the disease, when the cinchona alkaloids fail.
Inspection by Deputy Surgeon General WYLLIE.
Inspected December 24th, 1878. All in creditable order, and the duties efficiently and
carefully conducted. Accommodation for sick, while sufficient ordinarily, proved inadequate
in autumn, when it became necessary to utilize for patients the cook-house and other out-
offices, owing to unusual prevalence of ague from exceptionally large rainfall. The men's
huts have been improved since my last visit, by raising the walls 2 feet and thus materially
increasing cubage. But the lines are radically defective in the fact that the streets are far
too narrow for free and sufficient ventilation, besides that the dead level of the locality, and
insufficient cuttings, lead to flooding and dampness. Drainage from family quarters, hitherto
objectionable, is now being improved. Health shows unfavourably, under ague, compared
with former experience; and particularly in mortality, cholera having unfortunately appeared
on the march from Mhow, resulting in 8 deaths of 14 attacked.
Special observations, new ex
-periences in treatment, sanitation.