vi
terranean Expeditionary Force, but as they are fully detailed in the medical
report of the Force by Deputy Surgeon General Beatty, printed as an Appendix,
it will not be necessary to allude to them further here.
17. Vaccination and re-vaccination has been most carefully attended to by
Vaccination.
all the Medical Officers in charge of Corps.
18.
There was a large increase in the admissions from scurvy over 1877,
they being 251 as against 170. The increase is altoge-
ther debitable to the Northern and Sind Divisions, and
in the former the stations where it showed most were Mhow, Bhuj, Nassirabad,
and Baroda. In Sind, the Regiments stationed at Hyderabad and Jacobabad
were most affected. The stations in the Presidency Division where it showed
with most frequency were Surat, Bombay, and Aden, and in the Poona Division,
New Jhansi and Kholapur.
19.
The lines occupied by the Native soldiers are as a general rule very
ill-constructed and deficient in many sanitary essentials
necessary to render a habitation healthy. Whenever
new lines have to be constructed in future, it will be well to note carefully the
sanitary instructions as regards the erection of Native houses and laying out
of Native villages, published at page 839 of the Bombay Government Gazette,
dated 25th of September 1879. The principles laid down in these, if applied in
the construction of sepoys' huts, will ultimately conduce much to the health
and well-being of the inhabitants. One point the medical officers in charge of
Regiments generally agree upon is, the great desirability of a well-raised and
solid plinth on which to construct the huts. Surgeon Peters, in medical charge
of the 2nd Regiment N. I., gives an instance in Belgaum where the damp
ness of the floors caused by the lodgment of a quantity of rain water
behind a recently erected bund in the vicinity of the lines, intercepting the
drainage flow, gave rise to a great increase in the number of fever cases. On
a sluice gate being opened in the bund, the water subsided, the natural drainage
flow went on, and the fever cases became fewer. The lines occupied by the
Native troops at Satara are said to be exceedingly bad, and new ones are much
needed. Those at Surat are reported by Deputy Surgeon General Moore as
badly situated, badly ventilated, and badly constructed. At Aden the lines are
said to be situated in about the worst part of it, the houses are small, the streets
narrow, and the ventilation defective. The lines at Neemuch occupied by the
3rd Light Cavalry are reported by Surgeon Major McDowell as " miserably
small and low huts." The Medical Officer of the 6th Regiment N. I. at Mhow
says, "The huts are low, single tiled, without plinths, built of mud and sunburnt
brick, and hence they are very damp during and after the rains, which circum-
stance predisposes the inmates to attacks of malarious fevers and chest affections."
The 10th N. I. at Neemuch occupied lines " originally defective as to general
construction, space, light, ventilation, and a total absence of plinths." At Deesa
the 18th N. I. occupied lines " which have been periodically reported for some
years past as old, bad, and past repair." At Mehidpur the lines are reported as
old, bad, and not built on plinths. On the other hand, the Native Infantry Lines
are reported very good at Poona, Dharwar, Nassirabad, and Malegaon.
20.
In stations where at all practicable, the trench system of night-soil
conservancy and disposal is adopted, and medical
officers pretty generally agree as to the advantages
in regard to cleanliness and purity of surroundings to be obtained by this
system. During the rainy season the trench system does not work so well in
consequence of the distance the trenches have to be placed from the lines,
the exposure to wet going to and from them, the sloppiness of the ground, and
the depreciation of the deodorizing properties of clay when damp. The trenches
should be supplemented by latrines at all stations, to be used only when circum-
stances may interdict the use of the former. But where latrines are brought into
use, it is essential that they be so constructed as to reduce to a minimum the
Scurvy.
Lines.
Conservancy.