12
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BOMBAY.
Years.
Stations.
Rate per cent. to Average Strength
Present of
Admissions. Daily Sick.
D e a t h s
i n
H o s p i t a l .
1876
Rajkote
.
110.5
3.8
2.1
1877
Do.
60.5
2.4
0.6
1878 ...
Do.
251.9
6.6
2.4
Average
140.8
4.3
1.7
1879 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Surat
238.2
5.6
2.2
Location and movements.
1. The Regiment arrived at Surat on the 14th December
1878, where it has remained up to the end of the year.
2. The lines were inspected by the Deputy Surgeon General of the Division in September
1878, and condemned by him as badly ventilated, and badly constructed. On the arrival of
the Regiment the floors of the huts, previous to their occupation, were dug up, and the walls
all white-washed inside and outside. After they were thoroughly dry, they were occupied.
3. The latrines are situated to the east of the lines, and are kept scrupulously clean.
The lines are always kept extremely clean.
4. The water supply is good and abundant. There are some brackish wells, but they
are not in use.
5. The food is good and plentiful, and vegetables of sorts can always be had, which
was not the case in Rajkot, and scurvy, which did so much there to injure the health of the
men, has disappeared from the Regiment, the cases occurring in Surat having had their
origin in Rajkot. A few men have suffered from the effects of insufficient quantity. There
was one man admitted with ulcers which arose from shoe bite ; sloughing and gangrenous
ulcers followed on account of his being badly fed.
Duties, exercise, and amuse-
ments.
6. The same as last report.
7. The hospital is a large, upper storied bungalow, well built, well ventilated, and well
Hospital and its immediate
surroundings.
situated ; but there is a village close to windward, and its want
of sanitation can be disagreeably felt from the upper story of
the hospital.
8. The general health and physique of the men is good, and their health has much
improved since last year. Although the admissions have nearly been as many, yet the fever
was not of so severe a type ; and incalculable benefit to the health of the men has been obtained
from the change from Rajkot.
9. There was a break in the rains after about ten inches had fallen : this was the most
unhealthy period of the year, there were then as many as 94
sick. The diseases were principally ague, boils, and shoe bite.
The former diseases were owing I think to the men wearing
their thick uniform during the rains ; and it is almost a wonder the shoe bites were so few, as
the leather of the boots the men wear is not of a very first class quality, and when the boots
have got once wet and dried and hardened, it seemed a hopeless task to attempt to try to
soften them again. There can be, therefore, as the men do not as a rule wear socks, only
one result.
Influence of climate or local
circumstances on health.
Details of treated.
10. The following table contrasts the causes of admission
into hospital for 1878 with those of 1879 :—
Names of Diseases.
1878.
1879.
Ague, quotidian
1,119
848
Chronic rheumatism
21
17
Soft chancre
4
3
Scurvy
21
15
Bronchitis
31
53
Asthma
1
.....
Pneumonia
6
3
Dysentery
30
45
Diarrhœa
30
53
Colic
13
5
Guinea-worm
12
7