45
NORTHERN DIVISION OF THE ARMY.
Operations.
Successful.
Unsuccessful.
Vaccinations . . .
57
54
3
Re-vaccinations . . .
54
29
25
The persons re-vaccinated were mostly recruits, with a few recruit-boys.
14. Twenty-three men were invalided out of the service on gratuity or pension during
the year; of these, eight were time-expired men (over 32 years'
service.) Of the remainder, six were cases of general debility,
two of chronic bronchitis, one physical disability, and one each of the following disabilities:
—
Paralysis (hemiplegia), chronic rheumatism, varicose veins, atrophy of the muscles of one
lower extremity, chronic disease of ankle-joint, and secondary syphilis with debility.
1 5 . U n d e r t h i s h e a d , i n a d d i t i o n t o t h e r e m a r k s m a d e i n m y R e p o r t f o r 1 8 7 8 , I w o u l d
suggest that serge trousers, such as are served out to sepoys,
are hardly warm enough for the cold weather at stations in the
Northern Division.
Quarters are still required for the junior medical subordinates; and also a dead-house,
and a bathing-room for the patients. I would also suggest the advisability of instituting
medical history sheets for native, the same as for European troops. They would prove very
useful in October when the annual selection of men for invaliding out of the service has to
be made, and would render unnecessary the keeping daily notes of cases possessing but
trivial professional interest, the labour involved in which has during the past year been
excessive, daily notes of every case having been kept in my own hand-writing.
I would further recommend that Government be moved to sanction the taking of such
measures as may be necessary to prevent the flooding of any portion of the lines in future
rainy seasons.
16. ( a ) I gave cinchona alkaloids a full trial, and found them a very efficient medicine in
ordinary cases of ague when given in doses of 10 or 15 grains
three or four hours before the expected accession. I also found
many cases of congested spleen and brow-ague improve rapidly
under its use. I am bound to say, however, that I did not find
it equally efficacious in the treatment of the well-marked cases of malarial fever admitted in
September and October. I then found that to begin the treatment of a case with the cinchona
alkaloids was waste of both time and medicine; it was necessary to give quinine either by
mouth or hypodermically for the first two or perhaps three days, after which the mixed
cinchona alkaloids were of service in completing the cure. I also tried the latter medicine
hypodermically in a few instances, but it did not prevent the accession of fever. The mixed
cinchona alkaloids are also quite unfit for Europeans, whose stomachs are naturally more
sensitive. In one case in which I gave a 15-grain dose, it caused severe purging and vomit
- i n g w i t h s y m p t o m s o f c o l l a p s e .
( b) In the early part of the year I acquired a somewhat novel experience in the use of
turpentine. I found that a two or three-drachm dose suspended in water with mucilage and
given three or four hours before an expected accession of fever would often stave off the
attack in the milder forms of quotidian and tertian ague; cases, in short, in which a relapse
has been brought on by exposure to chill, irregularities in diet, &c., in a patient who has
often previously suffered from the disease. I am not altogether prepared to say, however,
that we possess in turpentine an antidote to the malarial poison, because in September and
October, when the well-marked cases admitted may be supposed to have been the result of a
freshly received dose (so to speak) of malaria, the turpentine treatment was not successful.
I imagine its success in milder cases may be chiefly ascribed to the fact that when
turpentine does not cause stranguary, it acts as a diuretic, and I may mention that although
I administered it in more than fifty cases, it only caused stranguary in one.
Inspection by Deputy Surgeon General HEWLETT.
Inspected 12th January 1880. The lines are defective in a sanitary point of view, as the
huts have not sufficiently high plinths. The ventilation in them is also insufficient, being
only through the roof tiles and doors. The doors are very low, some not more than 3 feet
high by 2 broad. The storm-water lodges for some time after rain in the lines, as the drains
are not sufficiently deep to carry it off. The old permanent latrines are used, but efforts are
Invaliding and its causes.
Recommendations and require
-ments.
Special observations, new ex
- p e r i e n c e s i n t r e a t m e n t , s a n i t a t i o n ,
&c. , &c.