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SKETCH OF THE MEDICAL HISTORY OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BOMBAY.
One havildar suffered from partial contraction of the left elbow joint, the result of a
severe contusion (without fracture) sustained in a fall when off duty.
Two privates were affected with leprosy, one of the " tubercular " and the other of the
anæsthetic " variety, they were neither of them incapacitated for duty, but they were both
anxious to take their pension, as their position in the regiment was a very unpleasant one :
their comrades of the same caste refusing to eat with or associate with them in any way.
One private had been seized with mania, which showed itself in his suddenly making a
furious and unprovoked attack on the hospital orderly, whom he found sleeping outside his
house, and who was under treatment for scalp wound and contusion of the face for two months
afterwards.
One man had been under treatment for a long time for fissures in the skin of the feet,
which refused to heal under a multiplicity of different applications, and when at last they did
heal, other fissures appeared about the hands and fingers ; and bulæ formed on the hands and
forearms, which left unhealthy ulcers behind them.
One man had a tendency to hæmorrhoids, or rather a chronic congestion of the mucous
membrance of the rectum, which was relieved by periodical discharges of blood.
Three men also were invalided on medical grounds during the year, whose length of
service did not entitle them to pension : one for general debility and mental incapacity, one for
dementia, and one for hernia.
The latter case was a young sepoy in whom the rupture occurred for the first time while
on a parade, although in other respects a strong, healthy man ; his infirmity of course ren-
dered him unfit for the active duties of a soldier ; I, therefore, represented the matter to the
Commanding Officer and recommended that lie should be discharged the service ; my recom-
mendation received the approval and sanction of His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief.
Of the two deaths—one in the month of March was from aneurism of the aorta, of which
the signs during life were very obscure, and the other in the month of November from ex-
haustion consequent on repeatedly recurring ague.
The regiment has been in garrison during the whole year ; it has furnished no detachments
and but very few escort parties. The guard duty at Bhuj being
fortunately very light, the men enjoy as a rule 7; consecutive nights
in bed ; even in November, when the average daily sick numbered
163, they had n nights in bed : the average number of consecutive
nights in bed for the whole year were 63/4.
In the month of October, when the daily average number of sick was 115, and when even
those men who were not in hospital were many of them weak and debilitated from recent
attacks of ague, parades were temporarily suspended, in consequence of a verbal recommenda-
tion made by me to the Commanding Officer to that effect.
In the month of November, when the daily average number of sick was 163, I addressed
a letter to the Adjutant of my regiment, suggesting for the consideration of the Commandant
the advisability of postponing sine die the annual course of running drill, which, under
ordinary circumstances, would have commenced on the 15th of that month ; as from the great
prevalence of fever among the men, I considered that their physique was decidedly below
par, and the regiment as a body quite unequal to the exertion.
My suggestion received due attention and running drill had not commenced up to the
end of the Year.
Nature of duties per-
formed by the regiment
during the year.
Sickness.
The following table shows at a glance the admissions into hospital
during the year, and their causes :—