POONA DIVISION OF THE ARMY.
55
injury, or can only have been slightly wounded. The case did well, and the man resigned the
service in December. There was permanent stiffness in one of his fingers, which had been cut
in seizing the sword, and he had occasional pain in the loins during micturition.
Reduction of Outposts .—All the detachments at outposts, except those at Sowda and
Jamneir, were re-called to Dhulia, during the month of December, their presence in the hills
being considered unnecessary now; thus a great cause of sickness in the regiment, and one
which would have produced far more serious effect among men of less robust constitutions
than are commonly found in the Poona Horse—I mean residence in the malarious district of
Tullowda, Tarabad, Dhyel, and Shahda—has been discontinued; and I have no doubt that the
sickness of the Khandesh detachment, which is already comparatively small, will be now
much reduced.
Lines.—The lines are in the same unsanitary state as reported last year, and there is
now very deficient accommodation for the increased number of men at this station. I believe
new lines are sanctioned, and hope their erection will not be delayed.
Deaths out of Hospital .—A sowar, Shaik Jumal, æt. 24, died at Shahda on the 28th June,
of fever.
H. M.’S 17TH REGIMENT N.I.
DHULLA.—In Medical Charge of Surgeon R. DICK; Strength 613.
At the termination of the year 1872 the regiment was on the march from Kolhápur to
Dhulia, within 26 miles of the latter station, where it arrived on the 2nd January. It re--
mained there till 6th November, when the head-quarters and, right it wing marched for Bombay,
where they remained from 11th November to 20th December, and on the latter date proceed-
ed by rail to Poona.
The numerical return shows the sickness of the whole regiment up to November 5th, and
of the right wing from that date till the end of the year, the left wing with all the men who
were on the sick list on November 5th having been left at Dhulia.
The health of the men has not been good; in fact worse than it has been for many years,
as might be expected from their having been stationed at a notoriously unhealthy place during
an unusually unhealthy season. The monsoon rains of 1871 had failed almost entirely, and the
temperature during the first five months of 1872, registered by the standard thermometer, was
considerably above the average, and to this unseasonable weather a considerable portion of the
sickness may be attributed. The percentage of daily average sick to strength was 4.2, of
treated to strength 135, of deaths to strength 6, and of deaths to treated 5.
The prevailing diseases were ague, conjunctivitis, and dysentery. The first contributed
287 or more than one-third of the total admissions. Many of the cases were slight and left
no perceptible ill effects on the constitutions of the sufferers; but a few were accompanied with.
disorder of the liver or spleen, and some men suffered repeated relapses of aguish attacks, and
were much debilitated thereby.
Conjunctivitis contributed 89 admissions, most of them in the months of August, Sep-
tember, and October; some of the cases being severe with considerable chemosis and small
ulcers and superficial opacities of the corneæ. Solutions of nitrate of silver, alum, sulphate of
zinc and acetate of lead, were used in different cases, and the patients were all discharged
cured, 6 being first transferred to the left wing hospital. In the early stage of some of the
more severe cases, a solution of nitrate of silver gr.xx, to aqua was brushed on the conjunc-
-tivæ of the everted lower eyelid, the superfluous solution being washed off before the eyelid
was replaced. Two or three applications acted very satisfactorily in such cases, but after
the acute symptoms had been subdued, they caused severe pain, and seemed to be less
efficacious than weaker solutions.
Dysentery is the third disease as regards frequency of occurrence; but, probably, the
dangerous nature of this affection, as well as the lasting ill effects it often produces on the
men's health, entitle it to the first place in importance. There were 82 admissions from this
cause, and, although many of the cases were severe and obstinate, they all, with few excep-
tions, recovered, to all appearance perfectly. A few, however, suffered from prolonged debility
and loss of tone of the chylopoetic viscera: four of these were granted sick leave to their
native countries, one died, seventy-six were discharged to duty, two were transferred to the
left wing hospital, and afterwards discharged, and three were shown as remaining. This
disease was most prevalent from May to August inclusive, the extreme heat and the subse-
quent damp and cold of the rains being the probable exciting cause.