NORTHERN DIVISION OF THE ARMY.
113
Many of the cases of ague had enlargement of the spleen, which kept them for some-
time on the convalescent list, and some of them had still enlarged spleens when they returned
to their duty.
Another notable feature in the health of the regiment during the year was the occurrence,
during the month of September, of 11 cases of dengue. During the
Dengue.
month of August and the first part of September, hearing that the
disease had appeared in the province (said to have been imported into Mandavi from Jam-
nagar), I was very careful in watching the cases of ague admitted in order to detect it at
once if it should occur ; but it was not until the 13th of the latter month that anything like it
appeared, although a great number of cases were reported to have occurred in the city and in
the country round. On the 13th and 14th eleven men were admitted with pyrexia, frontal
headache, pain and stiffness in the limbs, &c., but no swelling of the joints. I found that the
fever was a continued one, and that the cases presented the features of dengue, as described in
recent literature on the subject. Nine of them recovered and were discharged by the end of
the month, and the other two remained under treatment for sometime for stiffness of the
k n e e - j o i n t : t h e r e w a s o n l y o n e c a s e i n w h i c h I c o u l d d e t e c t a n y t h i n g l i k e a n e r u p t i o n , a n d
in that a scarlet efflorescence appeared on the palms of the hands, succeeded by desquamation
of the cuticle, which latter was also observed on the back of the neck, ears, and breast. I
treated them with saline mixture and opium : in 3 cases I employed tincture of belladonna
in 10 minim doses, four times a day, as recommended by Dr. Charles of Calcutta ; they afterwards
had tonics, &c. On the 15th of the month, a violent thunderstorm passed over camp, from
the north, and after that date no case in the least resembling dengue presented itself at the
regimental hospital, although it was said to prevail in the city all through the month of
October. I am, however, rather sceptical on this point, and I am inclined to think that
many of the cases pronounced to be dengue, would, under constant and effective supervision,
have been registered as ague.
Three cases of small-pox occurred in the regiment during the year : one in February—a
pox
-11mall-pox musician who was vaccinated in infancy ; he made a good recovery—
and two in May, from among a batch of recruits from the Koncan,
who had only arrived in camp a few days before, and must, therefore, have brought the in-
fection with them. Both had been vaccinated in infancy and both made good recoveries.
One of these recruits, too, whose marks of previous vaccination were not very distinct, had
been re-vaccinated four days only before the eruption of small-pox appeared ; the disease
ran its usual course, and the vaccination did not take and appeared to have no influence
in modifying the attack.
In addition to these, 2 other cases occurred in camp : one in April—a recuit boy who had
been vaccinated in infancy, and re-vaccinated at Deesa two years previous to the attack ; he
made a good recovery—and one in December, an officer's servant, who had only been four days
in camp having just arrived from Bombay, and who, of course, brought the infection with him.
All the above cases were treated with quinine and iron mixture, from the beginning, and plenty
of good food insisted on : a mixture of one part of carbolic acid to four of boiled linseed oil, was
also freely used to anoint the bodies, limbs, and faces of the patients ; this has the effect of des-
troying the fætor peculiar to the disease, and, of course, diminishes the risk of infection to others.
The patients too liked the application and expressed themselves as relieved thereby.
The regiment has been very free from venereal disease during the year : one case of
primary, and two of secondary syphilis, being the only representatives
Venereal disease.
of the class.
Cholera.
No cases of cholera occurred during the year.
Scurvy has furnished 13 admissions during the year, and a very large number of men in
hospital for other affections have also suffered from the disease. I
Scurvy. find that when the disease is accompanied with swelling and infiltra-
tion in the calves of the legs, treatment at Bhuj is worse than useless, as it only wastes
valuable time which might be better employed in sending the man to his native country,
which, in the end, is the course I invariably have to adopt.
Seventeen cases of dysentery were treated during the year : in their treatment I, for the
most part, administered a pill, containing 10 or 15 grains of ipecacuanha
Dysentery.
with extract of gentian, and repeated this every morning, when
necessary, or until the motions began to assume a fæcal character, when a pill containing
5 grains of ipecacuanha and 1 grain of opium once or twice a day, and subsequently tonics,
completed the cure.
Thirty-one cases of diarrhoea were admitted, they all yielded to
Diarrhoea.
the usual treatment.
One case of guinea-worm was admitted in November, and remained in hospital at the
end of the year ; the man was a recruit, in a very bad state of health ;
Guinea-worm
he had two of the parasites, one in the thigh and one among the
tendons round the ancle-joint—abscesses formed in both places, and the patient was still
suffering much at the end of the year. In another case of guinea-worm which came under
29 s