117
NORTHERN DIVISION OP THE ARMY.
14. As regards the geology, topography, and natural productions of Deesa and surrounding
country, reference may be made to my annual report for 1871.
15. The season of 1872 has been favourable. and the sunnlv of grass and cereals ample
Supplies.
but there was considerable difficulty in procuring cattle and sheep
during the latter part of the hot season and rains. The commissariat
gardens supply large quantities of lucerne grass. Charsilia and guinea grass are also culti-
vated, and afford excellent food for cattle during the hot season, when all vegetation disappears
from the ground.
16. The following are the principal endemic diseases prevalent among the natives of the
country around Deesa, enumerated in the order of their frequency, viz.,
ague, small-pox, conjunctivitis, purulent opthalmia, rheumatism, bowel
complaints, venereal disease, guinea-worm, strumous affections ; cataract, fungus foot, calculus
vesicæ, and cancer in various forms.
17. During March and April I amputated a number of legs for fungus disease of foot, by
long anterior and short posterior flaps, and they all terminated successfully under Lister's
carbolic-acid treatment.
18. Two hard senile cataracts were extracted by me by the scoop-method, making the
incision at the junction of the sclerotic and cornea : the spoon used was Critchett's. One case was
successful. A boy's upper arm, which had been crushed by the wheel of a heavily-laden cart
passing over it, was amputated at the junction of the upper and middle thirds of the humerus.
The parts healed kindly, and he was discharged from the hospital in excellent health twenty-one
days after the operation.
19. During January the average strength of the regiment at Deesa was 58, the first sauad-
Medical Topography.
Sickness in regiment:
ron being at Rajkot, and the 2nd and 3rd squadrons at Bhuj, whither
they marched to be present at state ceremonies. Their encamping-
ground there was badly situated—low-lying, and poorly sheltered—composed entirely of sand,
with the thermometer frequently standing below 50° F. Their drinking-water was obtained
from a well which had been in disuse, and, consequently, the sowars suffered considerably from
colds, bowel complaints, and rheumatism. They remained at Bhuj four weeks, and marched on
Deesa on the 26th of January, and reached camp on the 8th of February.
20. On the line of march they suffered from ephemeral fever, ague, bronchitis, and,
occasionally, dysentery and colic.
21. Throughout the month of February the total admissions into hospital were 28, and
the chief causes in the order of frequency were ague, boils, and contusions. A sowar who bad
been ninety-four days fourteen hours in hospital, died from the effects of chronic rheumatism,
complicated with pericarditis and hydrothorax. The antopsy showed great effusion into the
pleural cavities, the lungs being compressed to a third of their natural size, and the substance
being dense and inelastic.
22. During March the admissions were 31, showing an increase of 22 when contrasted
with those of March 1871. The causes were nearly the same as last month. There were two
deaths—one from acute pneumonia consequent upon ague. Every effort was made to check the
inflammation, but without success, in consequence of the rapid hepatization of the lungs, and
great prostration and debility of the patient.
23. The other was au old duffedar of excellent character-30 years' service—who was
admitted with severe remittent fever, with acute head symptoms. Leeches and blisters were
applied to the head, quinine given by the mouth and hypodermically, purgatives and enemas
were administered, yet he succumbed after an illness of thirteen days' duration.
24. In April 25 men were admitted into hospital, and the principal causes were ague,
affections of the eye, and contusions, and were, generally, amenable to treatment.
25. Discrete small-pox was prevalent among the children of the regiment early in the
month, and by the 26th it considerably abated.
26. After amputating a leg for fungus disease of the foot, I accidentally pricked my
right thumb with a needle while stitching the flaps, the result of which proved to be a poisoned
wound. After 10 days' incubation, the thumb became swollen with pain so acute and intense,
as to banish all sleep for five days and four nights. I took 20 grains of chloral-hydrate without
effect ; and half-an hour afterwards took a second dose of 35 grains without producing sleep,
though I dozed a little. It caused very violent headache with slight wandering and incoherent
speech. Thus 55 grains of chloral failed to induce sleep in the face of the pain which
suffered, which goes to shew that intense agony will prevent the action of this anodyne and
hypnotic ; and this coincides with the observations of Dr. A. Maxwell Adams, 2nd Royal.
Lanark Militia, who, in Braithwait's Retrospect, Vol. 62, page 368 of 1870, observes : " Chloral,
as a general rule, will not alleviate severe and persistent pain ; where it fails to induce sleep,
30 s