87
SIND DISTRICT OF THE ARMY.
2nd Sind Horse Hospital in the month of November, also in several cases in the Civil
Hospital. In the month of December I gave it to 22 patients in the 2nd Sind Horse
Hospital. Of the 34 cases, 33 recovered, generally after taking it from one to three days, or
in much the same time as it takes when quinine is given. Besides the above cases and those
in the Civil Hospital, I have given the hyposulphite of soda most successfully in several other
cases. Among these the First Hospital Assistants of the 1st and 2nd Sind Horse, both of
them used to suffer constantly from ague. They had tried quinine, arsenic, &c., but still
they suffered a good deal; the fever never left them for many days together. The Hospital
Assistant of the 2nd Sind Horse was free from fever for a fortnight after taking only three
doses of the hyposulphite of soda, the Hospital Assistant of the 1st Sind Horse had no return
for a month. A servant of mine has not taken anything else but the soda hyposulphite
for his ague, and recovered under its use easily. In the use of this medicine, I proceeded very
cautiously, wishing to give it a fair trial, rather undervaluing the results than otherwise. Some
of the first cases I gave it in, were those of men who, like the Hospital Assistant, used to get
very frequent attacks, and were off and on for a long time in hospital; they all benefited by it.
One of these men has got such thorough confidence in its usefulness, that he has come to me
more than once for "three doses of the medicine" which he says will put him all right again,
and he does not wish to be on the sick list. Professor Polli believes that relapses after taking
sulphites, are of much less frequent occurrence than after the use of quinine. My experience is
not extended enough to confirm or disprove that statement, though the cases of my Hospital
Assistant and one or two sowars would seem to be favourable to the Professor's views. Even
though my cases up to this time amount to only between 50 and 60 (including those treated
elsewhere), yet I think I do not make an extravagant statement when I say that the
"sulphites" (hyposulphite of soda was the representative of the class), do stop the recurrence
of attacks of malarious fever as well as quinine. Dr. Polli recommends sulphite of magnesia
as having more curative power, and the hyposulphite of soda as having more prophylactic virtue.
I could not get any of the first mentioned medicine from Mr.Kemp of Bombay, so was content
to get and try the latter only, it having answered well as a curative agent, perhaps it is best
to employ it as combining both qualities. Professor Polli says that the "sulphites" act not
on the materies morbi, but they fortify the blood against the action of the poison. Hyposul
-phite of soda is useful also in dyspepsia, more particularly when acidity is present, and against
sarcinæ ventriculi. It is also a laxative, and useful in congestion of the chylopoetic viscera,
thus combining qualities which make it one of the most useful medicinal agents we can have
in malarious fevers and their complications. It is also an easily made and a very cheap sub
-stance; it is however contra-indicated in cases of ague complicated with diarrhœa, that is to
say, that an astringent should be administered in combination with it, but I have not done
so, as I wished to try the effects of this remedy given alone. On theoretical grounds, I should
think the alkaline sulphites were contra-indicated in cases of ague in persons whose blood is
hypæmic. In actual practice, however, such cases must be very few, more particularly out of
Jacobabad in military practice. One great advantage of the sulphites—supposing the theory
of the modus operandi advanced by professor Polli to be correct—is that they could be given
when the fever is on—a great boon in remittent fever; I would combine it with diaphoretics,
—the sulphites allay thirst too, another advantage. The magnesian sulphite being tasteless,
the most difficult-to-please-patient would take it without much grumbling. However useful
the sulphites might prove in checking fever, they can never substitute quinine, a medicine
that has stood the test of years of experience in every clime. The tonic powers of it will
always give it superiority over the sulphites; but should the sulphites really be found, by extend
-ed use and many practitioners in India, to possess the powers and qualities here described, I
think Professor Polli has conferred a great boon on the fever-stricken provinces of this country.
I will next notice the most important disease in the sense of its causing the greatest number of
deaths, viz., pneumonia. Of the ten deaths in the year, five occurred from this disease, and it
was also the cause of death in two of the fatal cases of fever. During the cold season
the sowars are liable to suffer from pneumonia, which generally occurs in the latent