51
NORTHERN AND MHOW DIVISIONS OF THE ARMY.
There were seven cases of remittent fever. During 1869 there were 10 cases of cholera, but
in 1870 there was not a single case. Small-pox and other epidemic diseases were also absent.
The detachment at Sadra—healthy.
G. M.'s 18th Regiment N. I.
Rajcote.—In Medical charge of Surgeon A. M. BLOMFIELD, Strength 619.
The admissions to hospital have been in excess of last year by about 14 per cent.; this has
been due to the greater prevalence of ague, which furnished 505 of the total of 766 admissions;
no other disease has prevailed to any extent.
A slight epidemic of chicken-pox occurred in March, for which eight men were admitted
into hospital and several children were also attacked by it, it was of a very mild form and
required scarcely any treatment.
The weather during the first six months of the year was seasonable, April and May being
unusually cool and healthy. The rains commenced on the 1st of June and continued with
scarcely any intermission until the 23rd of August when they ceased, and with the exception
of five days in September and one in October, no more fell; the weather in consequence became
very hot and oppressive, and ague and liver derangements were more prevalent than I have seen
them during the past four years; the total rainfall was 18.97 inches, which is about seven
inches below the average.
The premature cessation of the rains caused a great scarcity of the ordinary native vege-
-tables during October and November, and, in consequence a tendency to scurvy was observed
amongst the troops ; this disease generally prevails more or less at Rajcote.
Part of the new lines for the Regiment have been finished since last year and occupied
by the men, they are well situated and of a superior description.
Trench latrines on the new system were introduced in the month of July and continued
during the year, with the exception of a short time in December, during which the Governor of
Bombay visited Rajcote, when they were closed and reopened after his departure. At the time
of their establishment I protested against them, as not being adapted to the station in
consequence of the rocky nature of the ground; the parade ground of the Regiment is the only
place in which sufficient soil can be found to dig a trench; accordingly they have been placed
on its border within about fifty paces of the Regimental bazaar; they have totally failed to
fulfil their purpose, as the stench from them during the monsoon and succeeding hot months
was very perceptible at a distance of fifty paces; the system can never be carried out as
intended, as the ground which has been used cannot be cultivated except at a great expense for
watering, which must be done by hand.
At present they have not affected the health of the station, but as the ground becomes
more and more contaminated, I cannot but think it will prove a source of danger. There is
a well at the end of the parade ground which is largely used by the Regiment, this is filled by
the percolation of the water which falls on the parade ground and neighbourhood, and, doubt
-less, much of the rain which falls on the latrines ultimately finds its way into it; whether the
water will become innocuous before reaching the well remains to be proved.
Seven deaths have occurred during the year, two from bronchitis; of these the last was pro
-gressing favorably, the disease having become chronic with viscid expectoration; he was sud
-denly seized with dyspnœa and died in about half an hour, probably from obstruction of some of
the bronchial tubes; no post mortem was performed, the dissecting case had been sent for repair.
One death from acute rheumatism in a recruit who was taken ill on the road to join the
Regiment; extensive abscesses formed in various parts of his body, and he ultimately sunk
from effusion into the pleura, in which about three pints of serum were found.