52
SKETCH OF THE MEDICAL HISTORY OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BOMBAY.
A man returning from furlough was attacked with diarrhœa on the road, and died six days
after admission ; his liver presented marks of recent inflammation, and a cyst connected with
the gall bladder contained about four ounces of serum.
One man died from inflammation of the cellular tissue of the thigh, a large abscess forming,
from the effect of which he sunk ; no cause for the disease could be ascertained.
One death occurred from inflammation of the internal ear, which ultimately extended to
the brain.
One man died from pneumonia following intermittent fever.
H . M . ' s 1 s t R e g i m e n t A . L . C a b a l r g .
Deesa.—In Medical charge of Assistant Surgeon J. MCALISTER, Strength 298.
The medical history of the Regiment for the past year is devoid of incidents of any
great importance. The head quarters of the Regiment have been stationed at Deesa; the
squadron at Rajkote was relieved in the beginning of the year; the usual escort party was
furnished to the Political Superintendent at Pahlumpore.
The average strength of the Regiment during the year was 298 ; the admissions to hospi
-tal amounted to 581—only one death occurred during the year. These numbers show a
trifling increase as compared with the results of the previous year.
In reviewing the diseases which occurred in the Regiment during the year, it will be observed
that fever, contusions, and affections of the eye hold the chief rank in the list of admissions,
but the greatest of these was malarial fever, causing no less than 86 per cent. of all admissions.
Eliminate fever from the list, and the Regiment will rise considerably in the order of healthiness.
This high percentage of admissions from malarial fever would seem to indicate the presence of
an intense malaria in the climate of Deesa, on the other hand there is much less fever among
the men of the European Regiment than there is among the native troops, and that of a
milder type—how are these facts to be accounted for ? In order to understand why it is the
1st Native Cavalry suffer so much from fever, it is necessary to look at the antecedent history
of the Regiment, to note accurately the circumstances under which the disease was observed,
and the facts may not be without value in reference to the high rate of fever in the Regiment
for many years back.
The general opinion of the Regiment, (and in the opinion of a whole Regiment of men
there is some truth) is that most of the cases of malarial fever are nothing more than relapses
of the disease, perpetuated by the persistence of its exciting causes; that all men of more than
9 years' standing in the Regiment in all likelihood contracted the acute form of the disease
at Nusseerabad or on field service during the mutinies, and that in many of these cases, the
effects of the malarial poison were intensified by a previously existing scorbutic taint of the
system. There is no lack of evidence to show that the Regiment did suffer enormously from
fever and scurvy while stationed at Nusseerabad, both before and after the mutiny. Further
-more at Drappa, where a detachment of the squadron at Rajcote is constantly stationed—a very
pernicious form of fever affects the men. The circumstances for the formation of malaria
exist everywhere around Drappa, and the station itself seems to be a particular focus for the
disease. Lastly, Pahlumpore becomes occasionally very malarious. Altogether, therefore,
though there is at present a good deal of malaria in the climate of Deesa and the country
surrounding it, there is reason to think that it is not directly responsible to any great degree
for the excessive rate of fever in the 1st Light Cavalry.
Remarks on the remedies employed in the treatment of malarious fever :—No case of fever
exactly reproduces another case of fever. Each case has to be met as it arises. It was only