iv
19. I shall now proceed to remark on the statistics connected with th
principal diseases from which the army suffered dur
-ing the past year. Chief of these are malarious fevers.
Out of a total strength of 22,819 there were 10,566 of treated for these diseases
as compared with 12,733 for the year before with a strength of 69 les., Of these
there occurred in the Presidency division 1,280, in the Poona division 2,938, in
the Northern division 4,375, and in Sind 1,973—the numbers for the previous
year, with nearly the same strength, being 1,940, 2,369, 6,536, and 1,888 respective-
ly. These numbers show an increase for the Poona and Sind divisions, which
is more than counterbalanced by the large decrease in the Presidency and North-
ern divisions, The percentage of malarious fevers to the total diseases treat-
ed was, for the Presidency 35.2, for Poona 37.7, for the Northern division
39.7, and for Sind 52.8—the corresponding numbers for the previous year being
47.9, 33.2, 51.4, and 53.3. The high percentage for Sind, and an apparently
permanent one too, is sufficiently suggestive. In the Presidency division the
26th N. I. at Surat, the wing of the 7th at Tanna, the 20th at Bombay, and the
Aden Troop show the largest proportion of cases; the first-named, with a strength
of 614, out of a total treated of 1,264 had 600 including 3 deaths—a percentage to
treated of 47.5; the second, 144 in 268; the third, 118 in 655; and the last, 100 out
of 192. The detachment of the 21st at Bushire as usual suffered severely. In
the Poona division the 1st Grenadiers, the 8th, and 17th N. I., and the 1st L. C.,
all stationed at Poona, suffered to a considerable extent. There was also a good
deal of fever in the 19th N. I, at Shohipur and in the 15th at Málegaon. In
the Northern division the cases treated for fever in the detachment of the 28th N. I
at Barda Choki, with a strength of 87, amounted to 77.6 per cent. of the total
treated, including 3 deaths. Next in order comes the detachment of the 10th
at Augur—63.7 per cent. to treated. It must, however, be borne in mind that this
detachment is relieved from Mehidpur. In the 24th at Neemuch and the 10th
at Mehidpur the percentages were 55.5 and 54.1 respectively, and for the 28th
N. I. at Rájkot and the 22nd and 9th at Baroda the figures were 41.2, 34.8, and
35.6. In all these stations, however, fever has been much less prevalent than
in 1874. In Sind the 27th N. I. at Hyderabad, the 30th at Jacobabad, and the
3rd Sind Horse at the same station have suffered from malarious fevers to a far
greater extent than in the previous year: with a total strength, for the three
regiments, of only 73 more for the year under report, the fever cases for each,
for 1874 and 1875, were 115 and 275, 258 and 437, and 299 and 441 respect-
ively. On the other hand, however, the 29th N. I. at Kurrachee and the 1st and
2nd Sind Horse at Jacobabad have suffered somewhat less, but still to a most
undesirable extent as compared with regiments in the other divisions. Further
on I shall make some additional observations regarding the malarious climates of
Upper Sind, Barda Choki, and Mehidpur.
20. During the year there were 150 cases of eruptive fevers treated,with
1 death ; the prevailing forms were measles and
chicken-pox. In the Presidency division there were 8
cases of measles and 2 of chicken-pox amongst the troops stationed in Bombay,
and 2 of the former with 4 of the latter in the 26th N. I. at Surat. 3 cases of
small-pox occurred in the 20th N. I. In the Poona division there were 23 cases of
measles as compared with 6 for the year before; there were also 43 of chicken-
pox and 3 of small-pox: the first prevailed most in the Poona garrison and the
second in the 4th Rifles at Satara and in the 5th and 6th N. I. at Belgaum; in
the latter regiment there were also 2 cases of small-pox. In the Northern divi
-
sion 50 cases of measles are recorded, of which 17 with 1 death occurred in the
3rd N. I. at Ahmedabad; there were 9 cases in the 9th N. I. at Baroda, and 11 in
the 24th at Neemuch. In 1874 there was but 1 case of this disease in the
whole division. There were only 7 cases of chicken-pox as compared with 44
for the preceding year; 4 of these occurred in the 25th N. I. at Mhow and
Indore, 2 cases of small-pox were treated in the 18th at Deesa and 1 of
Malarious Fevers.
Eruptive Fevers.