vi
24. The total treated for scorbutic affections show a decease of 30 on those
for the preceding year, the numbers being 198 and
228, and it is in the Presidency and Poona divisions
that this decrease has taken place. On the other hand, however, the 2nd Grena-
diers at Aden show, as might be expected, a slight increase in the number of
cases from 28 in 1874 to 32 in the past year—nearly one-half of the treated for
the whole division, and the 20th N. I. at Bombay shows an advance from 19 to
25. The Northern and Sind divisions show an increase in the latter from 10 in
1874 to 18 in the year under report. Further on I shall take an opportunity of
again alluding to the circumstances connected with this disease.
25. The total treated for diseases of the lungs, during the past year, have
been 1,491 with 43 deaths, the corresponding figures
for 1874 being 1,437 and 54. The percentage of mor-
tality to treated was, for the latter year, 3.6 and for the past year 2.8. The increase
in the number of treated occurred in the Presidency division, where they rose
from 182 and 6 deaths in the preceding year to 320 with 9 deaths in that under
report. The regiments which chiefly contributed to this increase were the 20th
and 21st N. I. at Bombay and the 26th at Surat, the treated for these regiments
during the years 1874-75 having been, respectively, 39 and 66, 25 and 29, and
40 and 120. For the Presidency division the percentage of treated to strength for
the two years was 5.4 and 9.7 respectively. There were 16 cases of pneumonia in
the 26th N. I., of which 6 proved fatal, while most of the remaining admissions
were due to bronchitis, which occasionally assumed a severe form. Special
climatic influences are generally given as the cause of the increased percent-
age of lung diseases amongst the troops of the Presidency division. For each
of the other three divisions the treated are less than in 1874; the percentage
to strength for the Poona division was 5.4, for the Northern division 6.8, and
for Sind 5.0. In the latter division the mortality, chiefly from pneumonia, was
10.5 per cent. to treated; while for the Presidency, Poona, and Northern
divisions it was only 2.8, 1.3, and 2.2 respectively. In 1874 the mortality in
Sind was still greater, no less than 13.2 per cent. to the total cases of lung
disease treated. The sickness, mortality, and invaliding from phthisis, for
the whole army, continues much about the same as in other years.
26. Bowel diseases have been more frequent than in 1874 : for diarrhœa the
treated have amounted to 706 with 7 deaths, and for dy-
sentery to 635 and 2 deaths, the figures for the year before
having been 532 and 5 deaths and 525 and 8 deaths respectively. These show
that, although the number of cases have risen con siderabily, there has been a large
decrease in the percentage of mortality. In Sind, for example, there were no
deaths, while in the preceding year there were, in spite of a less number of cases,
3 deaths from each disease. In the Presidency division the percentage of treated
to strength was, for diarrhœa 4.5 and for dysentery 3.3. The 20th N I. at Bom-
bay showed the highest percentage for diarrhœa—9.3, and the 2nd Grenadiers at
Aden for dysentery—5.4. In the Poona division the percentage of treated
to strength for diarrhœa was 1.5 and for dysentery 2.4. For the Northern
division the respective figures were 4.1 and 3.1. The squadron of the 2nd L. C.
at Rájkot and the 9th N. I. at Baroda suffered from dysentery to a greater extent
than did any of the other regiments in the division ; for the first the percentage
of treated to strength was 12.3 and for the second 5.3. In Sind the cases
treated for diarrhœa have risen from 65 in 1874 to 82 in the year under report,
while those treated for dysentery have fallen from 67 to 61, the percentage of
treated to strength for each disease being 2.8 and 2.1 respectively. The cholera
epidemic which prevailed throughout the country has, no doubt, exercised a
certain amount of influence towards increasing the number of admissions from
diarrhœa, it being a well-established fact that whenever cholera prevails, ordi-
nary diarrhœa becomes more frequent.
Scurvy.
Lung Diseases.
Diarrhœa and Dysentery.