-
ations.
Special
observations.
Medi cal
Officers.
Location and
movements
Topography,
&c.
Meteorology
and climate.
176
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL.
XX. Recommendations. —No important recommendations had to be made. During the
time that cholera was prevalent in the neighbourhood, all suggestions made with reference to
the establishment of quarantine, and necessary precautions were at once readily adopted.
XXI. Special observations. —Seventy-three recruits presented themselves during the year.
Out of this number 61 were enlisted, the large majority of them being of good appearance and
physique. I instituted some preliminary enquiries into the value of the sulphate of quinoidine
as a curative agent in periodic affections, and found that a number of men to whom I exhibited
this drug recovered quicker and quite as completely as those to whom quinine was administered.
Some to whom "atees" alone was given took longer to shake off their attacks, while those,
a few in number, to whom no medicine was administered, but with whom simply ordinary pre
-
cautions as to cold, &c., were taken, may be placed in an intermediate class, ranking next to
those taking quinoidine in point of speedy recovery. The cases were selected at random. I
hope this year to be able to carry the enquiry further and on a more extended scale.
Corps of Guides (Queen's Own)—Mardan.
I. Medical Officers. —Surgeon A. H. Kelly, by whom this report has been
written, held medical charge
of the corps throughout the
year. The detachment at
Abbottabad was under the
charge of the medical offi
-
cer, 5th Goorkhas. The one
at Lahore was for a few
weeks under the charge of
Surgeon J. Duke, and for
the remainder of the time
away from head-quarters of
the hospital assistant who
accompanied it. This was
also the case with the de-
tachments at Cherat and Peshawar.
II Location and movements. —The head-quarters remained permanently at Mardan.
Detachments were furnished to the following stations:
Abbottabad from 1st January to 17th March.
Lahore, „ „ „
17th February.
P e s h a w a r , „ „ „
9th June.
Roorkee, „ „ „
August.
Roorkee, „ 22nd September „ 31st December.
Peshawar, „ 27th October „
„
Cherat, „ 18th December „
„
III. Topography, &c.—The Usufzai valley has been frequently described in former reports;
the only change is the spread of cultivation in hitherto waste and unproductive places.
Irrigation, except in the immediate vicinity of villages, is not practised; the crops are com-
pletely dependent on occasional showers of rain. During the spring and hot season, the country
was visited by enormous numbers of rats, which seem to have permanently taken up their
abode in the district. They were in many places so numerous, that the zemindars, left their
ground uncultivated. They seemed to come in from the east, and did much damage to all
standing crops that lay in their way.
IV. Meteorology and climate. The following table gives the mean temperature and total
rainfall for the past four years:—
YEAR.
STATION.
PER CENT, OF STRENGTH.
Admissions. Deaths. Daily sick.
1871
Mardan
128.3
. 9
5.9
1872
Ditto
136.1
. 5
4.4
1873
Ditto
169.4
. 9
5.9
1874
Ditto
127.6 .81
4.7
1875
Ditto
157.78 .63
5.71
Average
143.83
. 7 4
5.32
1876
Marden
136.97
1.55
4.76
YEAR.
J a n u a r y .
F e b r u a r y .
M a r c h .
A p r i l .
M a y .
J u n e .
J u l y .
A u g u s t .
S e p t e m b e r .
O c t o b e r .
N o v e m b e r .
D e c e m b e r .
T o t a l r a i n f a l l .
1873
47.01 54.42 63.42 77.31 77.37 90.68 90.54 84.96 82.87 69.08 59.20 50.66 23.95
1874
46.71 52.14 57.93 69.64 81.75 98.18 85.70 82.38 78.06 68.12 54.70 47.66 21.60
1875
46.90 49.31 64.83 75.46 66.54 88.88 87.72 82.02 82.91 66.02 57.36 51.86 42.3
1876
46.02 51.37 60.67 68.66 81.35 84.88 86.54 83.46 80.08 69.51 58.44 50.83 30.54
MEAN OF 4 TEARS 46.66 51.80 61.71 72.76 76.75 90.65 87.62 83.20 80.98 68.18 57.42 50.25 29.59
Lines,
barracks, &c.
V. Lines, Barracks, &c. —The lines occupied by the corps are the same as in previous year
Those of the infantry were repaired and whitewashed, but no improvements or alterations