Rainfall.
18
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL.
1st January to the 13th November 1876. On the 14th November, the regiment
commenced its march to the Imperial Assemblage at Delhi, arriving there on the
21st December 1876, and for the remainder of the year under notice it was
encamped close to Budlee-ka-Serai, a distance of about 6½ miles from Delhi.
Detachments were sent to Calcutta, Benares, and Dinapore, and of these the
two latter were relieved once only during the year.
The rainfall during 1875 was above the average, and the temperature has
not varied very much from that of the previous year.
The sanitary circumstances of the regiment were fully described in pre-
vious reports, and remain unaltered.
Sickness,
mortality and
invaliding.
XV. Sickness, mortality and invaliding.—Strength of the regiment—
Present
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
369.3
Absent
8 7 . 5
Total
.
.
.
456.8
Principal
causes of
sickness.
STATION.
PERIOD.
Strength.
TOTAL NUMBER
OF
Daily
average
number
of sick.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH
PER ANNUM.
From
To
Admis-
sions.
Deaths.
Admis-
sions. Deaths. Daily
average
sick.
Head-quarters at Allababad 1st Jan. 1876 13th Nov. 1876
Ditto marching from Alla-
habad to Delhi
14th Nov. „
21st Dec. „
345.9 198.0
1
5.2
57.24 .28
1.50
Ditto at Camp, Delhi
22nd Dec. „
31st ditto „
Ditto at Dinapore
.
Ditto
. 27th Oct. „
11.4
1
...
.005 10.65
...
.04
Ditto at Benares
.
Ditto
. 10th Nov. „
9.3
2
. . . .075 25.
...
.80
TOTAL
.
......
......
369.3 201.0
1
5.38
54.42
.27
1.45
Number of deaths in hospital 1 ; out of hospital none ; total .
1; per cent. of total strength
.21
„
invalided
3;
„ „
.65
„
of days spent in hospital 1,966 ; per admission
.
9.78; per man of total strength
4.30
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength
4.30
XVI. Principal causes of sickness. —As in former years, intermittent fever heads the list
of admissions, but the number is considerably smaller. In comparing the sickness of this year
with the three previous ones, it is quite obvious that there has been very great improvement ;
and this, I think, can be justly attributed to the fact of the invaliding of old and worn-out men,
and partly also, perhaps, to the small rainfall and the very mild winter we have had. Cholera was
very prevalent throughout the summer months in both the Allahabad and Cawnpore districts,
but curiously enough the Native troops suffered scarcely at all. In this regiment there were two
cases, both of which recovered ; but a servant of one of the officers was also attacked, and he
died. Surgeon Palmer, who wrote the special report on this outbreak, attributed it directly
to contagion. The absence of sickness is due, I think, partly to the physique of the men
generally, but chiefly to the very favourable sanitary conditions under which they have been
living ; for I have seldom seen a more healthy looking area of ground than Papamow (close to
Allahabad), the place they occupied for the most part of the year under review. The health
of the regiment at the present moment is extremely good, and since its location at Delhi (21st
December 1876) there has only been one admission into hospital, that being a case of concussion
of the brain. The health of the detachments at Calcutta, Dinapore and Benares was excellent
throughout the year.
Medical
Officers.
Location and
in movements.
34th (Fatehgarh) Regiment Native Infantry,—Allahabad.
I. Medical Officers.—Surgeon-Major H. W. Spry assumed charge on the
21st of July 1875, and was
relieved by Surgeon-Major
F. Odevaine on the 25th
November 1876. The latter
Officer remained in medical
charge of the regiment, and
wrote the present report.
II. Location and movements.—
The regiment arrived at Allaha
-bad on the 23rd of November
1874, and has remained there dur
-ing the whole year. A detach-
ment averaging 89.16, rank and
file, left head-quarters for Chunar
on the 12th of last October, and is still absent at that station.
YEAR.
STATION.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH.
Admissions. Deaths. Daily sick.
1871
. Moray, November 1870
304.3
.8
10.2
1872
.
Ditto
ditto .
234.8
1.6
7.2
1873
.
Ditto
ditto .
162.2
.8
6.1
1874
. Allahabad
.
128.5
1.44
2.79
1875
.
Ditto
ditto .
82.06
.56
2.33
Average
.
182.37
1.04
5.72
1876
. Allahabad.
43.50
.99
. 8 9