Drainage.
Water supply
Location and
movements.
Lines,
barracks and
huts.
Diet.
Under
-
feeding.
6
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL.
10th Regiment Aatibe Infantrg—Barrackpore.
Medical
Officers.
YEAR.
STATION.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH.
Admissions. Deaths. Daily sick.
1870 . . . Cawnpore, January 1869,
from Shahjahanpur and
Moradabad.
201.1
. 5
4.7
1871 . . .
Ditto ditto.
177.9
.9
4.2
1872 . . . Barrackpore and Alipore,
April 1872.
275.4
2.1
7.95
1873 . . .
Ditto ditto.
175.9
3.3
5.63
1874 . . . Barrackpore . . .
172.27
2.67
6.45
Average . . .
200.51
1.89
5.78
1875 . . . Barrackpore . . .
230.93
6.44
13.34
Surgeon W. Duncan has
submitted the sanitary re
-
port of the regiment for the
year 1875.
I. Medical Officers.— Sur
-
geon W. Duncan held charge
of the regiment through
-
out the year. Surgeon W.
Duke, A.M.D., held charge
of a detachment at Dum
-
Dum from 1st January to
the beginning of November.
Surgeon B. Connolly, A.M.
D., was incharge of that
detachment for the remain
-
der of the year.
II. Location and movements.—The regiment remained at Barrackpore up to the 3rd Decem
-
ber, then proceeded to Alipore, thence on 20th December into camp on the maidan at Calcutta.
A detachment averaging 118 strong was stationed at Dum-Dum thoroughout the year. This
detachment was relieved every three months, and its sick were replaced by men from head
-
quarters.
V. Lines, barracks and huts.— The same barracks and huts were occupied by the regiment
as in the past two years. One-half of the buildings were kept in a tolerably fair state of
repair, the other half remained in a very dilapidated condition during the greater portion of
the year, and were not repaired until the rainy season had passed. These buildings were
leaky, and had their thatch coverings in a very rotten condition, but it is questionable if much
of the excessive amount of sickness was in any way connected with the buildings, when the
fact is observed that the men who were most unhealthy resided in the barracks which were in
the best state of repair. At Alipore, the regiment occupied the barracks vacated by the 28th
Regiment. In Calcutta, the regiment was in camp with the usual service tents. There was
no overcrowding in the barracks, and the means of ventilation appeared to be amply sufficient.
VI. Drainage.— Little change was effected in the drainage system previously described.
Year by year the drains are scraped and deepened, no doubt with the intention of improving
them, but with an entirely contrary effect , to all appearance. At certain seasons they no
longer serve as outlets for the surface water, but as inlets for that of the river and tanks,
and they, in consequence, retain the water, into which all the surface filth of the station has
been washed, and this stagnant water, while it is undergoing the process of being gradually
dried up, gives off the most offensive odours ; on account of these odours many portions of the
station can barely be inhabited during several weeks in the year. The artificial system of
drainage may, therefore, be said to be operative for only a portion of the year.
VIII. Water-supply.—During the first portion of the year, the water
was, as formerly, obtained from tanks, and as these tanks were filled by the
surface drainage of the station, it may be considered. that the supply was of
very doubtful purity. Since May, the Pulta water was brought into the station,
and the result is reported on as being satisfactory in every way.
IX. Diet.—The articles of_ food exposed in the regimental bazar were found thoroughout
the year to be almost invariably of good quality. Only on one occasion was the flour found
to be of inferior quality. Vegetables could at all seasons be obtained, but they were somewhat
expensive, and a considerable number of men used them very sparingly. Some men appear
to have never used them, or considered them necessary as an article of diet. Under-feeding, or,
at all events, improper feeding, might at one time be said to have been almost universally
prevalent in the regiment. Weekly inspections were held as in the previous year, and all men
found in low bodily condition, or in any way exhibiting scorbutic symptoms, were selected and
sent to be dieted in the lines under the supervision of their native officers, but with little or no
beneficial effect in as far as improvement in physical condition could be observed. Commencing
in the month of May, it was observed that a gradual but steady deterioration in the physical
condition of the men had set in, and this deterioration went on increasing from month to month
until the regiment as a body was nearly, if not quite, unfit for active duties of any sort.
At the outset it was not found that the men suffered from any specific desease ; in
fact, nothing could be observed beyond the slow and gradual wasting of muscle. When this
had proceeded to a certain extent, some men exhibited marked anæmic symptoms, others
scorbutic, others again suffered from a slow and Painless enlargement of the spleen ; the old
men, as a rule, suffering from the scorbutic symptoms, and the young from splenic enlargements.
The major part of the regiment in the condition described suffered most severely from the
ordinary malarial fevers of the climate, and, at one time, more than half the . strength present
was in hospital under treatment. In hospital, diet was ordered for all found in any way ema
-
ciated, and stimulants, anti-scorbutics and quinine were freely given, but in very few cases were