Enteric fever.
spleen
disease.
xix
due to causes connected with the lines occupied by this corps; for the other
Infantry regiment stationed at Barrackpore has not been exceptionally unhealthy,
while the 10th and 27th Regiments, which occupied the same lines in
previous years, suffered in the same way. The sickly men of the 38th have
been removed to Cawnpore, and the whole regiment is to be sent in course of
relief to Moradabad and Shajahanpur, where no doubt, under the more healthy
influences of these stations, it will regain its tone; but I am very strongly of
opinion that lines which have apparently shattered the health of two regi-
ments, and caused serious mortality in each, ought to be abandoned, and a bet-
ter site sought for the second Infantry regiment at Barrackpore elsewhere, as
near the bank of the river as possible. Nineteen cases and 10 deaths are register-
ed under the head of enteric fever throughout the Native Army—a very remark-
able contrast to the statistics of European troops. Spleen disease, as I have
shown, does not exhibit the same decrease in either cases or deaths as fevers; but
if we except the Presidency District, Peshawar and the Punjab Frontier, the
amount of spleen disease in the Native Army was very trifling. Neither
rheumatic nor chest diseases nor bowel-complaints exhibit the same degree of
diminished prevalence as malarious fevers ; and the facts of 1877 do not support
the assumption that these affections are due to the same or similar causes.
31. Chest diseases constitute so formidable an item in the death returns of
the Native Army, contributing no less than 26 per cent. of the total number,
and, together with fevers, accounting for half of all the deaths that occur, that
a special consideration of them is necessary.
STATEMENT NO. XIV.
S h o w i n g t h e n u m b e r o f c a s e s a n d d e a t h s d u e t o c h e s t d i s e a s e s .
Unhealthy
lines at Bar-
rackpore.
Chest diseases.
YEARS.
BRONCHI T I S AND
BRONCHI AL
CATARH.
P N R U M O N I A .
P L E A U R I S Y
O T H E R D I S E A S E S .
T O T A L .
Admitted. Died.
Admitted. Died. Admitted. Died
Admitted.
Died.
Admitted. Died.
1872
1,909
61
498
103
187
3
353
16
2,947
183
1873
1,792
52
530
87
238
13
307
9
2,873
161
1874
1,749
25
544
111
209
8
248
7
2,750
151
1875
1,769
18
701
177
189
11
263
5
2,922
211
1876
1,960
19
421
87
175
9
253
10
2,809
125
1877
2,415
35
454
95
237
3
313
10
3,419
143
Statement No. XIV exhibits the facts of 1877 in relation to those of the five
preceding years. The total admissions are in excess, and the total deaths con-
siderably below the average. The excess of cases is due to an excess of bron-
chitis and bronchial catarrh, but the deaths due to these causes are not in ex-
cess. Pneumonia shows fewer cases and deaths ; and pleurisy has more cases
and fewer deaths. The death-rate of pneumonia is eiactly the same as in the
previous five years, and under other heads it is more favorable. The Punjab
Frontier presents a decided excess of cases of bronchitis, due no doubt to the
severity of the climate, and the exposure to which many of the regiments were sub-
jected on service ; but the Peshawar, Presidency and Eastern Frontier Districts,
and the Sirhind and Lahore Divisions, also exhibit high. numbers. The, Lahore
Division is conspicuously first in respect of the severer chest diseases ; but they
also prevailed in the Peshawar and Punjab Frontier Districts and the Sirhind
Division to a greater extent than in other parts of the Presidency. Shelter and
clothing are undoubtedly the real preventives of this class of diseases ; but it is
also the case that, when the health of a corps becomes depressed from other
causes, slighter degrees of exposure suffice to induce these diseases. Their
prevention, therefore, depends on general as well as special hygiene. Phthisis
has not been included in these figures. The results of 1877 are very similar
to those of previous years. The disease continues to affect Goorkhas in higher
proportion than other classes, and, unlike other chest diseases, is less prevalent
in the Punjab than elsewhere.
Comparison
with preced--
ing five years.
Commands in
which chest
diseases wen:
most preva-
lent.
Preventives.
Phthisis.