Medical
Officers.
Location and
movements.
Topography
and physical
geography of
surrounding
country and
station.
Season.
Accommoda-
tion.
Drainage and
conservancy.
Hospital.
92
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL.
were 174 women on the register, among whom there had been an average of
8.17 sick. The admissions from venereal among British troops had been at the
rate of 81 per 1000.
D i c e r o y ' s B o d y G u a r d — B e h r a B u n .
I. Medical Offi cers.—Surgeon-Major O. Barnett, Surgeon to His Ex-
cellency the Viceroy, held
medical charge of the Body
Guard from 1st January to
27th March, and from 3rd
to 31st December. Surgeon
G. G. Maclaren, Civil Sur-
geon of Dehra, was in
medical charge during the
time the regiment was quar-
tered there.
II. Location and movements
. —
T h e r e g i m e n t w a s s t a t i o n e d a t
Ballygunge in suburbs of Calcutta
from 1st January till 3rd April,
when it left by rail en route to
Dehra, where it remained till 16th
November. It again left Dehra on the 17th November and arrived in Calcutta on the 23rd.
III. Topography and physical geography of surrounding country and station.—The Body
Guard lines in south-eastern suburbs of Calcutta cover a very large plateau, surrounded on all
sides by detached houses with large compounds and inhabited by the better classes of the civil
and mercantile community. Behind these ranges of houses there is on all sides a dense native
population living in miserable huts in the midst of water-logged gardens, in nearly every one
of which is a filthy stagnant tank in which the natives rejoice to wallow, and from which they
get their water-supply, as the municipal supply does not extend below Lower Circular Road.
The soil in this locality is invariably moist, and in the rains decidedly swampy.
All the ground in the immediate vicinity of the lines is cultivated.
Surgeon-Major Barnett remarks that the season has been unusually dry
with considerable variations. He retains his opinion that the barrack accom-
modation is insufficient for the Body Guard as now augmented. At Dehra the
accommodation is ample. No change has occurred as regards drainage and
conservancy. Water is obtained from the municipal pipes in Calcutta and
brought by mules and kahars from a spring 3 miles distant at Dehra.
In other respects the circumstances of the Body Guard remain the same.
The hospital at Ballygunge is low and would be damp in the rains, but it is only
used in the cold weather.
YEAR.
STATION.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH.
Admissions. Deaths. Daily sick.
1872
. Ballygunge .
.
.
276.7
5.98
1873
.
Ditto
.
.
.
201.8
1.16
3.86
1874
.
Ditto
.
.
.
151.2
1.15
3.3
1875
. Debra-Dun, March 1875
272.7
1.94
5.2
1876
.
Ditto
.
.
.
217.84
169
4.69
Average
.
.
.
224.05
1'19
4.60
1877
. Dchra-Dan .
.
.
128.23
. 8 3
3.47
Sickness,
mortality and
invaliding.
XV. Sickness, mortality and invaliding.—Strength of the regiment
Present
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. .
104.5
Absent
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
15.5
Total
.
120
Principal
causes of
sickness.
STATION.
PERIOD
Strength.
TOTAL NUMBER
O F
Daily
average
number
of sick.
PER CENT. OP STRENGTH
PER ANNUM.
From
To
Admis-s i o n s .
Dea
ths.
Admis-
sions.
Deaths.
Daily
average
sick.
Ballygunge
.
. . 1st Jan. 1877 3rd Apl. 1877
Debra-Dun
.
.
. 10th Ap1.1877 16th Nov. 1877
104.5
134
...
3.63 128.23 ...
3.47
Ballygunge
.
.
. 23rd Nov.1877 31st Dec. 1877
Number of deaths in hospital, none ; out of hospital, 1 ; total
1; per cent. of totol strength .
.83
„
invalided
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
0;
,, ,,
.
0
„
sent on sick leave
.
.
.
.
.
.
1 ;
„
,,
.
.83
„
of days spent in hospital,
1,320; per admission .
9.85; per man of total strength
. 11.00
,,
„
on sick leave,
62; per man
.
62;
„
,,
.
. 51
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength
.
11.51
XVI. Principal causes of sickness.—Intermittent fever has not been so prevalent as in
former years amongst the men of the regiment, which is probably owing to improved arrange-
ments as regards water-supply. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that a low form of