III
Cavalry regiments more particularly, it is expedient to permit men to stay out
of hospital and. look after their horses, unless they are so ill as to incapacitate
them for work of any sort, or to require constant attention. If men so cir-
cumstanced, or men discharged from hospital as convalescent before they have
become quite fit for duty, are not registered and included among the sick, it
is obvious that the returns must understate the number of men incapacitated
for duty by sickness, and the amount of incapacity caused thereby. Moreover,
as different medical officers might, under such a system, entertain different views
and adopt different practices as regards the kind and degree of sickness necessitat-
ing treatment in hospital, the statistics of different regiments would not be capable
of comparison. The radical remedy for this source of fallacy would be to
admit into hospital every man in any way incapacitated by sickness for
the full performance of his duties, and retain him in hospital so long as he
may continue to be so, or until he proceeds on sick furlough ; but it would
attain the same end as regards the accuracy of hospital statistics, and entail
no other inconveniences, if men unfitted for the performance of their duties
by illness were placed and retained on the hospital registers, whether they
were treated as " out-door " or " in-door " patients ; and this is the system
which I shall insist on for the future. All extraneous or supplementary lists
or registers of sick sepoys are' entirely unauthorized and open to serious mis-
understanding and abuse ; and the plain and simple rule in. such matters is,
obviously, that a man must be either fit for all or any duties, or on the sick list
His disposal and treatment while on the sick list are matters regarding, which the
medical officer may, under the general sanction of the commanding officer
exercise his discretion.
5. The vital statistics of the Native Army for 1877 are, when the consid-
STATEMENT No. III.
Sickness and mortality of 1877 and the previous ten years.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTIH.
YEARS.
Admissions.
Deaths.
Daily average sick.
1867
131.2
1.78
4.40
1868
111.8
1.65
3.72
1869
162.5
2.49
4.94
1870
159.8
1.86
4.73
1871
133.1
1.83
4.26
1872
352.6
2.01
4.54
1873
132.3
1.74
4.17
1874
132.9
1.31
4.23
'
1875
128.7
1.63
4.03
1876
140.47
1.47
3.91
Average
.
138.09
1.77
4.29
1 8 7 7
I
114.47
1.34
3.49
indicates the total mortality of the year reckoned on total strength. It will be
observed that the admission-rate is considerably below the average, and has only
been lower in one year of the decade (1868) ; that the constant sick-rate has not
been so low in any, year of the ten as in 1877 ; and that the death-rate, while
well below the average, has been more favorable than in any year, except 1874.
The causes of these gratifying results will be considered in subsequent para-
graphs.
6. The figures shown in the statement discussed in the preceding para-
graph are founded on the statistics of the whole Native Army of the Bengal
Presidency, exclusive of Madras troops ; and it will be understood that, when
not otherwise stated, whatever general totals or rates are specified in this
report possess a similar signification. In Statement No. IV the sickness and
death-rate have been analysed according to the main divisions of the Native
Army ; those of Madras troops shown separately, and the corresponding figures
of the four preceding years re-produced for the purpose of comparison.
the statistics
of different
sections of the
Native Army
Main statisti-
erations above addueced cal tl4eattsurecosmo.i
are borne in mind, ex- pared with
ceedingly satisfactory
The three principal
indices
of sickness
and mortality,-the ad-
mission-rate, the con-
stant sick-rate and the
death-rate,-are shown
in Statement No. III,
and placed in compari-
son with the serial and
average results of the
preceding decade. The
two former rates repr e-
sent the total numbei
of sepoys admitted foi
treatment, and the
average number daily
under treatment reck-
oned on
" p r e s e n t "
strength ; and the last