The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-13 00:00:00

Directors :-
1. It is stated by Col. Sir A. Tulloch, as the re-
sult of investigations in the War-office, made by
desire of Mr. Sidney Herbert, that among British
officers and soldiers of the Queen's and Company's
armies serving in the East Indies, there occurred,'
from 1815 to 1855 inclusive, a total mortality, ex-
clusive of casualties, of about 100,000 men, ' the
greater portion of whose lives might have been
saved had better localities been .selected for mili-
tary occupation in that country."
2. Dr. Burke, late Inspector-General of Hospi-
tals in Bengal, has stated that in the station of
Secunderabad alone, during 30 years of its occu-
pancy by British soldiers, the cost to the State on
account of loss of life amounted to 1150,000, esti-
mating each soldier as worth £lOO. But, estimat-
ing the loss of life mentioned by Sir A. Tulloch at
the same valuation of £lOO each man, we arrive at
a loss in money of £10,000,000 sterling.
3. Then there has been enormous waste of the
public funds on account of barracks and hospitals
placed in stations so unhealthy that they were sub-
sequently abandoned, The buildings for the Euro-
pean troops at Berhampore, Bengal, abandoned
since 1835 on account of its unhealthiness, are stated
by the finance authorities of Calcutta to have cost
since 1757 nearly £17,000,000 sterling.* Tennant
declares that, up to this time, the sums expended
by the East India Company for the accommodation
of their European troops, " if laid out at the com-
pound interest of the country, would, at a determi-
nate period, not very remote, have equalled the
national debt."
4. Looking to these enormous sums, often abso-
lutely worse than wasted, of what account in the
comparison has been the cost of the medical esta-
blishment of India ? how, truly saving of the
public revenues must be a well-ordered and well-
directed and a well-contented medical corps.
In truth, the importance of an efficient medi-
cal establishment is so great that we cannot put a
money vah.le on it.
5. As regards the preservation of European
health in India, and indeed in all tropical climates,
the due selection of locality is the first considera-
tion ; and next in importance stands the structural
arrangements in barracks and hospitals.
6. As to barracks, provided the site be of suffi-
cient elevation, well cleared, drained, and levelled,
with a good water supply, the material need not, I
think, be of a costly character—well-constructed
huts for the accommodation of 10 or 12 men forming
a good protection against the inclemencies of wea-
ther. Such simple and cheap structures will, I
believe, prove more conducive to the health of the
European soldier in the mountain ranges of India
than the most costly barrack, and the same may be
said of hospital-huts for the reception of the same'
number of mcn—viz. 10 or 12. In stations on the
arid hot plains of India the same structures would
answer well ; but if large brick-built barracks and
hospitals be preferred, they should be very spacious,
double-roofed, and raised on arches.
7. The considerations involved in -the subject of
the last paragraph are of the utmost importance,
whether viewed in a sanitary or financial light ;
and the subject has hitherto been altogether
neglected in locating troops in most of our foreign
possessions ; although our experience in all our
European campaigns have demonstrated that the
soldiers who were hutted fared well, while such as
were massed in barracks and general hospitals
perished at enormous rates.
8. This experience has been universally accord-
ant, whether the climate was hot or cold, whether
our men were serving in Holland or in the Crimea.
9. The Irish sufferers from typhus during the
famine who were massed in workhouses and hospi-
tals perished in enormous numbers, whereas those
who were thrown along the roads and under the
hedges recovered in goodly proportions ; of so much
more avail is pure air towards tne restoration of
health than a fine building. The thorough venti-
lation through the openings and crevices of huts
supplies the sick with what they don't obtain in
our ill-constructed barracks and hospitals—namely,
pure air.
10. They were not palaces that were constructed
by order of Sir C. Metcalfe on the mountains of
Jamaica, but a substantial form of hut, which, on a
pure and elevated soil, was all that was required.
Buildings such as those just referred to, constructed
of the most ordinary materials, have been found to
assure health, while Indian experiences prove that
costliness of material and splendour of structure,
apart from a good locality, will not prevent disease.
11. From the importance of determining the true
physical characters, and the exact medical topo-
graphy of all the mountain ranges throughout
India—especially of those situated. in provinces in
which it is desirable that British troops may reside
—has now become imperative. European soldiers
cannot maintain health or vigour in the plains, and
the selection of suitable mountain stations has be-
come more than ever a State necessity.
15. The experiences of the Himalaya positions,
of those of the Neilgherry mountains, and of those
of Ceylon, as sanitary stations, prove that by resi-
dence on,their respective elevations the European is
removed greatly above the range of the malarious
fevers of India. But while this great and valuable
fact is admitted, it is undoubtedly true that he is,
in too many instances, carried into the range of
another class of diseases—namely that of bowel
complaints. This circumstance has been found in
various of our mountain positions to constitute a
serious drawback from the otherwise great benefits
derived from a residence in them.
13. Another disadvantage of the hill stations
hitherto occupied by us in the East Indies was no-
ticed by me when serving in Bengal—namely, that
while the hill climates are permanently serviceable
against the malarious fevers of the country, their
influences in conducing to the cure of these and
other diseases is limited in extent : the soldier being
troubled with relapses of his disorders on descend-
ing into the plains unless he is kept in the hills for
a long time.. The mountain ranges, therefore, which
have hitherto been occupied by Europeans stand
forth as possessing climates preservative against
fevers, and as such we must improve them, and use
them wherever required.
14. When, on the other hand, we find the British
soldier lingering under chronic or structural dis-
eases contracted on the plains, a removal to the sea-
board, or to an insular sanitarium, or, still better,
to England, will be found the only effective means
of restoration ; and this last resource of medicine
should never be denied to him, for the climate of
the mountains, invaluable in prevention,' will not
cure disease.
15. Referring to what has been stated in para-
graph 12, how are we to escape from the admitted
evils hitherto experienced in the very high positions
occupied by us ? Where and how are we to obtain
that amount of elevation which, while it removes
the European out of the range of malarious fevers,
may not place him in that of an exhausting and
dangerouS diarrhoea ? This is the great desidera-
tum—one hitherto unascertained, because unsought
for ; yet no examinations which may fall short of
ascertaining this desired medium elevation can be
deemed satisfactory of our sanitary wants.
16. In the climates of yellow fever an elevation
of 2,500 feet is found sufficient to remove the Euro-
pean 'from the locality of pestilence, without
placing him in that of bowel disorders ; and in the
mountain stations of Jamaica the mortality among
British soldiers is found to exceed but
little, if at all, that of the same class of men in the
United Kingdom.
17. Let us, then, have a series of careful and
scientific examinations, by competent persons, of
the lower and medium ranges of hills throughout
India, in order that the great sanitary problem
may be solved in a conclusive manner—namely, the
providing a place of resort for our European troops
which shall be alike free from malarious fevers and
from disorders of the bowels. That such procur-
able localities are to be found in the East, as they
have been in the West, is my belief, and let them
be perseveringly sought for.
18. Let the solitary hills—those islands on the
plains—be sought, and carefully examined ; they
give excellencies peculiar to themselves.
Lastly, let there be appointed for the sanitary
duties of the a
ofeach of the Indian Presiden-
cies, a medical officer health—an officer of scien-
tific' at
attainments and of rank, who shpamallritlbreeantttlehleyde
to the quartermaster-general"s de
shall thus add to the departmentt of
The military
ymetdiePeea-1
topo-
graphy that of medical topography.
officer of health should preserve in his office, for the
use of the scientific persons concerned, plans and
models of the best barracks and hospitals which
may he from time to time approved by the military
powers of Europe, in order that the most recent
improvements may be rendered available wherever
buildings of the nature indicated may be found
rhe necessary.
The duties of the medical officer of health should
in peace, to examine report on
military all sit e s and
on the condition of camps,a temporary
sa sta-
tionsni t a
rianda, cantonments,
mountain
ranges suitable
and on solitary mountains and their capabilities, on
the plans and structure of barracks and hospitals,
and on everything relating to the health and com-
fort of the soldier.
In war he should be attached to the quarter-
master-general in the field, and be always
in advance with this officer, so as to master the
medical topography of the scene of action ;- and,
where military, reasons of imperative necessity

:m9 -d Topical Climates, p, 421.