The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-19 00:00:00

THE HEALTH OF THE NAVE

To the numerous valuable volumes of" sanitary"
literature recently prrnted to the public by the
Registrar-General, Es excellent coadjutor Dr.
Farre, Mr. Simon, the medical officer of the Board
of Health, Dr. Greenhow, Dr. Hassall (the exposer
of adulterations), and other medical gcntlemen,has
been added a " Statistical Report on the Health of
the Royal Navy for 1856." This emanates from Dr.
A. Bryson, and has been drawn up exclusively
from the returns lodged in the office of the Direc-
tor-General of the Medical Department of the
Royal Navy. The general report divides itself
into a series of branch reports, so to speak, on the
several stations—viz., the Home, the Mediter-
ranean, the West India and North American,
the East Coast of South America, the Pacific,
the West Coast of Africa, the Cape, the " East"
Indian and China, and the Australian sta-
tions. The total mean force (corrected) at all these
stations having been (in 1856) 51,730 ; the total
number of cases on board was 73,195, the number
of days' sickness on board 814,084 the number of
men sick per diem 2,230.4, the ratio per 1,000 of
mean force 43.2 ; the number of days' sickness in
hospital 329,235; and the average number-of men
daily in hospital 902, the ratio per 1,000 of mean
force 17.4, the total average of sick per diem
3,132.4, the ratio per 1,000 of mean force 61.7 ; the
number invalided 998,,the ratio per 1,000 of mean
force 19.3, the number of deaths from disease 629,
and from all causes 801, the ratio per 1,000 of mean
force 15.5, and the number of eases per man 1.4 ; 9
were killed in action, 61 by accidental hurts, 87
were drowned, 1 was frozen, while 14 put a period
to their various sufferings, and found rest in the
grave by the commission of suicide. The most fatal
disease in the force was fever, of which 199 cases
were fatal, including 130 of yellow fever. Next to
fever consumptive diseases were most fatal, the
deaths being in the ratio of 2.7 per 1,000 of mean
force. 21.9 per cent. of the deaths arose from dis-
eases of the respiratory organs, 4.9 from diseases of,
the heart and arteries, and 13.4 from diseases
of the alimentary canal. Dysentery is very fatal
on the coast of China. The mortality in the
whole force from all ordinary causes (a fact not
a little surprising) very little exceeds the mor-
tality in civil life, thus confirming the moral
of the fable of Chambaud which shows that
there is no more danger in " going to sea" than
in "going to bed." The aggregate loss of ser-
vice through wounds and sickness in the entire ser-
vice, estimated at 51,730 men, was about equal to
3,132 men, or 61.7 per cent., which exceeds the loss
in the metropolitan and city police by a little more
than one-third. This excess is not so great as might
have been anticipated, considering that the seaman
is more exposed to the waxier. We are sorry to
he
informed, however, that with all the improve-
ments in the navy th-3 seaman, even when relieved
and al.lowed to retire to his hammock, can seldom
dry his clothes or obtain, especially in the
night • time (when mostA wanted)
meeani,:;America,
m so
regions
bte, anyped
passedrkicitne that
kind o•
westward
warmtward
as
through Europe to
food or refreshment. Asi
regards yellow fever. Dr.
Bryi on thinks that it n
cholera, cradled in t
yellow
fever, the
in the West
Pcculiar scourge of a few war
will travel eastward from America, until
it reaches;
° f
the European
fevercommunities
ba
settleds it
on the
notnkeb been
introduced Ganges. Yellow
introduced into any region eastward of the Cape ofl
Good Hope. How long it may be excluded from
Asia must depend, the doctor thinks, upon the rel.
strictions imposed on infected ships sailing west-
ward from the coast of America to the Polynesian
group of islands and thence to the eastern shores
of Asia and New Holland. We commend this re-
port to the attention of the authorities.