Statistical reports on the sickness, mortality, & invaliding, among the troops in Western Africa, St. Helena, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Mauritius; : prepared from the records of the Army Medical Department and War-Office returns [by A.M. Tulloch, H. Marshall and T.G. Balfour]. / Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty.
- Great Britain. Army Medical Services
- Date:
- 1840
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Statistical reports on the sickness, mortality, & invaliding, among the troops in Western Africa, St. Helena, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Mauritius; : prepared from the records of the Army Medical Department and War-Office returns [by A.M. Tulloch, H. Marshall and T.G. Balfour]. / Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![This is by far the most formidable class of diseases among the troops in the Colony, MaurifiuF. more than one-fourth being attacked, and upwards of 10 per thousand cut off by it annually. The great majority of the cases are reported under the head of dysentery, arising no doubt in many instances from the hepatic derangement above referred to; but, as in the West Indies, numerous cases occur also in which no such connection can be traced. It rarel)'' happens that the first attack of dysentery proves fatal; post-mortem ^examination has in almost every instance shown the tissue of the bowels to have been injured by former attacks, which rendered the sufferers particulai'ly liable to its recurrence ; the use of simple nourish- ing diet, with careful abstinence from all stimulants long after every dangerous symptom has disappeared, is said to be the only possible means of removing this tendency which proves so formidable a feature in the disease. Owing to this circumstance the mortality from dysentery falls principally on soldiers advanced in life, who, having been longest resident in the climate, are likely to have suffered most from repeated attacks. The proportion occurring at each of the following periods of life, during the last 7 years included in this Report, was as under:— Age . Aggregate Strength 1 of Seven Years J Died by Dysentery . Ratio per 1000 of Strength! 18 to 24. 25 to 33. 33 to 40. 40 to 50. Total of all Ages. 389-2 5361 1215 300 10,768 26 6-7 63 irs 24 19-7 8 26-6 121 11-2 Thus the youngest class of soldiers, composed principally of recruits but a short time in the Colony, suffer only to one-fourth the extent of those above the age of 40, most of whom have in all probability been resident there for several years. It is singular that the Officers are not affected by these diseases to a greater extent than at the Cape, or other healthy colonies; the white civil inhabitants also suffer but little from them, the mortality from all causes at a corresponding period of life not being greater than what occurs among the troops from diseases of the bowels alone. These diseases have been a great source of mortality ever since the island first came into our possession, but particularly during the war, when the troops were restricted almost entirely to salt rations. It will be seen, by reference to Abstract No. III. of Appendix, that from 1812 to 1817, the deaths by this class amounted to 17 per thousand of the force annually, and so severe were the cases of dysentery, that 1 in 10 pi'oved fatal. ^ On reference to Abstract No. L of Appendix, a very marked increase will be observed, since 1826, in the frequency if not in the mortality by diseases of the bowels, the ratio of admissions subsequent to that period being at least twice as high as in most of the years which preceded it ; this at first was attributed to two regiments—the 29th and 99th having newly arrived in the island, but that supposition has since been negatived by their having been nearly as prevalent in every subsequent year, though no such arrivals took place. As these diseases, but particularly dysentery, prevail most during the rainy months of February, March, and April, some have supposed them to be materially influenced by the agency of moisture ; this hypothesis, however, seems doubtful, because in Malta they are most common from June to September, when no rain falls, and in the Mauritius an increase of moisture does not appear to induce a corresponding increase in their frequency. In 1824 the quantity of rain was greater than had ever been the case in the memory of the oldest inhabitants, yet the admissions and deaths from these di.seases were then under the average, and conversely, though there has been so great an increase in the admissions since Ib'iG, the character of the climate as regards moisture has not differed in any material degree from preceding years. CHOLERA MORBUS. Admissions. 268 Deaths . . 32 Proportion of Deaths to Admissions . 1 in 8]. In 1819, when this disease prevailed to a great extent in the East Indies, it also made its a{)peararce at Port Louis. At first it was supposed to have been imported by the Topaze frigate, from which several sailors were sent into the general hospital; but the cer- tificate both of the Commander and Surgeon of that vessel subsequently proved that though three cases of dysentery had terminated fatally on the voyage, no contao-ious disease had existed on board, nor, so far as could be ascertained, at any of the ports the vessel had sailed from, so that the appearance of this epidemic in the Mauritius remains involved m the fame mystery as its origin in other Colonies. u The first case officially noticed was on the 20th of November, and on the followin<r dav two others \yere reported; these were confined to some E;.st India convicts, but before another day had elapsed several oucuned among the white population in different parts of 3C2](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21365313_0101.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
