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
Catalogue details

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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    the result of intemperance, and 514 reported as delirium tremens were obviously the consequence of that vice, deducting these, the climate of the Mauritius has exerted no peculiarly unfavourable influence on this class of diseases, but rather the reverse. Indeed, as will be seen on reference to Abstract No. III. of Appendix, embracing the period between 1812 and 1818, when intemperance does not appear to have been so prevalent, the admissions from this class of diseases averaged only 16 and the deaths l-^^ per thousand of the strength annually, which is as low as in Nort h America. Though by no means disposed to concur in the assertion, that tlie greater portion of the sickness and mortality among our troops, particularly in tropical Colonies, is the result of intemperance, yet in the Mauritius there is unquestionable evidence of this class of dis- eases, at least, being materially aggravated by that cause, particularly of late years, as will be seen by the number of cases reported under the head of Delirium Tremens since 1823, when that disease first appears in the returns:— Mauritius. Years. Mean Strength. Admissions | Deaths from Delirium!from Delirium Tremens. | Tiemens. 18-23 1,248 4 1824 1,190 1825 1,131 6 1 1826 1,338 7 1827 1,692 18 2 1828 1,639 28 2 1829 ] ,650 36 3 1830 1,606 37 4 1831 1,777 55 3 1832 1 ,861 50 9 1833 2,228 60 5 1834 2,201 69 10 1835 1,934 88 9 1836 1,555 56 2 !i,;op3 i. Table III. Showing the Num- ber of Admissions and Deaths from Dehrium Tremens amono; the White Troops in the Mau- ritius. Thus with the exception of the last year, this disease appears to have been progressively on the increase, and so fatal, even among the non-commissioned officers, whose habits ought to have been such as to exempt them from its influence, that in 1835, four Serjeants and one acting serjeant-major are recorded among its victims. Nor are its ulti- mate consequences confined to the fatal cases above recorded, for while labouring under it several have committed suicide, and numerous attempts have been made to do so, which though unsuccessful, exposed the patient in several instances to long and protracted suffering, and ultimately led to his being permanently unfitted for the service. It has been deemed requisite thus specially to call attention to the numerous cases of delirium, tremens in this Command, both because the subject is so frequently adverted to by the medical officers, and because, if the prevalence of intemperance in different Colonies be estimated from the relative prevalence of this disease, that vice would appear, by the following comparison to be here at its maximum: — United Kingdom (Dragoon Guards and Dragoons only) Gibraltar Malta - .—^- Ionian Islands. . . , . f Bermuda Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Canada Windward laid Leeward Command Jamaica Cape of Good Hope .... Manritins , Admitted Aggregate Deliriun Strengtli. Tremens. Died by Delirium Tremens. Ratio per 1000 of Mean' Strength. Admitted. 44,611 27 4 6 •I 60,269 44 5 7 •08 40,826 38 5 9 •12 70,293 192 30 2 7 •5 11,721 102 9 8 6 •8 46,442 217 18 4 7 •4 64,250 296 18 4 6 •3 86,661 1,426 175 16 5 2- 51,567 192 42 3 7 •8 22,714 13 3 6 •13 30,515 514 50 16 8 1-6 Died. Table IV. Showing the relative prevalence of De- lirium Tremens in the Mauritius and other Colonies. It says much for the salubrity of the Mauritius, that where intemperance appears so general, and its effects are manifested to so frightful an e.xtent, the mortalitv among the troops should not have exceeded 3 per cent., and had those deaths been deducted which might unquestionably be traced to this vice, it would have been even as low as 2^ per cent. With these facts before us, too, it is imjwssible to admit that the mortality which sweeps off so large a proportion of our troops in other tropical Colonies, is mainly attributable to drunkenness, when we find that, in this island, where that vice appears at its max- imum, the mortaliiy of the troops is as low as has ever been observed in similar latitudes.