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

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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$.'T<»ifv/ DISEASES OP THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. Under this class are comprised in the preceding Table— Admissions. Deaths. Prcfportion of Deaths to Admissions. Inflammation of the Bowels, • . 'q 1 in 3 .53 21 1 2i 317 34 1 » 9 9 0 » 9 25 0 '> 25 250 18 1 )> 14 263 0 >» 263 9 2 1 n 4i Total .... 929 76 1 in 12 Annual Ratio per 1000 of Mean) 504 41-3 This table shows that more than half the troops have been tmder treatment^, and that the deaths from these diseases have averaged 41 per thousand of the force annually. As usual, dysentery was the principal source of mortality, and of so aggravated a character were the acute cases, that nearly two-fifths of them proved fatal, a degree of intensity which, so far as we can learn, has never been surpassed elsewhere. The previous sufferings of some of the troops while stationed on the Gold Coast, may probably have induced a certain degree of susceptibility to this disease after their arrival, but as the same feature continued to manifest itself long subsequent to that event, it may safely be assumed that other causes must also have been in operation. The Sierra Leone Commissioners, who possessed the best means of investigating the subject on the spot, were of opinion that the large proportion of salt rations had mainly contributed to the sickness and mortality; and the following statement of the marked reduction which took place in the deaths by this class of diseases immediately after the introduction of the fresh meat diet which they recommended, shows their con- clusions to have been well founded. PREVIOUS TO ALTERATION IN RATIONS. SUBSEQUENT TO ALTERATION IN RATIONS. Year. Mean Strength By Diseases of the Stomach and Bowels. Ratio per 1000 of Mean Strength. ; Year. Mean Strength By Diseases of the Stomach and Bowels. Ratio per 1000 of Mean Strength. Admitted. Died. Admitted. Died. Admitted. Died. Admitted. Died. 1825 1826 1827 571 471 345 235 256 209 32 26 13 411 543 606 56 56 38 1 1828 1829 1830] to \ 1836J 232 114 42 139 50 22 1 1 600 ] 439 ( 524 J Total 1,387 700 71 A.verage505 51 Total 388 211 2 Average 543 Thus though the prevalence of these diseases remained neai-ly the same, their character became so much ameliorated after the more liberal use of a fresh meat diet, that the mortality from them was reduced to a tenth of its former amount; similar results have attended the recent increase in the issue of fresh meat to the Troops in the West Indies, a circumstance which seems to warrant the adoption of a similar remedy in other Colonies, whenever there is reason to believe that the character of these diseases has been influenced by a similar cause. DISEASES OF THE BRAIN. Under this class are comprised in the preceding Table— Admitted. Died. Proportion of Deaths to Admissions. 10 6 1 in If Flnilpnsv 3 5 14 1 i 1 „ 3 0 „ 5 1 » 14 Total .... Annual Ratio per 1000 of Mean) 32 8 1 in 4 18 4-3 • « Western Coasi of Africa. Sierra Leone Command. C2$

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