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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    Cape of Good Hope. I. Cape District. Mediterranean. Much of their sufferings from these diseases have been attributed to l:abitual intemperance, the want of due precaution when labouring under sliglit attacks, and an unguarded indulgei'.ce in the use of fruit, which the colony produces in great abundance. It has been stated that regiments newly arrived suffer, in this respect, to a greater extent than others, but, though that was the case in \ '^-2^2 and \8'27), it does not appear to have been so, on prior or subsequent occasions, when changes took ])lace in the garrison. ^ ery few cases, however, particularly of dysentery, have occurred from 1S31 to I'SoG, a period during which no new corps arrived, and this seems to favour the idea of the tendency to these diseases being diminished, as the troops acquire experience in guarding against'the causes likelv to induce them. EPIDEMIC CHOLERA. No cases of this disease have as yet occurred in the colony, either among the troops, civil inhabitants, or aborigines. DISEASES OF THE BRAIN. Under this head are comprised in the preceding Table,— Proportion of Admitted. Died. neatlis to Admissions. Inflammation of the Brain .... IS 7 1 in 2i 17 0 „ 17 24 17 1 43 2 1 „ 21i 25 1 1 25 17 0 „ 17 Brain Fever of Drunkards .... 13 3 1 „ 4i 64 1 1 „ 64 Total . . 221 31 1 „ 7i Annual Ratio per 1000 of Mean Strength 10- 1-3 This class of diseases exhibits nearly the same degree of prevalence and severity as in the North American colonies. A large pro[)orlion of the cases are said to have been, directly or indirectly, attributable to intemperance, but here this vice does not seem to produce the same baneful effects, by giving rise to Delirium Tremens, as among the troops in North America, where that disease is nearly tenfold as common. If the relative prevalence of Delirium Tremens throughout all the colonies is investigated, it will be found rare wherever wine is procurable at a moderate rate, compared with stations at which spirits form the principal intoxicating medium : a circumstance which should lead to the sale of the latter being placed under more rigid reguhitions than the former, as having greater tendency to induce permanent injury of constitution. DROPSIES. Under this head are comprised in the preceding Table,— Proportion of Adinittcd. Died. Di allis to Admissions. 25 18 5 3 5 5 1 in S 2 „ 7 1 „ 1 48 13 1 in 4 Annual Ratio per 1000 of Mean Strength 2 (1 •ITT This class of diseases seems only to have affected the health of the troops at the Cape in a very slight degree—much the same as in North America, jNIalta, or the Ionian Islands. Indeed it is surprising how exactly the ratio of admissions and deaths correspond in all these colonies, the difference being only a very small fraction.