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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Mauritius. Drowned 28 Table II. Showing the prin- cipal Diseases among White Troops in the Mauritius. Suicide Died Suddenly from Apoplexy . „ ,, Intoxication „ ,, Fainting; . „ Ruptured Blood Vessel . „ „ Aneurism . Burnt II 15 6 Blown up 2 Suffocated I Killed by a fall 1 Found Dead .3 Executed 3 Suddenly, cause unknowa . . , . 9 Unaccounted for 9 Total 9.-) The proportion of deatlis fronn these causes Is rather higher than in the other Commands, and most of them are said to have occurred when the parties were in a state of intoxication. Besides the cases of suicide above referred to, which took place too suddenly to admit of treatment, several of the admissions recorded in the General Abstract of Diseases, arose from attempts at self-destruction, some of whicli ultimately proved fatal. It will be observed that, while the mortality of the civil population little exceeds the usual ratio in the United Kingdom, that of the troops is at least twice as high as on home service. The officers also enjoy as great an exemption from sickness and mortality as any class of the resident population, so that here we may fairly conclude the suft'erings of the troops to be in a great measure attributable either to their own vices and follies, or to some peculiarity in their condition, from which the others are exempt. According to the preceding Table there hag been a marked increase in the proportion both of admissions and deaths since 1828, and a reference to Abstract No. I. of Appendix shows that this increase has taken place in almost every class of diseases. On the average of the whole period under review, however, the troops have been more healthy than for the six years antecedent to 1818, when, as ascertained from some old Returns, the mortality was about 40 per thousand annually. I'he military stations in this island vary materially in salubrity, during the six j'ears just referred to ; for instance, the ratio of admissions and deaths annually, per thousand of mean strength, was relatively as follows :— Admissions. Deaths. Port Louis . . . . 1,130 49 Mahebourg: . . . . 1,031 30 902 33 Average. 1,069 40 We regret that the Returns do not admit of the relative salubrity of these stations being determined with equal facility since 1818, but it may be assumed from the above data that though there is little difference in the extent of sickness, the mortality is nearly one- half higher on the Leewai'd than the Windward side of the island. The diseases by which the sickness and mortality among the ti'oops has been occasioned since 1818, are enumerated in Abstract No. I. of Appendix, of which the results are ex- hibited in a comprehensive form in the following Table :— By Fevers Eruptive Fevers ... . . Diseases of the Lungs. . . . „ Liver .... „ Stomach and Bowels Epidemic Cholera Diseases of the Brain. . . . , Dropsies Rheumatic Affections .... Venereal ,, .... Abscesses and Ulcers Wounds and Injuries Punished Diseases of the Eyes Skin AU other Diseases Total ADMISSIONS. DEATHS. Total Annual Ratio Total Annual Ratio among whole per ]00<J of amonij wh ole per 1000 of Force Mean Force Mean la 19 Years. Strength. in 19 Years. Strength. 4,709 154- 53 1-7 6 •2 , 2,550 84- i72 5-6 2,508 82- 122 • 4- 8,394 275- 323 10-6 268 9- 32 11 1,236 41- S3 2-7 69 2-3 9 .3 1,396 46- 1 3,519 115- 1 5,842 191- 9 4,103 134- 14 943 31- ■ 1-4 958 32- 1 433 14- ' 1,174 38-5 lo. 38,108 1,249- 835 27-4 On comparing the diseases among the White Troops in this island, with those in the Cape Town district, there is this marked difference, that in the former upwards of one- half are of so serious a character as in all probability to induce considerable injury of constitution ; whereas in the latter scarcely one-third are of that description, the remainder being for the most part so trivial as not to detain the patient longer than a few days

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