Observations on the means of preserving the health of troops, by selecting healthy localities for their cantonments / by Edward Balfour ; read by Joseph Hume ... before the Statistical Society of London, on the 19th of May 1845.

  • Balfour, Edward, 1813-1889.
Date:
[1845]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the means of preserving the health of troops, by selecting healthy localities for their cantonments / by Edward Balfour ; read by Joseph Hume ... before the Statistical Society of London, on the 19th of May 1845. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    V' r^ 5 OBSERVATIONS ON THE MEANS OF PRESERVING THE HEALTH OF TR BY SELECTING HEALTHY LOCALITIES FOR THEIR CANTONMENTS. By Assistant Surgeon Edward Balfour, Madras Army. Read by Joseph Hume, Esq., M.P., before the Statistical Society of London, on the 19th of May 1845. The frequent occurrence and the severity of the diseases of tropical coun- tries had long made us aware of the differences existing in the salubrity of neighbouring localities. “ It is now ascertained, that even in our own country there is a very material difference in the degree of health and longevity attained by the rural inhabitants of some counties compared with others; for instance, those resident in North and South Wales, Cornwall and Devon, Northumberland and Cumberland, are not so liable to mortality, by at least a tenth part, as those in the central counties of the kingdom. The same remark also applies to the Highlands of Scotland; and it appears that the troops in the latter country have been rather more healthy than in England or Ireland.”* But in most of our colonies, where the agent that excites disease acts with greater intensity, these differences are more strongly marked, every island, and almost every province, within the tropics, furnishing us with instances of disease and death occurring 'with great frequency in one place, while in another, only a few miles distant, the mortality may scarcely exceed what the troops would be subject to in their native land; and our knowledge of this fact, though acquired only by experience, and at a great loss of men and money, points out to us one means of preserv- ing the lives of our men. It is true that political reasons may often render It necessary to retain our soldiers in very unhealthy districts, and we shall then be called upon to employ all our skill to protect their health. But where these state necessities are not very urgent, it will often be possible to locate men where they will be free from sickness, within a few hours’ march of the unhealthy district over which they are required to watch. During times of trouble and disorder, much, as regards health, must remain subordinate to the safety of the force, and the security of the district or country in which it is placed; but the profound quiet throughout our Eastern dominions is a suffi- cient proof that there are, at least, no such urgent demands upon our Euro- pean troops there as should compel us to sacrifice their health ; for this part of the ar^y, though ready at all times to take the field at an hour’s warning, have • RpnnrU nn flip QinlciKwa. Mnrtalit.v. anH Tn\ralifUoOr of the Bl'itlbh Afinv.