Age and length of service as affecting the sickness and mortality of the European army : and aggregate of the statistics of the army for the ten-year period, 1860-69 / by James L Bryden.
- James Bryden
- Date:
- 1874
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Age and length of service as affecting the sickness and mortality of the European army : and aggregate of the statistics of the army for the ten-year period, 1860-69 / by James L Bryden. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
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![These remarks apply to the admission-rate also. The statistics of the new The admission-rates of the same and old troops cantoned together show the admis- sion-rate of the new regiments as 2,026, in contrast with 1,219 per 1,000 in the case of the old. Admission-rates of neicly-arrived Regiments contrasted with the standard for the Army in general. Admission-rate per 1,000 of Strength. bodies compared, and their composi. tion in the new bodies contrasted with the standard for the Army. Newlt-abhited Regiments. 1 Causes of Aemissioits. standard of the 10 years 1860—69. 1864-69, (first year.) 1865—70, (second year.) New Army in the field, 1858. Cholera 14-7 18-7 4-5 5-0 Intermittent Fevers Remittent and Continued 439-0 140-0 345-7) 1333-3 ; Fevers 1940 383-9 237-7] Heat Apoplexy 4-3 16-8 4-6 55-8 Delirium tremens 4-7 3-6 5-3 6-2 Dysentery 48-9 66-2 47-3 231-7 Diarrhcna 109-4 153-1 88-0 303-5 Hepatitis 59-2 35-6 52-4 69-0 Phthisis pulmonalis 8-2 12-2 11-3 6-0 Respiratory diseases 74-7 87-3 68-9 92-3 Venereal diseases 265-5 235-4 238-6 270-6 , All other causes 532-3 485-6 456-1 725-0 ‘ All Causes 1754-9 1638-4 1560-4 3098-4 Many circumstances conduce to make the aggregate of the admission-rate of new troops approach to the aggregate of the standard for tlie army in general. New troops come from England with constitutions which are sup- posed to he sound, while the older soldier is constantly liable to the recurrence of disease in the course of the deterioration which his system naturally under- goes under the prolongation of exposure to the climate of India. The radical distinction is, that the newly-arrived soldier suffers from acute disease, and tlie older soldier from chronic disease; while the admission-rate of the new soldier is very much in excess as regards acute disease, it is much below the average when the statistics of chronic disease are placed side by side. The same diseases which determine the special constitution of the death- The charnctenstic component* of rate in the case of new regiments appear in excess the admission-rate are the same shown in the admission-rate. The fevers of the hot season ill the case of the death-rate. douhled, and the liability to heat apoplexy is quadrupled in the case of the new soldier, and dysentery and diarrhoea also rise much above the standard rate. On the other hand, fevers returned as intermittent are shown to be three times more prevalent among the old tlian the young, and hepatitis, which in the young gives a ratio of 36, stands on the average of the ten years at 59. In the second year of residence the admission-rates are rapidly approaching These approximate to the standard ^hc standard. Heat fevers, heat apoplexy, dysentery, as regiments become older in relation to and diarrhoea are running down in the scale ; and the climate of India. hepatitis and intermittents have risen in proportion. But the> ratio for intermittents shown in the table for troops in the second The relation of new troops to the year is exaggerated. The 92nd, 85th, and l-6th influence of epidemic malaria is a Bcgiments had the misfortune to he cantoned within contingency. The consequences o» . . . . _ o/in ^ exposure may he very serious in the the area covered by epidemic malaria m 1869; and case of newly-arrived regiments. thcsc three regiments alone, stationed at Jullundur, Meean Meer, and Bawulpindee, out of a strength of 2,500, furnished upwards of 3,000 admissions from malarious fevers between August and December. The remainder of the body in its second year, cantoned on the east of the line limiting the epidemic malaria of the year, gave, in the same months, less than 1,000 admissions out of a strength of 12,000. It is a contingency, and a fortunate one, that regiments in their first year have suffered so little from intermittents; the history of former years tells how terrible in some cases has been the mortality when a regiment new to India, after the suffering incident to the first hot season, has in the later months](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28038344_0022.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
