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 [by A.M. Tulloch, H. Marshall, and T.G. Balfour] of the Army Medical Department and War Office returns.

  • 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 [by A.M. Tulloch, H. Marshall, and T.G. Balfour] of the Army Medical Department and War Office returns. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    102/128 (page 92)
    The ratio of admissions by this class of diseases is much the same as at the Cape, but the mortality is nearly twice as high, notwithstanding the mildness of the climate and the limited range of the thermometer in this island compared with the sudden changes of temperature and violent gusts of winds so much complained of in that Command. The great source of this mortality arises from consumption, of which the proportion attacked annually has averaged 7TV per thousand, being higher.than in the United King¬ dom, Mediterranean, or even America ; although insular situations, particularly of limited extent, surrounded by a great expanse of ocean, and enjoying a mild and agreeable temperature, have generally been deemed favourable to persons predisposed to that disease. The proportion of deaths to admissions from consumption is rather lower than in the other colonies above referred to, but as it cannot be ascertained how many of the cases were re-admissions, or in how many instances the patients may have been invalided, and died on their passage home, we are not warranted in drawing the conclusion, that, though more pre¬ valent, consumption is here less fatal; could all the cases have been carefully followed out, there is little doubt that, as at other stations, they would, with vex-y few exceptions, be found to have terminated in death. This disease has been equally prevalent among our troops in the colony, ever since its first occupation by the British; fi’om 1812 to 1818, for instance, the number attacked was 137 out of an aggregate strength of 19,273, being 7 rV per thousand, of whom above one-half died ; and the proportion of deaths by all diseases of the lungs amounted to 6TV per thousand of the force annually, which is somewhat higher than during the period at present under investigation. We have frequently had occasion to remark in the course of these inquiries, that it is not always in climates where other diseases of the lungs most abound, that consumption is most prevalent. Thus in the West Indies, catarrhs and other inflammatoiy affections are by no means so common as in the Mediterranean or North America, yet consumption is much more so ; that disease is also found to be nearly twice as prevalent at the Mauritius as the Cape, though no such feature is manifested in others of the same class, but leather the reverse. It will also be observed that from 1818 to 1826, when all other diseases of the lungs were exceedingly rare, consumption was just as prevalent as at. any subsequent period, thus indicating that its origin is not materially dependent on inflammatory action of that organ. DISEASES OF THE LIVER. Under this head are comprised in the preceding Table,—- Proportion of Admitted. Died. Deaths to Admissions. Acute Inflammation of the Liver . 1,988 96 1 in 20J Chronic , , , , 469 23 i „ m Jaundice. 51 3 1 17 Total . 2,508 122. 1 in 20^ Annual ratio per lOOOofMean Stregth 82 4- • • This climate exhibits much the same influence in inducing hepatic affections as that of Western Africa or St. Helena, and so insidious are the attacks, that on some occasions the result of dissection exhibits total disorganization, when the feelings of the patient have led to no suspicion of the liver being affbcted. As in the East Indies, too, this disease is fre¬ quently combined with dysentery, though the hepatic symptoms are sometimes so obscure as to escape notice. 3 his class of diseases cannot be deemed altogether the result of exposure to a high tem¬ perature, since in Jamaica, where that agency is also in operation to at least an equal extent, the liver seems but little affected, and in the Mauritius during years remarkable for a very .high temperature, as in 1824 for instance, they have not been more frequent than usual. 1 hough not more prevalent, these diseases must have been of a much more fatal chai’acter between 1812 and 1818 than du ring the period at present under review, as upwards of one case in ten proved fatal. DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. Under this head are comprised,— Admitted. Died. Proportion of Deaths to Admissions. Abdominal Inflammation . 7 3 1 in 2^ 1 ,, 9] Inflammation of the Stomach . 56 6 Inflammation of the Bowels 118 10 1 ,, 12 Vomiting of Blood .... 14 • ■ 0 ,, 14 Acute Dysentery. 5,158 267 1 ,, 19> Chronic ,, 262 18 1 „ 14* 1 n digestion. 479 1 1 ,, 479 Colic. 1,108 3 1 ,, 3694 Diarrhoea. 868 11 1 „ 731 Constipation . 201 • • 0 ,,201 Cholera Morbus. 183 4 1 ,, 45 j Total . ... 8,:-S94 323 1 in 26