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.

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    St. Helena. This conclusion does not rest on the Returns of the troops alone, for in No. II. o; ——- Apoendix will be found an Abstract of the fatal diseases among the whole population o: the^sland, dui-ing a period of 6 years, which shows that the deaths by fever only avei-agec from 6 to 7 annually, in a population of 4500, being about 1-f^ per thousand of all ages whereas the proportion who died from the same class of diseases in England, dui’inc the year 1837, accoi-ding to the Registrar-Genei-al’s Returns, was 1^ per thousand of al agesI_the same diseases thus producing nearly similar effects in each. Of the deaths b] fever among the troops, 2 which occuiTed in 1819 were l'ecruits landed from ship-boai*d ir a dying state, and therefoi’e not attributable to the climate of the island; deducting these the ratio of mortality by that class of diseases would, like the admissions, be almost th< same as in Britain. This station has hitherto been exempt from the ravages of those epidemic fevers whicl have proved so destructive to our ti’oops in the West Indies and some parts of the Medi- ten-anean. The cases reported as remittent and yellow fever, appear to have been nothing more than attacks of the oi'dinary bilious remittent, which occasionally prevails in ever) climate. The rocky surface of the island, and the absence of wood and marsh, will nol altogether account for this exemption, seeing that in the neighbouring island of Ascension which is still more destitute of these supposed agencies, epidemic fever prevailed among the garrison in 1823 to an alai-ming extent. Nearly* all the cases reported as intermittent, occurred in the 66th Regiment, one bat¬ talion of which arrived in 1817 from the East Indies, where many of the soldiei’s may pro¬ bably have acquired a predisposition to that disease. The relative proportion of fevers to all other diseases among the population of this island, as compai’ed with other countries, may be thus illustrated :— Deaths. Of 552 from all diseases in St. Helena, 39 were from fever, being 1 in 14 Of 33,501 „ Malta, 2,743 „ 1 „ 12 Of 148,701 „ England, 9,123 „ 1 ,, 16 These facts establish that, so far as l’egards fevers, St. Helena is decidedly healthy. DISEASES OF THE LUNGS. Under this head are compi’ised in the preceding Table,—• Proportion of Admitted. Died. Deaths to ** Admissions. Inflammation of the Lungs 24 3 — 1 in 8 Pleurisy. 12 • • 0 „ 12 Spitting of Blood .... 7 2 1 „ 3> Consumption. 25 14 1 „ H Acute Catarrh. 271 • • 0 „ 271 Chronic .. 18 • • 0 „ 18 Asthma. 2 1 I ,, 2 Total .... 359 20 1 in 18 Annual Ratio per 1000 of Mean 1 Strength.j 61 3-4 • • As regards this class of diseases, St. Helena seems also remai’kably healthy, the propoi*- tion of admissions and deaths among the militai’y being not half so high as in the United Kingdom or Mediteri’anean stations, and the same featui’e is manifested in the fatal diseases of the population generally, as only 86 deaths occui’red among them from diseases of the lungs in the course of five yeai’s, being in the ratio of 3y^ per thousand annually. Whereas in Malta, the ratio of mortality by the same class of diseases among the population annually, was.per thousand. And in England, by the Registrar-Genei’al’s Returns for the year ending December 1837, it was.5-/^ ,, ,, Similar deductions will be attained by calculating the pi’oportion which diseases of the lungs bear to all other diseases among the population of these countries respectively, viz.— In St. Helena, of 552 deaths from all diseases, 86 were from those of the lungs, being 1 in 6^ In Malta 33.501 „ 6,664 „ „ „ 1„5 In England 148,701 „ 39,566 „ „ „ 1„4 As regai'ds this class of diseases, the gx*eatest exemption enjoyed in St. Helena, compai’ed with other colonies, is from inflammation of the lungs, a circumstance the more remai’kable, when it is taken into view, that a large pi’oportion of the inhabitants are of the negro race, who in other climates are exceedingly predisposed to that disease. The pei’iod over which our observations extend being however so limited, these con¬ clusions must be received with caution, especially as it has been observed that the last Retuims from the island show a much greater mortality by diseases of the lungs among the troops than in previous years.