Statistical reports on the sickness, mortality, & invaliding among the troops in the United Kingdom, the Mediterranean, and British America / 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:
- 1839
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Statistical reports on the sickness, mortality, & invaliding among the troops in the United Kingdom, the Mediterranean, and British America / 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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![Sickness and Mor¬ tality of Officers,&c. 42 b j STATISTICAL REPORT on the SICKNESS, MORTALITY, and Notwithstanding the greater exposure of privates on night duty, diseases of the luno-s are found to be more rare than among the officers, in the proportion of 148 to 163; but'those which affect the former are of a much more severe character: inflammation of the lungs in particular, is at least thrice as common. It is highly corroborative of our previous deductions in regard to the relative influence of the climates of the Mediterranean and America on inflammation of the lungs and phthisis that the cases of both are more rare among officers in Canada than among those in the Mediterranean stations, for instance— Lung-s in Aggregate Number of Officers serving in each Com- I mand during the Years over which Report extends Total attacked by Inflammation of T ' ' period. Ditto by Phthisis ditto . Ratio per 1000 of Strength attacked Annually by In-] flammation of Lungs. . Ditto ditto by Phthisis . Gibral¬ tar. Malta. Ionian Islands. Mediterra¬ nean Stations generally. Canada. J 2511 1772 2506 67S9 2616 j 34 14 4S 96 28 8 12 2 1 ** • • • • 14tV l<Vo 1* <¥o- —- * . , . ouc ouioeis attacked Dy phthisis annually has been more than twice as high, and by inflammation of the lungs at least a third higher than in C anada. Had we referred to the Returns from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick this would have been still more strongly marked ; for there, so far as can be ascertained, not a sing.e officer has been attacked by consumption, and only nine by inflammation of the luno-s during the period under observation. ° Diseases of the bowels have been, in a slight degree, more prevalent among the officers than the privates. . We have already stated in previous Reports, that wherever the soldier enjoys, as he does in this Command, the same advantages in regard to a fresh meat diet as the officer, he is not likely to be more subject to these diseases: in support of that asser¬ tion, we may confidently refer to the present in addition to the many instances already ad¬ duced especially if taken in connexion with the fact that, in the Bermudas, where the troops have hitherto been fed principally on salt rations, half of them are under treatment for dis¬ eases of the bowels annually, while among the officers only 54 cases occurred during the whole course of 14 years, being a smaller proportion than in the Canadian Provinces. ie comparative exemption of the officers from epidemic cholera has been already noticed at page 32 of this Report; and the other classes of diseases being of mino^ importance, it is, perhaps, unnecessary to refer to them more particularly at present Influence 0f the Seasons. SECTION VI. On the Influence of the Seasons in ’producing Sickness and Mortality amon<r the Troops serving in British America. The following Table, illustrative of this subjeet, has been prepared from the Returns of the Canada Command, of which an Abstract will be found in No. IX. of Appendix. In Bermuda .°va Scotia, &c. the dates of the admissions and deaths have not been recorded with suffi¬ cient regularity to admit of similar results being exhibited on as extensive a scale, and we have therefore confined our calculations to Canada, where on account of its severity we manifested6-—t0 ^ ^ mtluence °f wmter on the health of the troops very strongly Table XVTII. Showing the In¬ fluence of the Seasons on the Sickness and Mor¬ tality of Troops in British America. Months. Admissions into Hospital in 20 Years of Troops in Canada. Deaths in 20 Years of Troops in Canada. By Acute Diseases. By Chronic Diseases. By Surgical Diseases. Total by all Diseases. By Acute Diseases. By Chronic Diseases. By Surgical Total by all Disease s.J Diseases. |i January 2,14:2 273 2,270 4,6S5 36 35 5 na S Jbebruary . 1,918 227 2,026 4,171 31 23 3 # o | March . 1,950 266 1,910 4,126 31 41 3 75 | April . 2,551 294 2,038 4,883 33 39 1 73 | May 2,820 303 2,216 5,339 2S 34 2 j June 3,063 298 2,479 5,840 58 37 9 104 1 July •/ • 4,183 352 2,570 7,105 53 29 8 90 I August. 5,144 354 2,678 8,176 103 21 4 1 2 ft | September . 4,440 332 2,436 7,208 54 24 4 82 | October 3,055 241 2,280 5,576 3S 27 6 71 f November . 2,798 229 2,241 5,268 32 27 3 11 9 ! December . 1 2,252 197 2,072 4,521 35 23 3 61 Total . . 36,316 3,366 27,216 66,898 532 360 51 943](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30449625_0180.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
