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]
Catalogue details

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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    particularly direct attention. If the European forces at Poona were required m the neighbourhood, the excellent roads and bridges, and other facilities for moving, bring the principal points in the districts within a few days’ march; and, even Bombay, the seat of government, is only 80 miles distant, a journey which infantry might easily accomplish in 60 hours. As our knowledge of the colonies of the empire increases, we may con- fidently hope that many healthy localities will be discovered, and occupied, as Poonah has been. But as this subject has been hitherto little attended to, some remarks may be made on a few of the sites which experience has proved to be well adapted for the residence of Europeans, as they serve to show how much we have it in our power to preserve the lives of men, and also to point out where healthy localities are likely to be met with. The principal portion of the European or native forces should be located in these healthy districts, and (if it ever be admissible in tactics to detach small bodies of men) detachments or guards could be furnished to the unhealthy parts of the country, which political reasons, or the necessities of the state, prevented being altogether abandoned. The island of Jamaica affords an instance to illustrate this. From 1817 to 18-36, a force of 2,578 on the average was distributed over it. Many of the stations have proved excessively unhealthy; but “ while in some parts of the island half the troops, or at the rate of 500 per 1,000 of the strength, were swept away every year, in others the average mortality has not exceeded 32 per 1,000.”* Ratio per 1,000 of Mean Strength Average died. Strength. Phoenix Park from 1833 to 1836 29- 61 fMontpellier - - - yy yy 30- 67 Maroon Town from 1817 to 1836 32’5 190 Mandeville - from 1833 to 1835 35* 75 Fort Augusta from 1817 to 1836 , 78*3 389 Lucia - - - - yy 91* 83 Stony Hill, nine miles) north of Kingston - J yy 96*8 362 Falmouth - yy yj 110*6 194 Port Royal - Up Park Camp, two miles^ yy yy 122*3 152*8 254 726 north of Kingston yy Port Antonio yy yy 162*5 137 Spanish Town yy yy 177*1 336 And though such differences exist, the island is only 160 miles in extreme length, and 50 in breadth, and could be traversed by troops from end to end in a few days. It is evidently, therefore, in our power to withdraw the sol- diers from the stations where they have suffered so much, and to place them in those localities which experience has proved to be favourable to the Euro- pean constitution, t * Report, &c., 1838. t The position of Montpellier has not been correctly ascertained ; it is supposed to lie to the eastward of Stoney Hill, near the place marked •. t Since these remarks were written, 1 am informed that {in 1844) this change has Irecn intro- duced. Half a regiment of the Europcan.s has been stationed at Newcastle, and another half at Maroon Town; and a third M''e3t India regiment, 1,000 strong, has been raised to occupy the low i'Aiinfirv. -