Statistical reports on the sickness, mortality, & invaliding among the troops in the United Kingdom, the Mediterranean, and British America; prepared from the records of the Army Medical Department and War-Office returns. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty / [Signed: Alex. M. Tulloch].

  • Great Britain. War Office.
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

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 of the Army Medical Department and War-Office returns. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty / [Signed: Alex. M. Tulloch]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    This class of diseases is about twice as prevalent and occasions nearly thrice as many deaths amono- the troops at this station as in Gibraltar or the United Kingdom, but still it is no great sovirce either of inefficiency or mortality. Among the civil inhabitants it is very rare indeed, even more so than in Britain, the deaths being only 11 annually out of a population of 100,000, while among the military the proportion has been exactly ten times as high; but in this comparison we must keep in view that many of the soldiers may possibly have contracted the disease, during a previous course of foreign sei'vice in climates where it was prevalent, and the greater mortality among them may therefore be accounted for without referring it either to their duties or course of life. DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS. Under this head are comprised in the preceding Table— Pi'opoition of Admitted. Died. Deaths to Admissions. Abdominal Inflammation . 21 4 1 in 7 Inflammation of Stomach 10 1 1 „ 10 „ Bowels . 68 7 1 „ 10 Vomiting of Blood .... 9 2 1 41- 1303 7S 1 „ n 98 16 1 „ 6 164 1 1 „ 164 508 2 1 ,,254 659 1 1 „ 659 454 5 1 „ 91 3023 30 1 „ 101 Total .... 6317 147 1 in 43 Ratio per 1000 of Mean Strength 155 3-6 This class of diseases prevails to a considerable extent: fortunately, however, not in any very aggravated forms: acute and chronic dysentery, which prove so fatal in the West Indies, being here comparatively rare. The annual mortality amounts altogether to 3-iV per thousand of the strength, which is considerably higher than in Gibraltar, though the proportion attacked is less. In the Report on the West Indies it was stated that this class of diseases produced comparatively little mortality either among the officers or civil inhabitants; and we were hence led to infer that among the soldiers it was, perhaps, not so much attri- butable to the influence of climate as to the quality of the diet to which they were restricted. We now possess an indirect proof of the accuracy of these deductions in the fact, that in this island, where the troops enjoy the advantage of fresh provisions, the mortality among them by diseases of the bowels does not exceed that of the civil inhabitants, as will toe seen by the following extract from No. III. of Appendix, showing the total deaths from all diseases of this class among the inhabitants during a period of 13 years:— Abdominal Inflammation ... 15 Inflammation of Stomach ... 47 „ Bowels ... 294 Vomiting of Blood 12 Indigestion 18 Colic 143 Dysentery 1478 Diarrhoea 2901 Cholera . . . . . . . 12 13 ) 4920 Annually . . . 380 This annual mortality of 380 divided among a population of 100,000 makes the ratio of deaths 3^%- per thousand, being rather higher than among the troops. A considerable por- tion of those reported under the head of diarrhoea may no doubt have arisen from infantile diseases of that nature, but even making due allowance for this, there is ample proof that the troops do not suffer to a greater extent than the inhabitants. It may, perhaps, also be inferred that, wherever the soldier enjoys the advantages of proper diet and accommodation, there is nothing in the nature of his duties to render him peculiarly subject to the influence of this class of diseases. The following statement of the monthly admissions from bowel complaints among the troops, between 1816 and 1823, shows that they principally prevail from June to November Jan. Feb. Mar. April. May. J unu. July. .Vug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Total. \ By Acute Dysentery- 3-5 19 21 IS 18 37 52 50 67 75 Ill 61 564 Cholera Morbus . .3 1 2 5 8 ■ 10 26 13 7 13 6 o 106 Diarrhoea . . 45 31 32 23 45 84 128 158 174 167 129 G5 lose Total . . 83 51 55 51 71 131 20li 221 258 255 246 128 1756 * Hennen's Medical Topography, p. 610. 2 D