Statistical report on the sickness and mortality in the Army of the United States : embracing a period of sixteen years, from January 1839 to January 1855 / compiled from the records of the Surgeon General's Office ; prepared under the direction of Thomas Lawson by Richard H. Coolidge.

  • Coolidge, Richard H. (Richard Henry), 1816-1866.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Statistical report on the sickness and mortality in the Army of the United States : embracing a period of sixteen years, from January 1839 to January 1855 / compiled from the records of the Surgeon General's Office ; prepared under the direction of Thomas Lawson by Richard H. Coolidge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    NORTH ATLANTIC REGION—NEW YORK HARBOR. In the Statistical Report on the Sickness and Mortality in the Army of the United States, heretofore cited, the stations in the harbor of New York were included in the class of New England posts. A departure from that classification has been judged advisable, for the reason that all recruits enlisted in the city of New York, and those also from the whole Atlantic sea- board, are sent to those posts for re-inspection and instruction, preparatory to their distribution to the several regiments and corps of the army. The climatic influences here differ sensibly from those which obtain on the coast of New England, and this affords an additional reason for the course how pursued. Three posts in this harbor have been occupied by troops : Fort Columbus, Fort Wood, and Fort Hamilton. MEDICAL TOPOGRAPHY AND DISEASES OF FORT COLUMBUS. By Surgeon S. G. I. De Camp : 1853. Fort Columbus is situated on Governor's Island, harbor of New York, in latitude 40° 42'; longitude 74° 1'. Altitude above sea, 23 feet. The island contains about seventy-five acres, having the Hudson river on the west, and the East river on the east side of it. It is about twenty miles distant from the ocean at Sandy Hook, which is in a southwesterly direction; from New York about one mile, and from the city of Brooklyn six hundred yards. The drainage is good, from the natural slope of the ground. The soil is a sandy loam. The rock on the border of the island is gneiss. The well- water is not good, as it is brackish; there are several large cisterns upon the island, but not of sufficient capacity to furnish a supply of good water when the fort is fully garrisoned.* Such has been the case during the last summer; and the consequence was, that diarrhoea and other affections of the bowels have been common, having for their cause, to a considerable extent, the general use of well-water. Assistant Surgeon J. Simpson, who is on duty at Fort Wood, Bedloe's Island, where the same quality of water is found, informs me that, while the well- water was used, the same character of disease prevailed there; but that when Croton water from New York was furnished the troops in consequence of the failure of the wells, the disease entirely disappeared. It is a well-established fact, that the ratio of disease and death has been greatly diminished in the city of New York since the introduction of Croton water into that city. Intermittent and remittent fevers have been common on the island during the past summer, especially among women and children; and more especially so, among those who have occupied buildings known as Rotten Row. These buildings have not been considered suitable quar- ters for soldiers for many years, and have been mostly occupied by the hangers-on of the army as temporary residences, without any proper regard for policy, till it has become a nuisance. I think the recent improvement in the lower part of Brooklyn has contributed considerably in causing fever on this island. Streets are being formed over an extensive marsh, which prevent the ingress and egress of the tide, and favor the accumulation of fresh water into stagnant ponds and pools ; and as the same character of disease prevailed in that immediate neighbor- hood, I infer the identity of cause here. In the treatment of Diarrhosa among soldiers, I have been successful by free purgation with saline cathartics, which, with abstinence and a recumbent posture, seldom fail to cure the patient in a short time; but when other remedies have been found necessary, opium with cam- In 1840, Assistant Surgeon Joseph P. Russell reported that, exclusive of ten large cisterns capable of containing many thousand gallons, this post is abundantly supplied from five wells, with excellent water, holding in solution but small portions of saline or earthy matter. Surgeon De Camp's report was written in 1853. It appears, therefore, that the water in the wells became gradually brackish.—C.