Granular ophthalmia / by Assistant-Surgeon Welch.
- Welch, Francis Henry, 1839-1910.
- Date:
- [1870?]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Granular ophthalmia / by Assistant-Surgeon Welch. 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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![vision, and at first siglit might appear ill-adapted for expressing any accurate idea of the prevalence of the conjunctival lesion designated in statistical nomen- clature by the term “ ophthalmia chronica,” yet, as if is indubitable that the major part of the lesions terminating in defective vision and causing invaliding in the Army have, as a commencement, follicular conjunctival disease, the inference, of its wide-spread existence and virulence during the period 1827-60 from the above data is not invalidated. From 1861-67 inclusive, while the annual average ratio of admissions from all diseases for the whole Army, calculated per 1,000 of strength, was 1,114, ophthalmia contributed 42-9—the one disease furnishing rather more than ]-26th part cf the whole temporary inefficiency in the Service ; and during the same period the permanent loss was 1,572, or 4* * * §8 per cent, of total dis- charge from the Army. As contrasted with the decennial period 1837-46, during which the average, annual admissions from ophthalmia mounted to 80 per 1,000 of strength, or rather more than l-12th of whole sickness, a marked decrease in the prevalence of the disease is apparent, more especially during the later septennial period 1861-67, ranging from l-20th of total admissions in 1861 to l-32nd in 1867, with a corresponding decrease in discharges from the Service from 5*4 per cent, in 1861 to 3 in 1867—an all but gradual subsidence both in prevalence and amount of impairment characterizing this period.* Thus, while adding in nowise to the mortality, this disease, in spite of the progressive decrease marking the later years, still plays a most important part in producing temporary and permanent loss of service in the Army, con- stituting on foreign stations, where endemic, “ the most frequent cause of per- “ manent inefficiency and invaliding,” and throwing an able-bodied man, unfit for a soldier, a burden on the community for his maintenance. Although, at first sight, the frequent movements and varying conditions under which the troops are cast during a tour of foreign service might appear to militate against any general deductions drawn from the Army as a whole, yet a careful perusal of the Annual Medical Reports will furnish several very important items in reference to the relative prevalence of ophthalmia under the diversified climates and stations occupied hy the Army, and especially in the individual regiments and corps forming the garrisons from time to time. It will be apparent, taking as an exponent the data furnished by the Blue Books for 1861-67, that (a) The ophthalmia in the Army quartered in the United Kingdom is mainly derived from the depot battalions,t the receptacles of those invalided from foreign stations, but not discharged from the Service, or a regiment endemically affected during its late tour of foreign service. (b) The prevalence of the disease under different climates varies greatly, constituting 1-lltli part of admissions, with 16‘7 per cent, of dis- charges, at the Cape of Good Hope ; l-15th, with 12*47 per cent., in the Mediterranean ; l-37th, with 2 8 per cent., in North America; l-38th, with 6*3 per cent., in India,$ and l-51st with 2*1 per cent, in the United Kingdom. (c) Malta, the Cape, and some of the stations in India—notably the northern and Scinde districts in Bombay, and certain garrisons in the plains of Bengal and Madras,§ are the quarters of the Army * The respective annual admissions for the whole Army for 1861-67, calculated per 1,000 of strength are,—59', 57'5, 48'4, 354, 33‘, 35*5, 321 ; the discharges from the Service for the corresponding years expressed as a percentage being 5*4<, 5*3, 5*2, 5*8, 4*6, 3-8, 3. f The average annual admissions during the period per 1,000 of strength were : Household Cavalry and Foot Guards, 63 ; Depot Battalions, 29-5 ; with 1 per cent, invaliding in the former, 4*3 in the latter. X The averages per 1,000 of strength were:—Bengal, 43'6; Madras, 33*; Bombay, 49'2; the division of the stations from elevation above sea level, as exemplified in Madras, being—seacoast, 22*4 per 1,000; plains and table-lands, 39'3 ; hill stations, 22-9, the latter fluctuating from a yearly average of 4'2 to 413, conse- quent on the prevalence or otherwise of infected corps. § Army Medical Report, Yob 8, p. 153. n 2](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22450105_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
