Mortality and Chief Diseases of the Troops under the Madras Government, European and Native, from the Years 1842 to 1846 inclusive, compared with the Mortality and Chief Diseases of 1847. By LIEUT.COLONEL W. H. SYKES, F.R.S.*

THE following tables are extracted from the official Report of the Medical Board to the Madras Government, and comprise the Royal as well as the Company's troops, and possess great interest, from exhibiting, separately, the mortality from nine of the principal diseases to which the troops were subject in each division of the army, so that the local character of the climate of the respective stations is shown, as influencing the development of particular diseases, or mitigating or increasing their fatal effects. That these local climatorial influences are important, is manifested by the facts, that the per centage mortality for five years, amongst Europeans, varies from 2·353 per cent., in the Mysore Division, to nearly 6 per cent. in the Ceded Districts and Hyderabad Subsidiary Forces, and 6·022 per cent. in the Northern Divi sion; and amongst the Native troops, from 0·808 per cent. in Malabar and Canara, to 8.937 per cent. in China. To enable the eye to follow uninterruptedly the effects of the same disease in different localities, I have drawn up tables (Tables LIII. to LVI.) which place the per centage mortality of each disease in the same vertical columns, and a glance from the top to the bottom of the column shows at once the relative intensity at each place. For instance, amongst the Europeans, with the exception of cholera, there is but one station (Nagpore) where the mortality from fevers exceeds 1 per cent. of the strength, and there are but three stations (Malabar and Canara, Hyderabad, and the Tenasserim provinces) where the mortality exceeds 1 per cent. from dysentery. In the other seven diseases, there are but two instances where the mortality exceeds a half per cent. The liver disease, usually considered so formidable to European constitutions, at only one station (Hyderabad) amounts to seven-tenths per cent. Amongst the Native troops, again, excepting cholera, there is not a single station in Madras at which the other eight diseases produced a mortality of even a half per cent. Fevers in the Tenasserim provinces caused a mortality of six-tenths per cent.; and rheumatism, at Aden, of five-tenths. China, unhappily, stands by itself. During the six years the Madras Native troops were there, fevers, diarrhoea, and dysentery, told with fatal effects. This table, then, and a similar table for the number of cases, afford the means of comparing the intensity of the same diseases at different stations; it remains for the physicist to inquire how far the local circumstances of soil, mephitic marshes, periodical winds, moisture or dryness, or other atmospheric phenomena, ventilation, drainage, diet, modes of living, or social or moral habits, appear to influence the several diseases; and knowledge so obtained could necessarily be

*I do not purpose making any comparisons between the results in the following tables and those shown in the valuable Contribution to the Vital Statistics of the Madras Army, by the late Sir James Annesly. It will suffice to say that the mortality amongst the European troops is materially lessened in modern times, while that of the Native troops remains much the same.

turned to profitable account, in bringing into operation such expedients as might affect the agents within human control. That a mere change of climate, even within a narrow range of latitude, may give a very considerable development to diseases which were previously scarcely manifest, is shown in the Native troops of the Madras army sent to serve in China. In the Madras territories, the per centage mortality amongst the Sepoys from diseases of the chest, which during the five years from 1842 to 1846, could not be counted by the second place of decimals per cent. (except in the Centre Division), and ranging from 1 in 1181 men to 1 in 5773, mounted in China to the first places of decimals, or 1 in 517. That this is no accidental circumstance, is indicated by the period of time over which the mortality runs. In 1847, there was only 1 death from diseases of the lungs in 888 Sepoys; still it is nearly seven times greater than in India. The same observations apply with great force to fevers, diarrhoea, and dysentery. In the Tenasserim provinces, there was only 1 death from diarrhoea in 405 men; while in China, there was 1 in 34 men. am anticipating an analytical review of the tables.

But I

Another characteristic of the Medical Report is a table of the mortality amongst Europeans after certain periods of residence in India. Although relating to limited numbers, it may be of some importance to the actuary in estimating the value of European life in the tropics, at least as far as the effects of climate upon Europeans can be estimated, with the European soldier as a type.

A third characteristic of the Medical Report is the result of experiments to determine the amount of heat to which the soldier's head is exposed on the line of march, in which the helmet, shako, or Sepoy's turban, is without or with a white covering, and the interior cavity of the head gear without or with moisture: the results are highly instructive.

The following tables, from 1842 to 1846, inclusive, relate to the diseases and mortality of 59,218 Europeans, embracing those of the Royal army as well as those of the Company, and 363,726 natives ; and for the year 1847, to 11,303 Europeans and 67,015 native soldiers. These masses are classed in fourteen divisional commands, forces, and stations, namely, Presidency Division, Centre Division, Southern Division, Northern Division, Mysore Division, Malabar and Canara, The Ceded Districts, Hyderabad Subsidiary Force, Nagpore Subsidiary Force, the Tenasserim provinces, Saugor, Southern Mahratta country, Aden, and China; so that, in fact, the area within which the troops are serving extends from the longitude of Aden 45°.3, to the longitude of Hong Kong 114°.22, and from north latitude 8°.5 (Cape Cormorin), up to 22°.50 north latitude in Saugor; the area consequently embracing both monsoons and many varieties of climate. Nevertheless, the European troops serving under the Madras Government have a very considerably smaller mortality than is experienced by the troops of the Bengal and Bombay Governments; and this result is in confirmation of the facts I formerly published in the Society's Journal, respecting the mortality of the Indian army. The present tables, however, embrace the Royal as well as the Company's troops, which the former tables did not. I will not dwell upon the returns from the respective divisions, but, after the insertion of the tables, give a compendious view of the results they offer.

PRESIDENCY DIVISION.

CENTRE DIVISION.

SOUTHERN DIVISION.