INVALIDING: ARMY DEATH-RATE.

681

followed by Bengal (252 per 1000), and Bombay (155 per 1000).

Cholera was not prevalent during 1883, and added but little to the army mortality throughout India. The experience of a number of years goes to show that enteric fever is in the main a disease of young soldiers new to India, the majority of sufferers being men in their first or second year. With reference to the great prevalence of venereal diseases in the European Army, it is stated that the working of the lock hospitals in all three Presidencies during 1877 must be pronounced to have been more or less a failure;' and in 1883 the admission rate into military hospitals for venereal diseases was reported to be only a fraction lower in protected than in unprotected stations.

Out of a total, in 1883, of 604 deaths in the European British Causes of Army in India, 133 were due to enteric fever, 26 to other fevers, invaliding. 51 to cholera, 63 to hepatitis, 61 to apoplexy, 38 to phthisis, 37 to diseases of the respiratory organs, 17 to heart disease, and 23 to dysentery and diarrhoea.

The following tables show-(1) the health-statistics of the European troops throughout all India, for a series of years. ending 1883; and (2) the sickness, mortality, and invaliding among those troops in 1883, arranged separately under the three Presidencies :

DEATH-RATE AMONG EUROPEAN TROOPS IN INDIA, 1871-1883.

SICKNESS, MORTALITY, AND INVALIDING AMONG EUROPEAN
TROOPS IN The Three PRESIDENCIES During 1883.

Health

of the Native Army, in 1877 and 1883,

of Bengal ;

HEALTH OF THE NATIVE ARMY.-The sickness and mortality in 1877 in the regular Native Armies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, the Central India Regiments, Punjab Frontier Field Force, and Haidarábád Contingent, are shown by the following figures-average strength of troops (present with regiments), 113,966; admissions into hospital, 1030 per thousand; daily sick, 32; deaths from cholera, 153; deaths from all causes, 10 ̊90, or, including men dying while absent from their regiments, 1338 per thousand. In 1883, the total average strength of the Native Army of India (present with regiments) was 114,830; admissions into hospital, 923 per thousand; average daily sick, 31; deaths from cholera, 1'15 per thousand; deaths from all causes, 1176 per thousand of actual regimental strength, or 14 31 per thousand, including deaths among absentees. Malarial fevers are the chief cause of admission into hospital; wounds and accidents come next; followed by dysentery, diarrhoea, and enteric fever. The mortality amounted to 27:28 per cent. of the total treated, the lowest since 1877. Respiratory diseases were the cause of the largest mortality, namely, 3'91 per thousand, followed by fevers, 141; and by cholera, 1'15 per thousand.

In the Bengal Native Army, the death-rate in 1883 was 10:55 per thousand, a lower ratio than for any one year since 1877, when it was 10'32 per thousand. In the Central India Regiments, the mortality was as low as 789 per thousand in 1883, compared with 9.71 in 1877, and with 11'10, the average of the ten years preceding 1877. In the Punjab Frontier Force, the death-rate, including deaths among absentees, was 23 35 per thousand in 1883, and excluding absentees, 21:46; while in 1877 the rate was 12:26 per thousand. Altogether, the Sanitary Commissioner reports that the health of the

'SSO'T

HEALTH OF THE NATIVE ARMY.

683

Native Army in Bengal is very satisfactory, and that there is still a tendency towards diminishing mortality in normal years.

In the Madras Native Army, the regimental mortality, in- of Madras; cluding deaths among absentees, was 14:36 per thousand in 1877, and 12:51 per thousand in 1883. Excluding deaths of absentees, the ratio was 11.80 per thousand in 1877, and 10.76 per thousand in 1883. Besides garrisoning its own Province, the Madras Army supplies troops for British Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar islands, as also to certain Districts in the Central Provinces, and to Cuttack District in Orissa.

In the Bombay Native Army, the death-rate, including of Bombay. deaths among absentees, in 1877 was 12'96 per thousand, varying from 1165 for regiments in the northern Division of Bombay, to 18.81 for those in the Konkan. In 1883, the rate of mortality, including deaths among absentees, was 14'96 per thousand; excluding absentees, the rate among those actually serving with their regiments was 12.81 per thousand.

any

ábád ConThe returns for the Haidarábád Contingent, both for 1877 Hajdarother portion tingent. and 1883, are more favourable than those for of the Native Army. The admissions into hospital in 1877 were only 806 per thousand; daily sick, 26; and mortality (including deaths among absentees), 9'61 per thousand. The number of deaths from cholera, however (4'43 per thousand), was much above that recorded in any other part of the Native Army. In 1883, the admissions into hospital had fallen to an average of 572 per thousand, the daily sick-rate to 20 per thousand, and the mortality to 7:59 per thousand.

The sickness and mortality in the Regular Native Army Results in and other forces in 1877 and 1883 are compared in the the three following tables :--

SICKNESS AND MORTALITY AMONG NATIVE TROOPS IN 1877.

RATIO PER 1000.

Presidencies compared.

Admissions
into
Hospital.

Health of

the jail popula tion.

General statistics, 1877.

14.31 114,830 923 31 115 1176

HEALTH OF THE JAIL POPULATION.-The Report of the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of India for 1877, was the first which included the vital statistics of the jails of all three Presidencies. The year 1877, to which it refers,' says the Sanitary Commissioner, 'is particularly unfortunate for commencing this change, as, owing to famine and distress over great portion of both Madras and Bombay, the number of prisoners in those parts was suddenly increased far beyond all precedent; the new prisoners were, in large proportion, received in a low state of health, consequent on continued privation; the jails having such large and unexpected calls for accommodation on them, were, as a rule, greatly overcrowded, and the sickness and mortality, as was to be expected, have been lamentably in excess of former years.'

The average number of prisoners throughout India in 1877 was returned at 110,147; admissions into hospital numbered 1017 per thousand; daily sick, 36 per thousand; average death-rate, 61'95 per thousand. The months of October and November gave the highest admission rate, 97; and the month of November the highest death-rate, 9:18. Dysentery, diarrhoea, and cholera were the main causes of mortality, the three together accounting for 3361 out of the total of 61.95 per thousand. There are no previous figures with which these general results of 1877 can be compared; they deserve attention as the first collection of statistics regarding the sickness and mortality among the prisoners of all India, a collection which cannot fail in a few years to contribute very valuable

HEALTH OF JAIL POPULATION.

685

for the

information.' The returns for the Bengal Presidency were very Returns favourable, the mortality being 31.88 per thousand, as com- three Prepared with 3751 in 1876, 3365 in 1875, and 46'09, the sidencies, average for the ten-year period, 1864-73. In the Madras Pre- in 1877 ; sidency, the returns showed a mortality of 17601, while the ratio for the Bombay Presidency was 54'37 per thousand. The causes of these high figures have already been indicated. In only 17 of the 34 jails in the Madras Presidency was the death-rate under 100 per thousand; in the others it varied much, rising to 200, 300, 500, and in one (Coimbatore District Jail) to 657 per thousand. And in Bombay Presidency, where similar causes were at work, though in a minor degree, the mortality, 54'37 per thousand, was double what it had

been for years.

Although 1877 was an abnormal year, especially in Madras in 1883. and Bombay, owing to the causes stated above, the returns for 1883 show a great improvement in the vital statistics of Indian jails over those of the previous five years. The average prison population in India in 1883 was 88,174, as against 112,670 in the previous five years; the admissions into hospital were 996 per thousand, as compared with an average of 1189 in 1877-81; average daily sick, 36 per thousand in 1883, as compared with 44'9 per thousand in 1877-81. The cholera mortality was in the ratio of 2:28 per thousand in 1883, against an annual average of 4'48 for the previous five years; deaths from dysentery and diarrhoea showed a ratio of 1064 per thousand in 1883, against 24'97 per thousand in the years 1877-81; while the deaths from all causes were 31°37 per thousand in 1883, as against 6301 per thousand in the five years 1877-81. The heaviest jail mortality in 1883 was in the Central Provinces (7097 per thousand), Bengal (52.21 per thousand), and Assam (43'12 per thousand), while the lowest ratio was reached in Berar, with only 8:49 deaths per thousand.

The following tables condense the health statistics of the Indian jails in 1877 and in 1883

[SICKNESS