ON THE SICKNESS AND MORTALITY AMONG TROOPS IN THE WEST INDIES.* Strength, Admissions into the Hospital, and the in the course of the year, so that on the average every Deaths among the White Troops in the Windward man must have been under medical treatment, for and Leeward Command, which includes British some cause or other, about once every six months Guiana, Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada, St. Vincent's, and a half. Barbadoes, St. Lucia, Dominica, Antigua, Montserrat, St. Kitt's, Nevis, and Tortola. Deaths per War- Deaths per Me- If reference be made to the proportion of admissions among troops in the United Kingdom, it will be found that there every man is under treatment about once every 13 months; consequently the cases of sickness or admissions into hospital among white troops in this command are about twice as numerous as when serving in their native country. There is, however, this marked distinction, that they are of so severe a character, that 1 in 24 proves fatal, whereas in this country only 1 death occurs out of every 67 cases treated. The rations of the troops in the windward and leeward command during the period embraced in this report have consisted weekly of 7 lbs. of bread, 2 lbs. of fresh meat, 2 lbs. of salt beef, 27 ounces of salt pork, 9 ounces of sugar, 10 ounces of rice, 5 ounces of cocoa, and 24 pints of peas, for which the soldier pays 5d. Prior to 1830 he was allowed a gill of rum, for which he was charged 1d. In most of the corps the soldier has but two meals; breakfast, consisting of a pint of cocoa and his ration bread, and dinner, consisting either of the fresh meat made into broth, with vegetables, or the salt meat boiled into soup, with the peas, and caten with yams or potatoes. In some instances there is also a supper meal, but this is not common in the command. It may be necessary to remark, that the deaths stated in the preceding table are only those which have occurred under medical treatment, or after being admitted into the hospital, leaving still to be accounted for a considerable proportion who die suddenly, or from accidental causes. The only means we have of ascertaining the number of these is by a comparison of the deaths in the preceding table with those reported annually to the War Office by the general officers in this command, and which includes the deaths from all causes. 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 Total. 909 487 316 358 427 223 163 309 365 315 380 344 261 314 333 304 278 249 332 403 7069 830 532 314 387 397 254 158 293 343 308 365 341 241 300 293 277 241 233 313 383) 6803 266 This omission, added to the ratio of deaths in the preceding table, increases it to 814 per thousand, to which must be added invalids who died at sea, or on their passage homeward; these have averaged about 14 annually, or 34 per thousand, thus making the mortality from all causes 85 per thousand of the mean strength. This would be a fair estimate of the ratio of mortality among this class of troops during the last 20 years, provided the strength in the medical returns had been accurately stated. But as this has, in most instances, been taken at the highest rate to which it attained in the course of the year, and not on the mean of each month, as it ought to have been, we find, by a comparison with the War Office returns, that the strength has in this way been rated, by the medical authorities, about a tenth part higher than it ought to have been; consequently the above ratio of mortality must have increased in a corresponding Difference understated in Medical Returns proportion, which will make it 934 per thousand of the strength, or, in other words, about an eleventh of the force have died annually. From this statement, however, no definite idea can be conveyed of the insalubrity of the climate, till we compare it with the mortality which has taken place among the same class of troops in the United Kingdom. This has amounted, during a long series of years, to about 15 per thousand annually; but, during the last seven years, it has, owing to the prevalence of influenza and cholera, been about 2 per thousand higher. Thus the mortality among troops in the windward and leeward command has been six times as high as in the United Kingdom, though the extent of sickness, as shown by the number of admissions into hospital, has only been twice as great. Even this rate of mortality, high as it appears, is considerably less than during the previous 14 years, from 1803 to 1816, when it was as follows: 1 * This abstract is derived from a valuable report by Capt. R. M. Tulloch, 45th regt., and Dr. Marshall, made to Government in 1837. Strength Deaths. of 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 Total. Avg. 94738 6767 13028 931 138 Ratio of Deaths per 1000 strength Thus, during this period, 138 per thousand of the white troops in this command died annually, which is about one half more than on the average of the last 20 years; so that fatal as the climate still is to European troops, it appears of late years to have materially improved, particularly in Barbadoes, Trinidad, and Antigua. In this estimate we have carefully excluded the strength and deaths of the troops serving in the settlements of Surinam, Martinique, Guadaloupe, St. Eustatia, St. Martin's, Santa Cruz, and St. Thomas, which were given up by the British in 1814 and 1815, as a greater mortality occurred in these settlements, than in the others which now constitute the Windward and Leeward Command. The extent of sickness and mortality during the last 20 years being determined, the next question is, by what diseases was it produced? With regard to those deaths not included in the medical returns, we can supply no specific details. The proportion corporally punished in the Windward and Leeward Command has amounted, on the average of the last 20 years, to 50 per 1,000 annually. This is six times as high as in this kingdom; but the latter ratio has been taken on the average of the last seven years, during which corporal punishment has Number cor-1 porally punished. Rat. per 1000 corporally been very much restricted; while the former extends over 20 years, during the first part of which it was very common. The following table will show that it has gradually decreased in that command, till the ratio is now as low as in this kingdom: 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1335 1836 Totl Avg 692 617 344 204 230 251 255 350 167 120 102 154 121 173 131 111 69 75 89 42 4327 216 135 154 91 56 63 76 78 84 37 26 Black Troops and Pioneers.—In this portion of our investigation we labour under the difficulty of possessing no information regarding the mortality to which this class of men are subject in their native country, which is the only correct standard whereby we can estimate with any degree of accuracy the influence of other climates on their constitutions. So far as statistical inquiries have extended, however, there is no country, either temperate or tropical, in which the mortality among the indigenous civil inhabitants between the ages of 20 and 40 seems materially to exceed 15 per 1,000 annually; and probably there is no country where troops composed of the indigenous inhabitants are subject to a higher rate. As an instance we may mention, that among the Malta Fencibles, composed of the natives of that island, the average mortality does not exceed 9 per 1,000 annually; and among the Cape Corps, composed of the aboriginal inhabitants of Southern Africa, it does not exceed 11 per 1,000 while among the Madras native troops it does not exceed 13, nor among those of Bengal is it more than 11 per 1,000 annually. Now, were the climate of the West Indies as congenial to the health of the negro troops as that of their native country, it may be inferred that the mortality would not exceed that of the Indian army, which is composed of men about the same age, employed in the same description of military duty, and also in a tropical climate. In so far, then, as it exceeds that rate, it may fairly be attributed to the insalubrious influence of that climate on their constitutions. It is by no means extraordinary that African troops should suffer as well as the whites from the climate of the West Indies, seeing that they are for the most part natives of the interior of Africa, of which the climate is probably very different: and it is well known that, though the indigenous races of tropical as well as temperate climates are peculiarly fitted by nature for inhabiting and peopling the respective portions of the globe wherein they or their forefathers were born, the effects of a transition to any other is in general productive of a great increase in the scale of mortality. This fact is well illustrated by the following table of the admissions into hospital and deaths among this class of troops, serving in the West Indies during the last 20 years : Admissions into Hospital and the Deaths among the Leeward Command. troops as in the native army of the East Indies. Small-pox and eruptive fevers are the discases most generally fatal. It may not, perhaps, be premature here to mention, that the same liabilities to a high rate of mortality seems to affect negro troops in almost every quarter of the globe where they have been employed. In the Mauritius, they die at nearly the same rate as in the West Indies; in Ceylon, where a considerable number was employed in the Colonial Corps of that island, the mortality was so high that they nearly became extinct in the course of a few years, notwithstanding every care on the part of the military authorities to keep up their numbers; in Gibraltar, where the 4th West India Regiment was stationed for two or three years, 62 per 1,000 of the strength died annually; and even at Sierra Leone, on the sea-coast of their own continent, the mortality has averaged not less than 28 per 1,000 annually, being about double the ordinary ratio among other troops serving in their native country. This demonstrates beyond a doubt that the constitution of the negro can be but little fitted to adapt itself to foreign climates, when even the transition from the interior to the sea-coast of Western Africa has been attended with such prejudicial effects. The returns of the mortality among the negro slave population throughout the West Indies, sufficiently illustrate the unfavourable character of this climate to the constitution of the negro, the proportion deceasing there, exclusive of Jamaica, being 1 in 33 of the population annually; whereas in most other countries, of which we possess accurate statistical details, the mortality among the indigenous inhabitants is only from 1 in 45 to 1 in 50 annually; and this extra mortality among the negro population falls almost entirely upon the adults, negro children being in general remarkably exempt from disease. High as this ratio is among the slave population, however, we shall afterwards show it to be considerably less than among the troops, not in one, but in every colony throughout the command; a sufficient proof that all the care and attention which can be bestowed on that race of men is quite unavailing to counteract the pernicious influence of a climate unsuited to their constitution. Here, however, as with white troops, it is pleasing to observe that there has been a considerable diminution in the mortality during the period included in this report compared with the 14 previous years, when the strength and deaths were as follow: 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 Total. Avg. 3586 3361 3141 3781 4880 4253 3800 2555 2158 2638 2148 2089 3553 4814 46757 3340 180 187 256 384 390 219 155 149 169 141 157 50 56 81 101 80 51 74 202 406, 3019 216 derable extent in Martinique, Guadaloupe, and the other settlements before referred to, and the strength and deaths there have consequently been excluded in this estimate. Thus the mortality among this class of troops on the average of these years was 64 per 1,000 annually, being one-half higher than during the last 20 years, so that to whatever cause it may be attributable, the mortality of the white and black troops within that We shall now exhibit in the following table, the period has diminished in the same ratio. The latter effect of the climate of Jamaica on the health of the as well as the former were employed to a very consi-white troops stationed there during the last 20 years, From this table it appears that the proportion of admissions into hospital in the course of the year is rather less than in the windward and leeward command, being 1812 per thousand of the strength annually; that is, every soldier has an attack of some disease or other, twice in the course of thirteen months. Though the extent of sickness is less than in the windward and leeward command, the mortality is much greater. The preceding table shows it to be 121 per thousand of the strength annually, but this includes only those who died in regimental and detachment hospitals. Black troops and Pioneers-it is to be regretted that the materials for estimating the influence of the climate of this island on the constitution of black troops are by no means so ample as in the windward and leeward command. We have already stated that in Jamaica they consist entirely of military labourers, with the exception of a small detachment of one of the West India regiments. These labourers being less under medical superintendence than regular corps, it is only when their disease begins to assume a serious, or perhaps fatal aspect, that they come into hospital; at least we are led to suppose so from the extremely low ratio of admissions, as compared with the deaths in the following table : Thus it appears that the mortality among this class of troops in Jamaica is but 30 per thousand of the strength annually; so that the climate must be much more favourable to their health than that of the windward and leeward command, where the mortality among the negro troops was ascertained to have been 40 per thousand on the average of the same series of years. The superior salubrity of this climate for the negro race is corroborated by the mortality of the slave population being only 25 per 1,000 of all ages, while throughout the windward and leeward command it is 31 per 1,000 of all ages. Thus, both in regard to black troops and the slave population, the mortality is about one-third less in Jamaica. By an estimate which has been made of the mortality among this class of troops, from 1803 to 1817, it appears during that period to have averaged 49 per thousand annually; but as the garrison at Honduras was then generally included in the returns of Jamaica, this affords no accurate standard of comparison with the mortality in the above table, which refers to Jamaica alone. From the high ratio which the deaths, in almost every instance, bear to the admissions, there can be little doubt that all the slight cases of sickness have been omitted; we therefore decline drawing any conclusions as to the relative prevalence of each class of diseases. The following table will serve to illustrate the variable character of the climate, and the relative influence of mortality in each year, at the principal stations throughout the island of Jamaica. Years. Comparative view of the ratio of Mortality among the troops in each year at these subordinate stations. Out of every 1000 Troops at the undermentioned Stations, the following pro- Average of whole Command. Average 140.6 113.1 73.5 162:4 90.2 149.3 102.6 178.9 The influence of the seasons on the health of the troops in this island will be best established by the totals of the admissions and deaths in each month during the whole period included in this Report, with Table showing the Influence of the Seasons in producing Sickness and Mortality among the Troops the exception of 1828 and 1829, which, from being stated in quarterly instead of monthly periods, could not be included. |