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SKETCH OF THE MEDICAL HISTORY OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BOMBAY.

SIND DISTRICT.

H. M.'s 27TH REGIMENT N.L.I.

KURRACHEE.—In Medical Charge of Assistant Surgeon W. NOLAN, M.D; Strength 668.

   H. M.'s 1st Belooch Regiment was stationed at Kurrachee during the year 1872.

   The health of the regiment during this period, if the epidemic of dengue be left out of
consideration, was on the whole good, the number of admissions from all causes having been
573 against 460, 501, 667, 749 and 495 in the five preceding years, but, by the addition of
the admissions from dengue, the total number reaches to 985.

   The principal diseases in point of frequency are as follows:—Dengue 412, ague 192,
contusions 71, bronchitis 49, venereal affections 47, conjunctivitis 27, colic 20, dysentery 15,
and diarrhœa 13.

   Dengue fever appeared on the 9th of September; 71 patients being admitted during
that month under this head, 276 in October, 63 in November, and 2 in December.

   The disease had been prevailing in the city of Kurrachee for nearly two months, before
the first case presented itself in the hospital. Communication between the regiment and the
people of the city was prevented as much as possible, but it does not appear that quarantine
was of any avail in keeping the dengue away. From sixty-eight cases selected as being good
examples of dengue, it was noted that the following symptoms presented themselves in order
of frequency. Increased pulse, respiration and temperature, lasting for from four to five days,
were present in 68 cases; severe pain in the forehead, lasting 2 days in 66; pain in the joints
in 61; burning sensation in the skin in 63; congestion of the eyes in 40; pink colored erup-
tion, usually appearing on the third day of the fever, in 40; itching and tingling of the palmar
and plantar surfaces of the hands and feet in 21; sorethroat in 15; enlarged lymphatics in 11;
swelling of the joints in 3; swelling of the face in 2; relapses after ten or eleven days in 3;
average duration of disease 6 days. A scale showing the correlation of temperature, pulse, and
respiration, was kept in almost every case, and a specimen one will delineate clearly the ordin-
ary course of the fever:—

   In several of the most severe cases the urine was tested for albumen on each successive
day of the fever with negative results.

   The treatment consisted for the most part in the administration of antacid aperients,
purgatives, when indicated, and fomentation to painful joints. Hydrate of chloral was tried
in some cases, and a few patients under its influence slept through the fever, experiencing
little or no inconvenience from it.

   In about thirty cases rheumatic pain in the joints lasted for four or five weeks, but these
were at length dispelled principally by friction of the affected parts.