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Leader (1850-1860), 8th May 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 15

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      Sanitary Condition Op The Army. " Report...

      general population , but certainly the deaths amongst those 'must be considerable , and ia comparing the two classes ., soldier and civilian , it is much to the disadvantage of the civilian , because we-are taking deaths from one and g iving them to the other . There is still another disturbing cause whiclr gives . a proportion of mortality to the civil population in the "whole range of blighted and weakly lives , from -which the soldier is :. exempt . The argument then is . that the mortality of the soldier at home ,

      compared with tliat of civilians of all grades , is considerably more than twice as great as that shown in the returns . The report institutes a comparison with the agricultural labourer , on the ground Lliat the soldier ' s duty is chiefly in the open air , and that he is amply fed and housed at great expense . To us this seems an unlucky comparison , because the evidence goes to show— -and it is our own conviction , too—that the soldier is not well fed , neither is lie well housed . ~ -

      The comparisons -with printers would be supposed to be in favour of . the soldier , but still it remains . at % - £ j times as great as that of niglit printers ,.-which is 9 * 090 per 1000 . In the Times office , where much care has l ) een bestowed on ventilation , the rate Avas 8 per 1000 from . 1 S 5 O-54 ; inclusive . The comparison with the police is-instituted for the point of night duty .. The policeman is on duty all night long , while the soldier on guard takes his two hours and then comes to tkc guard-room for four hours' rest , being on guard ' one night in five in the Toot Guards .. The rate is still 2 - £ y tiulcs as great as that of the police . Driven from the ' police , we are obliged to search amongst the most permanently -unhealthy . occupations of London—clerks and dressmakers—in order

      to find a parallel to our Guardsman . ; but here again it is without -success—he remains , twice as mortal . The conclusion arrived at is , that " at present the army stands almost , at Ihc head of unhealthy occupations , in the United ' - 'Kingdom . " The figures given by Mr . Ncison arc , for ( lie Toot Guards , IOS' 550 per cent , in excess of the average deaths / of England and Wales ; 101 " 0 G 3 in . excess of outdoor occupations ; and 233 " 320 per cent , above that of the labourers-in rural districts . . So much for the consumption of life required for the maintenance of the army at home ; let us now sec how the-British -soldier is consumed when employed . in the active duiics of-his business , those for which he is care full v selected as- a man best , able

      to . encounter them , subject to ; tlL the contingencies of foreign service . Colonel Tulloch states that during the last forty-two years in India we have buried 100 , 000 men . In Secmiderabad alone , Dr . Burke states the loss , by the death of European soldiers , -was 150 , 000 / . in thirty years . This was an unhealthy station , the ratio of modality being sometimes as high a . s 13 percent , per annum . In J-amaicii , our soldiers have been living for generations

      past at the rate of I ' M ) per 1 UU 0 per annum . In Ceylon , it was for twenty years 70 per 1000 by disease alone , lu native troops of the West Indies the mortality was for twenty years 40 per 1000 . With regard to this point , it is curious to observe that the native population is subject to a very high rate of mortality . From 30 to 1-0 per 1000 of the prime of the population die annually , the negroes there having in the last furly years fallen oil onethird . ' .. ..

      In the first Burmese war , the European force avus almost cnl irely destroyed by scurvy : and the horrors of "Walchcrun soon enahlod us to interpret the irony of Napoleon , when , hearing of our landing , he expressed hi . s hope that we should remain there . With referenec to the cxeo . s » ivo mortality on foreign service , it should be slated ai once , " that after repeated representations from the medical officers during tlie last few yours , barracks have been removed l . o high groundj nml oilier expedients adopted , that have reduced the mortality in some cases to half ; and the tendency of the examination

      oil he -witnesses is to show tlialjiad a sanitary olliecr o ( high rank and ( luaHlioulious formed part of ( Install , these terrible yacriliros might have been avoided . As Colomtl Tulloeli says , « if some one of hia ' U authority could luwe . suggested to Sir Archibald Campbell during tin ; losses at . Rangoon , ' Send round asliip for fresh vegetables / our t ' roop . s would have been saved . " For our losses in Bulgaria , in the lale campaign , 1 ho same patent remedy is suggested % ii question from tlir . commission--- but it was not at hand . Skill and hmvery enough totaekh ajiyauiounl , of . Russians , but , no preparations against ]¦ »! »»» Klit attacks of miasma , Lm | e | lo |(! r ; ,, ' |\> , „ ., ]< , wicsulijucit eoiniilnte , we must coulee the- lament

      able truth as regards the noble army we sent out under all the latest improvements of 1854 . The total of deaths in theEastern army was 18-057 , ^ r 22-78 per cent , per annum . The evidence of ~ Mis ~ s Nightingale , which appears to us to be most reliable , tells us that the sick embarked hi transports for Scutari from September , LS 51 ' , to January , 1855 , numbered 13 , 093 , of whom . 970 died on the passage of eight days . In individual instances the deaths were very much higher , as in the Caducous , when out of 430 , 114 died in the six days ' voyage , and many survivors died in hospital afterwards . At the two hospitals at Scutari , 29 , 000 entered from August , 1 S 54 . ' , to May , 1850 , and the deaths were" 4634 . But there were several

      other hospitals , and two ships not included in this . We get a closer estimate by Dr . Parr's black diagram , where the ' expanding Tadius of death reaches , in January , 1855 ., for alL the hospitals in the East , 117 .-1 per 1000 per annum , or to bring this home to us , for the first seven montlis of the Crimean campaign , the mortality was greater than lit the plague of London . The causes of all this dreadful suffering we shall ' - have to consider hereafter in speaking of the Barracks , Gamps , and Hospitals , but not to leave the impression of glaring faults without an attempt at-remedy , we must tell the satisfactory result of the efforts made a and the sanitary measures adopted— ' "' that during the last five months we had a mortality amongst our troops of only twothirds of what it is at home . '

      Tlicre canbe no question , then , as to-the fact of our army being liable to an excessive mortality . Compared with other armies , we find in the evidence of Colonel Tulloch that the United States ; army , from 1829 to 1 S 3 S , bad ' a mortality of 1 S / S per 10 O 0 . The Prussian army for the same time , in which , however , we must remember the service is only three years , shows 13 " 1 per 1000 . In the lu'cuelr army , in which the service is seven years , from 1 S 4-2 to lS-i-5 the mortality was 19 per 1000 . In the Bengal native army , the average from 1 S 35 to 1 S . 14 is 1 / -9 per 1000 . "

      This , then , is not so unfavourable to the English army , especially-when we consider t he short terms of service . . Indeed , we have the advantage in our line regiments , the mortality in which is 17 'S per 1000 at ' ages from twenty to forty . Still our case is not improved because it may be that the ' same causes are to a certain extent at work in other armies as well as our own . It will be understood that we ha \ c been putting out of the . estimate gcncrallv the mortality of those

      killed in action , therefore we have to search amongst morbid causes for the source . 'Referring to Dr . Fhit ' s ingenious diagram , we lhid that the soldier ' s diseases are those affecting the res p iratory organs . Of the parallelogram ,-not quite S niches long- and i . \ inch broad , 15 ¦ inch is occupied with zymotic diseases , in -numbers represented "b y -. l'l to 1000 living . The chest and tuberculin . diseases ( ill-14 inches , and in numbers arc lO'I per 1000 . All other diseases fill up the remaining space of lf

      cn . The analysis of disease in the Eastern campaign isi most instructive ; it shows that little more than an eighth of the deaths In hospital arc attrihutable to battle , I be rest being from causes more or less within tlie control of preventive measures , as the final result showed . The following arrangement gives the prominent points in Dr . Fair ' s elaborate classification of the causes of death : — Order . JTisntiM'S . Ldscs . Death * . ( Typhus and fevers ... 31 , 201 3 , 110 .,, ll >\\ senlurv 8 . 27 S J 2 'J (> 1 ) i ( . liolcra () , !) 7 () 4 , 512 ( lHarrhooa 4-1 , 10-1- 3 . G 51

      [ Accidoiil 2 ,-18-i 532 Vioi . kst-I Suicide 20 20 l ^ Miittlo 3 8 , 2 h : J 1 , 701 The tables from I ho invaliding depot at Chatham rive a more detailed result , in . which the most uotieeabh' element is the number of rheumatic eases , viz ., !; M 0 per cent , on 1 ( 5 years' average . The thoracic an : staled at KrSi ) , and the venereal 1 •!¦• $ : > . In refeveuee to the causes of this inoiialit v .

      the report says , '' This excessive mortality should in some way be accounted l ' or . The collecting together of great numbers of mm has always been found to general ( i disease , because they were probably in excess of what a given locality could accommodate , or for which the sanitary precautions of the district , were originally calculated . That in war men should die from exposure , from fatigue , from iiisullieienf supplies is inl . elligibli ; ; or that t ho occupation of a town of ot > , () 00 inhabitants by ; iu army of 30 , 000

      men without any sanitary precaution , suddenly doubling the population to tlie area , and therebyhalving the proportion of every accommodation , supplies , -water , drainage , sewerage , & c ., & c , should engender disease is readily understood ; but the problem submitted to us is to find the causes of a mortality more than double that of civil life among 60 , 000 men scattered in numbers , seldom exceeding a thousand in one place among a population of 28 , 000 , 000 in timeot profound peace , in a country which is not only the healthiest , but which possesses the greatest facility of communication and the greatest abundance of supply in Europe . "

      No. 424, May 8,1858.] The Leadeb. M7

      No . 424 , May 8 , 1858 . ] THE LEADEB . M 7

      ' Heu Majesty's Theatre.—-On Tuesday Eve...

      ' Heu Majesty ' s Theatre . — -On Tuesday evening Madame Alboni made her rentree as Azuce . ua in . the Trovutove , and was received with tlie cordial and respectful welcome due to the greatest singer of the day . Madame Alboiri ' s artistic reputation is not that of a . transitory star , brief and brig-lit , but evanescent ;; it is rather the reputation ' of a living classic , beyond all discussion or dispute . The ease with which the inimitable quality of her voice is displayed almost disguises its perfection , and the faultless method with -which , the voice is managed and delivered , conceals from the uninitiated public the extraordinary difficulties ¦ which are conquered without effort , and , as it were , -unconsciously . Such perfection in the art of singing is so rare that only

      an audience of professors is capable ' of doing it justice ; the general public is more disposed to admire and applaud an exhibition of mere physical power and effort . The contrast between Madame Alboni and Madlle . Titiens is very striking in the Trdvatdiv : the German prhna donna sings with immense energy and power , but without charm , -while the favourite disciple of Rossini satisfies the nicest judgment and charms the finest ear without a thought of exertion or a sense of labour . MadlleV Titiens . . astonishes-and transports the audience ; t is a luxury to listen to Alboni . We are not quite

      isure . that Madlle . Titiens surpasses Madlle . Jenny Ney as Leonora ; but ' . ( with the single exception of Madame Viardot ) there has never been an Aziicena to compare to Madame Alboni , dramatically ; and as a singer , she has no rival . Both the Azucena and the Leonora , however , in the Trocalore at Her Majesty ' s Theatre , are most remarkable ; and the success of Madlle . Titiens is veil deserved . Signor Giuglini is ' more ' effective as Munrico than . he has been of late in other operas ; iii the tender passages , but for a disposition to cloy ' tlie expression , he is heard to the greatest advantage . Next week Madlle . Titiens is to-appear as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni .,

      St . James's Tiika . tke . —Signor Carlo Andreoletti has succeeded to Professor Frikell at this charming little theatre , and as " Physicien to the King of Sardinia" sets up his " Mystical Illusions" against the rival wonders of the " l'hysicieri to the Emperor of liussia . " This kind of entertainment is always sure of a fair amount of patronage , and Mr . Mitchell ' s name is a sufficient passport to success . Gaixeiw' of Illustration . — We have not yet spoken of a very pleasant new entertainment at the Gallery of Illustration , recently produced by Mr . and Mrs . German Heed , and specially composed for them by Mr , Edmund Vates . It is ) a series of light and lively social sketches , well adapted to display the versatility and cleverness of this admirable singer and actress and her accomplished associate .

      St . Jamks ' s Hall . —M . Ootnpertz lias opened at tins Hall a Diorama representing the principal scenes of the lndiiiu Mutiny , including tlie siege and capture of Delhi , the entrenchment at Cawiip ' , tlie victory at Ahunbaj > h , and the City of Lahore . The paintings are on a large scale and ofuictively designed . M . Gompertx has wisely withdrawn a representation of the Cawnpore massacre as a subject too irredeemably horrible for iiublic exhibition ; and ' his Diorama is attractive enough , -with its pictures of the great operations of war , relieved by views of the magnificent scenery of llindostau with sunsot and moonlight ell ' ccts . Madami ; Szakvauy . —This charming pianist , better known to our readers as Wilholmina Clauss , will make her first appearance in London this season , at her first matino ' e nui ^ icalo , at Willis ' s Room * , on Monday morning next .

      llATTKUSKA . PAKK AND ClIKLSKA B HIDOK . TllC wliolo outlny on liattorsea Park is stilted l . iy a l ' arliamontary paper , published last Saturday , to have boen 312 , 600 / ., of which i-l (! , iil 7 / . was paid for tho purchaso of land . Tli « quantity of land set Msido f ( U- tho park is 185 m-res , anil 101 acres remain unsold . On Cliolsea No \ v-I > ridgo tho whole outlay lias boun 85 ,: ili ) A Tho estimated yearly inconu : faun toll id 151 ) 00 / ., ami ooU / . is the otitiiiuatod yearly cost of its collection . On ( Jhdrica embnnkmenl , II l .-t . 'W / . lias been laid out .

      Fmik at liorniatiuTiu :. —A lire occurred enrly on Sunday morning at tho promise * of Messr * . Howard and Iiavi-n ' hill , who aru tho occupiers and proprietors of tho King and ( Jiicou lronwurks , Kotlu-rhitlH ' . 'fhe danmge was coiilhioil to a shed used as a shop for smiths and patturn-niaUcrf , about sevonty lVet long by twenty deep , four-lift us uf which woto dostroywl . Commiinitintion wnn , without delay , fonvrinled to the lire-stations , > md tlu-ro was no lac ' k either of cngiiu ! ^ or water . ln ° Ilimics , thcrefuiv , were soon subdued .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 8, 1858, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_08051858/page/15/