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MEDICAL SKETCHES
OF THE
_EXPEDITION TO EGYPT_,
FROM INDIA.
BY JAMES M‘GREGOR, A.M.
Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, of London;
Surgeon to the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards;
and lately Superintending Surgeon to the
Indian Army in Egypt.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR JOHN MURRAY, 32, FLEET-STREET;
BELL AND BRADFUTE, EDINBURGH; AND
GILBERT AND HODGES, DUBLIN.
1804.
_W. Marchant, Printer, 3, Greville-Street, Holborn._
TO
SIR LUCAS PEPYS, BART.
Physician General, &c. &c.
THOMAS KEATE, ESQ. F. R. S.
Surgeon General, &c. &c.
AND TO
FRANCIS KNIGHT, ESQ.
Inspector General of Hospitals, &c. &c.
THE MEMBERS OF THE ARMY MEDICAL BOARD,
THESE SKETCHES
are dedicated, with the utmost respect,
by their most obedient
and very humble servant,
JAMES M‘GREGOR.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION v-xv
PART I.
_Journal of the Indian Expedition to Egypt_ 1-55
PART II.
_Of the Causes of the Diseases which prevailed in
the Indian Army_ 56-97
PART III.
_Of the Diseases of the Indian Army in Egypt_ 99
FIRST, THE ENDEMIC DISEASES OF EGYPT.
_Of the Plague_ 100-146
_Of the Ophthalmia of Egypt_ 146-159
_General Remarks on the Diseases_ 160-161
SECONDLY, OF THE OTHER DISEASES OF
THE INDIAN ARMY.
_Fever_ 162-170
_Hepatitis_ 171-180
_Dysentery_ 181-192
_Pneumonia and Rheumatism_ 193-194
_Small-Pox_ 195-197
_Diarrhœa_ 198
_Scurvy_ 199
_Syphilis_ 200-201
_The Guinea-Worm_ 202-217
_Ulcers_ 218
_Tetanus_ 219-222
_General Remarks on the Yellow Fever, and the
Resemblance which this Disease bears to the
Plague_ 223-238
TABLE I. _The Points of Resemblance between
the Plague and the Yellow Fever._
TABLE II. _State of the Diseases and Deaths
in the Indian Army._
ERRATA.
Page 6, line 17, for _time_ read _service_.
— 9, — 6, for _Ghenna_ read _Ghenné_.
— 15, — 3, from bottom, for _Ghiza_ read _Damietta_.
— 23, — 1, _et passim_, for _Thiza_ read _Ghiza_.
— 26, last line, for _typhaid_ read _typhoid_.
— 47, — 11, for _prevent_ read _prevents_.
— 48, — 7, for _Hepiopolis_ read _Heliopolis_.
— 48, — 7, for _B El Hadje_ read _Birket El Hadje_.
— 50, — 12, dele _the_.
— 73, — 14, for _the matter_ read _it_.
— 73, — 15, for _quantity_ read _piece_.
— 83, — 12, dele _where_.
— 86, — 12, for _gums_ read _germs_.
— 94, — 4, for _inspired_ read _imposed_.
— 101, — 3, from bottom, for _prevent_ read _preventing_.
— 103, — 4, from bottom, for _goal_ read _jail_.
— 122, — 12, from bottom, for _appears_ read _appear_.
— 128, — 6, from bottom, for _viluces_ read _vibices_.
— 129, — 5, after _often_ a _comma_.
— 129, — 6, after _perceptible_ a _comma_.
— 133, — 13, for _patient_ read _patients_.
— 137, — 9, dele the first _as_.
— 151, — 11, after _flowed_ insert _down_.
— 166, — 5, for _healthiness_ read _unhealthiness_.
— 171, — 7, for _decubities_ read _decubitus_.
— 190, — 8, from bottom, note, for _instantly_ read _constantly_.
— 191, — 10, for _man_ read _men_.
Transcriber’s Note: the above errata have been corrected, and in
addition, those listed below. Where there were two spelling variants in
use in equal measure (e.g. diarrhœa/diarrhæa; Signior Positti/Posetti),
both are left as printed.
Page
22 “conside-derable” changed to “considerable” (mortality of
the month was very considerable).
23 “fumegation” changed to “fumigation” (regarding cleanliness
and fumigation).
44 “O’Farrol” changed to “O’Farrel” (Mr O’Farrel, who had
charge of the pest-house).
45 “O’Farrol” changed to “O’Farrel” (went to Aboukir to relieve
Mr O’Farrel).
98 “medidicine” changed to “medicine” (the practice of
medidicine is more simple).
99 “occured” changed to “occurred” (cases of the plague, which
occurred).
103 “diminsh” changed to “diminish” (will tend to diminish).
113 “fom” changed to “from” (some matter from the bubo).
117 “medecine” changed to “medicine” (he could not get him to
swallow any medicine).
117 “inflamation” changed to “inflammation” (I discovered some
inflammation of the glands).
122 “prevost’s” changed to “provost’s” (The provost’s guard and
his prisoners).
126 “abcess” changed to “abscess” (an abscess, of the size of a
pigeon’s egg).
130 “succeded” changed to “succeeded” (that he had never
succeeded in exciting sweating).
136 “medecine” changed to “medicine” (a morsel of food nor any
medicine).
137 “spunging” changed to “sponging” (washing their patients
with vinegar and sponging them with it).
138 “possesion” changed to “possession” and “infalliable” changed
to “infallible” (I am in possession of an infallible remedy).
139 “veneral” changed to “venereal” (an old venereal complaint).
145 “nitrie” changed to “nitric” (When our stock of nitric was
at length exhausted).
153 “camphir” changed to “camphor” (a weak solution of sugar of
lead, or of camphor).
158 “medecine” changed to “medicine” (Mr Paton, previously to
embracing the military profession, had studied medicine).
160 “GENERAL REMARKS ON THE DISEASES.” Heading added.
161 “convalecents” changed to “convalescents” (convalescents
would frequently suffer a relapse).
223 “GENERAL REMARKS ON THE YELLOW FEVER, AND THE RESEMBLANCE
WHICH THIS DISEASE BEARS TO THE PLAGUE.” Heading added.
Footnote 5 duplicated word “down” removed (On being brought
down to Rosetta).
INTRODUCTION.
In consequence of orders, from the Court of Directors to the Government
in India, it became my duty to give some account of the health of the
troops employed on the late expedition from India to Egypt, and to
describe the prevailing diseases.
The sources of information, to which I had recourse, were the reports
made to me, and an extensive correspondence with the medical gentlemen of
the army; particularly those employed in the pest-establishments. Besides
these, to which my situation, at the head of the medical department
of the army from India, gave me access, other sources of information,
regarding the plague, were open to me, as a Member of the Board of Health
in Egypt.
Some may think the present a very short, and many may think it an
incomplete account; but, I trust, it will not be found incorrect. I have
purposely avoided doubtful speculations and hypotheses. Anxious, above
all things, to adhere closely to facts, and keep these unmixed with any
notions of my own, I have, in most cases, published the extracts from
letters to me, without altering a word of the correspondence.
Of the numerous imperfection of these Sketches, I am abundantly sensible.
The life of a medical man in the army is at no time very favourable to
literary pursuits; mine has been peculiarly unfavourable; and I have had
little time or opportunity, since I first entered the army, to attend
to the ornaments of diction. For the last fifteen years of my life;
mostly spent in the East Indies, West Indies, or at the Cape of Good
Hope; sometimes at sea, sometimes on land; my time has been occupied in a
laborious attention to my duty in the army.
Some necessary avocations oblige me to dismiss this tract in a more
imperfect form than it might have appeared in, perhaps with more leisure.
As it is, it conveyed to government, in India, all the information which
they required; and I must mention, that it comes before the public very
nearly in the state in which I presented it as a report in India. From
materials in my possession, I could have enlarged most parts of it, and
rendered the whole more complete; but, when I drew up the following
account in India, it never occurred to me, that my imperfect Memoir
would be the only medical account of the Egyptian expedition. I expected,
on my arrival in England, to have found complete histories of the climate
and diseases of Egypt, during the time that it was occupied by the
English, from some of the medical staff of the British army; several of
whom were known to be fully equal to the task. If any of these gentlemen
should hereafter give to the world the medical history of this renowned
campaign, my Memoir may stand in some stead: it gives some facts and it
will supply some information to which no one but myself had access.
At the present moment, I have not leisure to enlarge or alter it; and
some friends, who have seen the manuscript, press its publication at the
present time.
In the execution of my duty, during a long and perilous voyage, and alter
the most fatiguing marches, I sometimes laboured under difficulties; but
my duty was in every instance much facilitated, and it would be unjust
in me not to mention it. I acknowledge my obligations to all the medical
gentlemen of the Indian army, by whom I was most cordially and well
seconded in all that I undertook.
From the nature of the prevailing diseases, the campaign in Egypt was,
in a particular degree, a service of danger. To their regret, the Indian
army arrived too late in Egypt to share in any other dangers than
those arising from the diseases of the country; and here, the medical
gentlemen had the post of honour. The zeal, attention, and perseverance,
displayed, particularly by those employed in the plague-establishments,
deserve every praise. Nothing can so powerfully incite the exertions
of medical men, in such circumstances of danger, as the consciousness
of co-operating with the best and most enlightened of mankind, for the
alleviation of human misery. Intrepidity is more a military than a
medical virtue; but seldom I believe has there been a greater display of
it than among the medical officers, in Egypt, whose duty it became to
reside in the pest-houses.[1]
There are two names which I cannot pass over with general praise. At
a period of universal alarm, and of real danger, when the plague was
committing the greatest ravages, two gentlemen stepped forward, and
generously volunteered their services in the pest-houses. It so happened,
too, that, from their acquirements, these two were the best calculated,
of any in the army, to succeed in this dangerous duty. Dr Buchan had
acquired a perfect knowledge of the disease in the former year; and while
on duty at the pest-house, at Aboukir, had got the infection there,
soon after the memorable landing of Sir Ralph Abercrombie. Mr Price
had made the history of the plague his particular study, and, from his
acquaintance with the oriental languages, was peculiarly calculated to be
master of every thing relating to it. As will be seen hereafter, in the
execution of his duty at El-Hammed, he, likewise, caught the infection.
To the exertions of these two gentlemen, the service owes much; their
country very much. I would fain hope, that from them, who are so able to
do it, we may look for something like a history of the plague in Egypt.
Dr Shapter, who was for some time in charge of the medical department of
the Indian army, and who succeeded Mr Young, as head of the medical staff
of the English Army, deserves our thanks for his very ready accommodation
on every occasion, and compliance with every request for assistance, and
for many things, of which an army which had traversed an immense desert
was necessarily destitute.
Thus far I have discharged debts which I felt that I owed. I must add a
few words more, in explanation.
To some, it may appear that, in the following Sketches, I have given too
large a space to the journal; and that I have been too copious in my
extracts from letters. Both of these are, no doubt, to many, dry and
uninteresting; but, as statements of facts, from which every one can
form deductions for himself, as they stand, they appeared to me much
more useful than any conjectures which I might hazard to advance. It
is to be feared that, too often, facts and details are made to bend to
preconceived opinions and theories.
On the causes of diseases, I have dwelt a shorter time than to some may
have appeared necessary. But I thought that, while the general causes
of the diseases of soldiers and sailors have been so ably handled by a
Pringle and a Lind, a Cleghorn and a Huxam, a Blane and a Hunter—from me,
little could be expected. All that appeared necessary for me to do, was,
to assign the extraordinary causes—those incidental to the expedition, or
peculiar to Egypt; those, in fine, which rendered the service treated of
different from former services, either on the continent of Europe, or in
tropical climates.
It will be observed, that the diseases which occurred in the Indian army
were but few; and, except on the plague, I detain the reader but a short
time on this part of my subject. A long description of the symptoms,
or of the history, of dysentery, diarrhæa, hepatitis, or ophthalmia,
appeared to me superfluous; when, besides the very clear and perfect
nosological account of the illustrious Cullen, we have many complete
histories of these diseases, in books which are in the hands of every
person.
Finally: in justice to myself, and in extenuation of errors in these
Sketches, I must mention, that, when they were preparing for the press,
I laboured under many and very considerable disadvantages. I was on duty
in a remote corner of the kingdom, and have been, necessarily from the
same reason, at a distance from the press, since, and while the printing
went on: circumstances which, I hope, will conciliate the indulgence of
readers in general, and shield me from the severity of criticism.
_MEDICAL SKETCHES, &c. &c._
PART I.
In complying with the orders of government in India, I have sincere
pleasure in being able, from original documents, to present them with
a correct account of the diseases and mortality which occurred in
their army during the late expedition to Egypt. From the period of the
first sailing of the expedition, and my appointment to the medical
superintendance of it, I retained both the reports of the different
medical gentlemen employed in it, and my own memorandums written on
the spot. During the period in which Dr Shapter acted, and until I was
re-appointed, I likewise kept states of the sick and mortality of the
army, and thereafter, till the return and landing of every corps of the
army at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, or at Ceylon.
The India government has ever been peculiarly anxious about every thing
that related to the health of their troops, zealous in collecting any
fact and circumstance touching the causes of diseases or the means of
obviating them, and most liberal in every thing that regarded the health
of the sick soldier.
During an uncommonly long voyage, in a march over extensive deserts, and
in a country and climate described as the most inimical to the human
race, the Indian army enjoyed a considerable degree of health, and
suffered but a small mortality. The causes of this I shall attempt to
develope: the investigation may be useful.
The prevention of disease is usually the province, and is mostly in the
power, of the military officer; the cure lies with the medical: in the
expedition to Egypt very much was done by both.
The medical officers deserve my grateful thanks, and I readily
acknowledge my obligations to them. For every assistance in their power,
I am under not fewer obligations to the military officers. In no army,
perhaps, was the health of every soldier in it more the care of every
officer, from the general downwards, than in the Indian army.
It would be doing violence to my feelings not to mention how much my duty
was abridged by having such a commander-in-chief as General Baird. His
military abilities are well known. His extreme attention to every thing
which regarded the health and comfort of the soldier, I must mention, was
a principal cause of the great degree of health enjoyed by the army.
To Brigadier-General Beresford the army owes very much likewise. It
is not my business to say how much all were indebted to the man, who,
under circumstances the most discouraging, led the advance over the
desert. In my official capacity I cannot but notice how much the British
army, as well as that from India, were indebted to him, as President
of the Board of Health, and as Commandant of Alexandria. The excellent
police established by him gave security to the army as well as to the
inhabitants; and, more than any other circumstance, tended to the
exclusion of the plague from Alexandria.
The route which we took from India to Egypt is remarkable for having been
that by which, in the earliest ages, the commerce of Asia, its spices,
its gums, its perfumes, and all the luxuries of the East, were conveyed
to Tyre, Sidon, Carthage, Rome, Marseilles, and in a word to all the
coasts of the Mediterranean, from Egypt, a country rendered extremely
interesting by various recollections.—The situation of the army from
India has accordingly excited no common share of interest.
It penetrated Egypt by a route over the desert of Thebes, a route
unattempted by any army for perhaps two or three thousand years.
Independently of late circumstances, Egypt and Arabia peculiarly interest
every man of science, and more particularly medical men, from the
occurrence of the plague, and the ophthalmia, or the disorder of the
eyes, in Egypt.
On one account the situation of the Indian army in Egypt is not a little
curious. It consisted of about eight thousand men; of which number about
one-half were natives of India, and the other half Europeans. We have
often seen the changes effected on a European habit by a removal to a
tropical or to a warm climate, but not, till now, the changes in the
constitution of an Asiatic army brought to a cold climate: for such were
the bleak shores of the Mediterranean to the feeble Indian.
The following Sketches I have divided into three parts. The first gives
the medical history, or rather the journal, of the expedition: in the
second, after attempting to assign the causes of the diseases which
prevailed, some modes of prevention are offered: and in the third there
is some account of the diseases.
The first division of the army intended for the expedition to Egypt,
under Colonel Murray, sailed from Bombay in January, 1801. Their voyage
was rather a tedious one, and the small-pox and a remittent fever broke
out among them. They touched for refreshments at Mocha and at Jedda, and
on the 16th May, 1801, came to anchor in Kossier-bay; the prevailing
winds in the Red Sea, at this time, rendering it impossible to get so far
up as Suez.
The second division of troops, (originally intended for another service,)
under Colonel Beresford, sailed from Point de Galle, in Ceylon, on the
19th February; and on the 19th May disembarked at Kossier.
The last division, under Colonel Ramsay, sailed from Trincomalée, in
Ceylon. They were later of arriving at Kossier, and were not able to
cross the desert before July.
At Kossier there is a fort and a town, if they deserve the name. They are
built of mud, and the Arabs inhabit them only at the season when caravans
arrive with the pilgrims for Mecca, and with corn for that and the other
ports on the opposite Arabian coast.
Like every other place described by Mr Bruce, that we have seen, we found
Kossier most accurately laid down by that traveller in lat. 26° 7″, and
long. 34. 04.
Kossier is situated on the western coast of the Red Sea. Here, vessels
for the expedition were daily arriving, and the troops in general landed
in a very healthy condition. In one column of an annexed table, intended
to show the diseases and mortality of the army, will be seen the strength
of the different corps employed in that service.
JUNE, 1801.
At the beginning of this month we were in camp near the village of
Kossier. Soon after the arrival of the troops at Kossier, all were
attacked with a diarrhœa, occasioned by the water, which contained much
sulphate of magnesia. At first it greatly debilitated the men; but, as
they became used to it, the water ceased to affect the bowels. On the
whole it appeared to have produced salutary effects, and the army was,
for some time, uncommonly healthy.
On the 19th, the 88th, with two companies of the 80th regiment, under the
command of Colonel Beresford, as the advance of the army, commenced the
march across the desert. Having the digging of wells and other duties to
perform, the advance did not reach the banks of the Nile until the next
month. The rest of the army marched on the following days, the marches
being always performed by night; and the army, with a very inconsiderable
loss, reached the banks of the Nile in a very healthy state. The course
which we took was nearly that travelled by Mr Bruce. For a considerable
way after we left Kossier, the road had the strongest resemblance to the
bed of a river. As we advanced from Kossier, the water became daily less
salt, and less bitter. At Le Gita, and at Bir Amber, the two stations
nearest to Ghenné, it was not much complained of.
The winds in Kossier camp, from nine to twelve o’clock, generally blew
from the N. W. accompanied with torrents of sand.
On the march, a very hot suffocating wind from the W. set in about ten
and continued till three o’clock. The thermometer at Kossier could not be
attended to.
On the 29th, at Le Gita, in my tent, at three P. M. the mercury stood at
114°. In the soldiers tents it could not have been less than 118°. At
six o’clock in the morning, in a well three feet deep, it was at 69°;
and, after taking it out, it fell to 63°: but evaporation must have had
a share in the reduction. In other places, on the march, the degree of
heat must have been higher. Le Gita is not a situation favourable to the
centration of heat: it is situated in a large open plain of many miles
extent.
There was but little sickness in this month, and yet almost every
exciting cause existed. The heat was intense. In the currents of dust,
much of it went into the stomach and lungs, and occasioned nausea, which
was likewise occasioned by the destructive hot wind. To this the Arabs
and even the camels always turn their backs. The men were frequently
exercised, and the duties of fatigue in India, usually done by black
natives, were performed at Kossier by the soldiers. The fatigue on the
march has perhaps never been exceeded in any army. Diarrhœa, and a few
cases of ophthalmia, and nyctalopia, were the only diseases in the army.
The native corps from Bombay were recovering from a fever, with which
they landed. These corps were the last that crossed the desert.
JULY.
During almost the whole of this month, the army was encamped on the banks
of the Nile, which now began to overflow its banks, near Ghenné. On the
opposite bank are the magnificent ruins of Tentyra, or Dendira, and the
fine temple of Isis. The situation of the army near Ghenné was very
healthy. There was excellent water, and an abundant market of vegetables,
of fruit, and of the best provisions. We prepared to move, and
detachments of the army went up to Thebes, Luxor, and to the cataracts,
to press all the boats. About the end of the month, the army began to
move to Lower Egypt. The 10th regiment marched to Girgé, the capital of
Upper Egypt, sixty miles below Ghenné.
On the 27th and following days, the rest of the army was embarked in
boats. The wind at Ghenné was not regular from any quarter, and sand was
blown from all quarters, particularly at the time of the springs. The
thermometer had a wide range at Ghenné. In my marquee from 71° to 108°.
On the 20th, it rose to 110°. In the open air the heat was from 70°
to 115°. There was more sickness than in the last month. There were
several cases of hepatitis, particularly in the 10th regiment, and cases
of dysentery were not unfrequent towards the end of the month. In the
beginning a considerable number of cases of fever appeared, and not a few
of ophthalmia and pneumonia: but all these soon did well, after being
removed to a good hospital. The Catchief, the officer next in rank to the
Bey, gave up his own house for an hospital, and General Baird likewise
gave up his quarters to the sick.
AUGUST.
By the 12th of this month, the greater part of the army, after a
navigation of the Nile, of nearly four hundred miles, arrived at
Damietta, where we found one regiment of the English army, the 89th, and
a general hospital, under charge of Dr Franks, the inspector. The troops
at first were put into quarters there; but an encampment was afterwards
formed on Rhoda, a small island made by the Nile, very nearly in the
centre between Cairo and Ghiza. The Nilometer is on this island. As they
landed, the troops were uncommonly healthy. Most of the hepatic and
dysenteric sick had recovered on the passage, and the only disease with
which they landed was slight fever, of which the cases were not numerous.
This state of health continued but a very short time after the landing.
In the course of the first week, most of the corps sent one-twelfth and
some one-tenth of their strength to the hospital.
In three weeks, the sick of the army exceeded one thousand. A
considerable number of ophthalmic cases appeared, but the prevailing
disease was fever. In every corps it prevailed, and very few escaped
it. In general it was of short duration, of two, three, or five, days
at most, and rarely proved fatal. Ghiza appeared then to have been an
unhealthy quarter, and the ground of the encampment was found to be
swampy. We found the 89th regiment in garrison at this place, and so
very sickly was that corps, that they could not muster fifty men on the
parade. The sick of the army was sent into Ibrahim Bey fort, pleasantly
situated on the bank of the river on the Cairo side. It had been occupied
by the enemy as an hospital, and had been completely fitted up by them
for the purpose. But it was neither (if accounts could be believed) a
healthy nor a safe situation. A little before our arrival, the French had
some cases of the plague in a ward of this hospital. On hearing this,
every measure of precaution was taken, and the disease did not appear.
It was remarked, that those sent to the hospital, ill of ophthalmia,
dysentery, and hepatitis, rarely left it without an attack of the
prevailing fever.
About the end of the month, preparations were making to embark the army
for Rosetta, and not less than twelve hundred sick were embarked.
During the month the wind was most frequently from the N. The thermometer
on the Nile, from the 1st to the 8th, was higher than we had found it
at Ghenné. In the fort of Ibrahim Bey it moved from 80° 50″ to 90°. The
sickness of the month was very considerable. Though we lost several men,
yet the loss bore but a small proportion to the sickness that prevailed.
Much of the sickness, and many of the deaths which subsequently occurred,
we could trace to the situation near Cairo. Many cases of hepatitis did
not appear, but of late many of dysentery; and, in some corps before
quitting Cairo, ophthalmia prevailed very generally.
SEPTEMBER.
Early in this month, the greater part of the army was encamped in the
neighbourhood of Rosetta. The 86th regiment and two companies of the
7th Bombay regiment went into garrison at Ghiza. Separate regimental
hospitals were provided for every corps in Rosetta: but the number
of sick appeared to be gaining ground, particularly the cases of
ophthalmia, which disease was nearly confined to the 10th and 88th
regiments. The number occurring in the artillery, 61st and 80th
regiments, was inconsiderable; and the disease was very rarely seen among
the Sepoys. Dysentery and hepatitis prevailed very generally in every
corps; but the appearance of another disease occasioned the greatest
alarm throughout the army.
On the morning of the 14th, I discovered a case of the plague in the
hospital of the 88th regiment: Anthonio, one of the hospital-cooks,
who had for thirty hours laboured under febrile symptoms, shewed me
two buboes in his groins. He had no venereal appearance, and the fever
was now attended with extreme irritability of the stomach. At the same
time, I was shewn another hospital-servant, a Hallancore, who lay next
to Anthonio. The Hallancore had been attacked in the night time, and,
when I saw him, had much fever and pain in the axilla, though I could
discover no swelling of the glands. As speedily as possible these two
men, and six other hospital-servants, who slept in the same apartment,
were removed to a house at the extremity of the town. A room was
immediately allotted, in the hospital of the 88th regiment, for cases
under observation.
To this every soldier, or follower, with febrile symptoms, was sent the
instant that the symptoms were discovered. A minute examination was made,
on the evening of the 14th, of all the men in the hospital, amounting
then to one hundred and sixty-two, in order to discover whether any
laboured under suspicious symptoms, but nothing was observed.
On the morning of the 15th, I discovered six men with fever, most of them
had been attacked in the night-time; they were sent without delay into
the observation-room, and most strictly guarded. By frequent observation,
in the course of the day, I discovered buboes in one, and pain in the
axillary and femoral glands of all the others: all were therefore sent
to the pest-house, which was now established.
Early on the morning of the 16th, the cook and Hallancore, first
attacked, died. It was found necessary in the course of the day to send
nine more men into the observation-room, where the nitrous fumigation
was very liberally used. After an emetic, I gave mercury very liberally
to the whole nine; but the symptoms, on the morning of the 18th, were so
unequivocal, that I sent them all to the pest-house.
Our situation now became very alarming. There were the clearest proofs
of the hospital which the 88th regiment occupied being thoroughly
infected, consisting of about fourteen or fifteen rooms, but all the
cases had hitherto come only from three of the rooms. Lamps for the
nitrous fumigation were kept constantly burning both in them and in the
observation-room. A very large building was procured near Rosetta; and,
with all possible haste, the men were moved to it.
No man left the old hospital till all his clothes were washed; his hair
was cut short, and himself bathed. On coming to the outside walls of the
new hospital, every man stripped himself naked and went into a warm bath
before his reception into the hospital. He was then provided with new
clothing and bedding; the clothing brought with him was received by a
non-commissioned officer, who saw it repeatedly washed and baked, after
which it was received into the hospital store-room. On the evening of the
18th, I sent four more men into the observation-room, and, on the 21st,
three of them were sent into the pest-house. The other did well in the
observation-room.
On the 23d, Littlejohn, a boy, was sent in the morning to the
observation-room, having been attacked the night before with rigours. On
the 25th, Egan, another suspicious case, was also sent there. In both of
them a severe ptyalism was excited in less than forty-eight hours by
mercury and nitric acid, and they afterwards did well.
On the 28th, Craig, with febrile symptoms, was sent from the new hospital
to the observation-room of the old. His gums were speedily affected; but
it was found necessary to send him to the pest-house. This was the only
instance of the plague which appeared in the 88th regiment after their
removal to the new hospital.
The six native followers, first sent off, had no symptoms of the disease
for eight days after their arrival at the pest-house; but, on the 9th and
10th days after, all of them were attacked, and none survived the attack
three days. Four more of the Indian servants, sent to the pest-house to
attend the others, shared the same fate. The case of the Mukadum of the
Dooli-bearers was the most rapid.
On the 17th, he was attacked about nine o’clock in the morning with
rigours, and died before four o’clock. No instances of the plague
appeared in any other corps of the army during this month. Though they
attempted to conceal it, we discovered that some _accidents_ (as they
call it) had occurred about the beginning of September among the people
of the town.
The weather still continued the same during this, as the whole of last,
month. The same winds prevailed, without rain or anything remarkable. On
the 15th, 16th, and 17th, it blew from the westward: after this, we had
close calm weather.
After the 15th, the Nile at Rosetta began to recede. The general range of
the thermometer, in a house in Rosetta, was from 73° to 83° 50´.
After the plague, the most formidable disease in the army, from its
general prevalence, was ophthalmia. In the 10th and 88th regiment there
were upwards of three hundred and fifty cases. The total number in
the army exceeded six hundred. Dysentery and hepatitis prevailed very
generally among all the European corps; and the mortality of the month
was very considerable.
OCTOBER.
In the beginning of this month, the encampment was moved from one to five
miles distance from Rosetta. The hospitals were gradually removed also
from hence. As the men recovered they were sent to a convalescent camp,
intermediate both to Rosetta and the general encampment, and precautions
were taken to prevent the men from intermingling with the inhabitants of
Rosetta.
Thatched regimental hospitals were built in the camp; and, though in
the middle of a desert, the sick soldier had a warm, comfortable, and
well-ventilated, apartment, and was liberally provided with every thing
conducive to his recovery. Early in the month, the garrison of Damietta
joined the army. The 86th regiment were healthy and suffered less from
ophthalmia than any European corps of the army. About the end of the
month, this corps was sent to Ghiza, and the detachments in garrison
there were ordered to join their respective corps.
The temperature of the air became sensibly lower than in the former
month, the extremes being from 69° 50´ to 80°. The medium was from 70° to
77°. The westerly was still the prevailing wind, and it often blew very
fresh. The atmosphere, towards the end of the month, was very cloudy;
and, though we had no rain during the month, it seemed often to threaten
it. Owing to the very strict precautions taken, little plague occurred
during the month.
From the time the sick of the 88th regiment were separated, and from
regulations regarding cleanliness and fumigation being rigidly adhered
to, the progress of the contagion was effectually suppressed in that
regiment. The European corps still continued to suffer from hepatitis and
dysentery, while the number of cases of ophthalmia, and the great degree
of violence in which this disease was now seen, were really alarming.
During the month, a case of the plague appeared in the 61st regiment.
He had been a patient in the regimental hospital in Rosetta, and caught
the disease from straggling through the town. The only other case which
occurred was a follower of the commissariate department.
NOVEMBER.
At the commencement of this month, the army was encamped at El Hammed.
The sick were in the thatched buildings, and the mortality bore but a
small proportion to the sickness. The 86th regiment were very healthy
in Ghiza. The weather during the month was different from what we had
experienced for a considerable time. The sky was constantly clouded, and
it often blew strongly from the west. It rained on fifteen days, and the
quantity of rain which fell during the month was considerable. On the
17th, there was much thunder and lightning. The dews were heavy, and
there was generally a thick fog which lasted till eight or nine in the
morning. The extreme ranges of the thermometer in my marquee were from
57° to 77°.
In the beginning of the month, the whole sick of the army amounted to
one thousand three hundred and fifty, or more than one-fourth part of
the whole strength of it. In the course of the month there appeared one
hundred and seventy cases of intermittent fever, occasioned evidently by
the effluvia from the low ground between the camp and the river, which
retained the rain, and, before we moved, became a swamp.
On the 8th, we were again alarmed at the appearance of a case of the
plague, in the department of the commissary of cattle, which was
immediately put under quarantine. On the 12th, symptoms of the disease
appeared in a Sepoy of the Bengal battalion, who was in the hospital of
that corps. On the 13th, five more cases were discovered in the same
hospital, which was ordered to be burnt, the sick having been removed
into a large house near Rosetta, where the same precautions were used as
with the 88th regiment, when the disease first broke out. After their
removal, no case appeared in that battalion. On the 12th a case of
small-pox was discovered in the hospital of the 10th regiment; and, in
the course of two days more, four cases appeared in the same hospital.
The first, a Portugueze servant, died. At the end of the month, the
number of sick was reduced. In the weekly return from the 20th to the
26th, there were six hundred and thirty-two Europeans, and three hundred
and eighty Sepoys, making a total of one thousand and twelve.
None of the tents kept the rain well out, which was often heavy. The
sand, however, quickly absorbed it in most places. The fever was, in
several instances, similar to a type, which we had been little used to,
viz. the typhoid.
DECEMBER.
Early in this month part of the army marched to Alexandria; and, by the
end of it, all the army, with the exception of the horse-artillery, 7th
Bombay regiment, and the department of the commissary of cattle, was
collected there. About the time that the first part of the army marched
thither, detachments of the 26th dragoons, and of Hompesch’s mounted
riflemen, joined us from the English army, and were quartered in Rosetta.
The plague now gained on us.
On the 1st of the month, Corporal Francis, of the 88th regiment, who had
been on the pest-house guard the day before, complained of slight febrile
symptoms and giddiness. He had a vibex on the seat of the inguinal
glands on one side, with some pain, but no swelling there. I shewed him
to Mr Price, who was in charge of the pest-house, and he had no doubt
of its being a case of the plague. Very soon after his admission into
the pest-house, a bubo appeared in his groin, and his fever increased.
Mercury was thrown in rapidly, his mouth became affected, and, the bubo
suppurating, he recovered.
On the 15th, a private of the 8th light dragoons was shewn to me with a
bubo in his groin and giddiness, but without quickness of pulse or any
other febrile symptom. On being brought to Mr Price he was admitted into
the pest-house, and the treatment and result in him were similar to those
of Francis.
On the evening of the 15th, it being reported to me that a Sepoy had
suddenly died of fever in the line of the 7th Bombay regiment, I examined
the body, and found the inguinal glands swelled on both sides. About an
hour after, Mr Grisdale, the surgeon, shewed me a case in the hospital
of the same corps, which was evidently the plague, and which I instantly
ordered to the pest-house.
In the course of the month 38 more cases of the same disease, most
violent and rapid in their progress, appeared in the same regiment.
Three died, either in the hospital or on the lines, before they could be
conveyed to the pest-house, and one died in his way thither. One man of
the 1st Bombay regiment died of the same disease, who had clearly got the
contagion from the former corps, near which their hospital was situated.
The weather during the month was changeable; towards the end it was
boisterous. The thermometer in tents was sometimes so low as 49°, and
rarely rose above 70°. The sky was cloudy, but rain fell only once in
eight days. In the beginning of the month there was a considerable number
of cases of continued fever. There were fewer intermittents than in the
last month. The number of cases of dysentery was decreasing.
Towards the end of the month there were many cases of catarrh, pneumia,
and rheumatism. The diseases of the eyes were greatly on the decline. In
the weekly return of the 3d are three hundred and twelve cases, whereas
in that of the 31st there appear only ninety eight.
JANUARY, 1802.
With the exceptions already mentioned, all the army, during this month,
was in Alexandria, where they attained a degree of health they never had
at Rosetta. No case of the plague had been known at Alexandria when the
Indian army arrived there; and the strictest precautions were taken to
cut off the communication with Rosetta and the 7th regiment.
In the beginning of the month the weather was extremely boisterous: the
wind, generally from the north and north west, was very high. For eleven
days there was rain, and often very heavy. The thermometer was once
below 60°, and never above 70°, in a house in the centre of the city.
The number of sick was much smaller, but the mortality greater, than
in any preceding month. On the 1st, Mr Price, who was in charge of the
pest-house near Rosetta, was himself attacked with the disease, which
with him proved very violent.
On the following day, three of six Arabs, who acted as in-servants to the
pest-house near Rosetta, were also attacked.
On the 6th, a Sepoy of the 1st Bombay regiment died suddenly in the
hospital of the corps at Alexandria; the sick of this corps having
arrived from Rosetta but a few days before.
On the 7th, two cases of the plague, from the same regiment, were
detected in the camp at Alexandria.
On the 8th, the 1st and 7th Bombay regiment marched to, and encamped at,
Aboukir-bay, where a pest-establishment was placed for them.
On the 2d, symptoms of the plague were discovered on Dr Whyte, who the
day before had inoculated himself, and he died on the 9th.
On the day following, a soldier of the 61st regiment, a servant of
Colonel Barlow, Commandant of Rosetta, was sent into the pest-house
there, now under the charge of Mr Grisdale and Mr Rice, with the plague.
On the 13th, two of six Arabs, out-servants at Rosetta, were attacked
with the disease. Two men of the department marched the same road, and
halted at the same stages, as the 7th regiment had done a week before.
On the 22d, two men of the 10th regiment, from a permanent guard on-board
a vessel under quarantine, were sent into the pest-house at Alexandria.
There occurred this month 72 cases of the plague in the Indian army, viz.
2 Officers, Dr Whyte and Mr Price.
2 Cases in the 10th regiment.
1 61st ditto.
22 1st Bombay regiment.
30 7th ditto.
4 department of the com. of cattle.
1 Pioneer-corps.
10 Arab servants.
--
Total 72
--
Continued fever prevailed in the army. It was the synocha of Cullen.
Intermittents were still on the decline, as were likewise dysentery and
hepatitis. Pneumonia and rheumatism prevailed but in a small degree.
FEBRUARY.
This was a very cold and wet month; yet the number of sick continued
to decrease, except in the 1st and 7th regiments, in which corps the
plague continued to rage. Throughout the month, the sky was cloudy; we
had high winds, on 19 days it rained, and on some of these as heavily
as in the monsoons in India. The thermometer moved between 55° and 63°.
On the 13th, for the first time, the following cases of the plague were
dismissed cured from the quarantine-hospital; viz. two Sepoys, one
drum-major, and one woman, from the 7th regiment, and two Arab servants
of the pest-house. At this period, too, six were dismissed from the pest
into the quarantine-hospital.
Till this day no native of India, who had entered the pest-house, ever
returned. But so much was the dread of the distemper now lessened, that
a volunteer in-steward, for the pest-house at Aboukir, came forward from
the 7th regiment.
On the 24th, the commissary’s clerk at Rosetta got the disease. Of five
Europeans, whom we had left at Rosetta, two caught it and died. The
disease here raged with the utmost violence.
On the 28th, Signior Positti, an Italian, came from Rosetta, and lodged
at the house of Mr Fantouchi, the Swedish consul in Alexandria. It was
discovered two days after that he had the plague, and he, with the
surgeon attending him, was immediately sent to the Lazaretto. Signior
Positti died on the day of his admission. Almost all the cases of plague,
which subsequently appeared in Alexandria, could be traced to this case
as a source.
The whole number of cases of plague, which occurred in the army during
this month, was only twenty one. Fever appeared in all the reports. It
was accompanied with the inflammatory diathesis, and it was in general
slight.
Of hepatitis and dysentery, the number of cases was still less than in
former months. Ulcers, which in the Indian army were hitherto very rarely
seen, prevailed at this period. Of rheumatism and pneumonia there was an
increase.
On the whole, in the course of the month, there was a decrease of
sickness, and a considerable decrease of the mortality. On the 1st of the
month there were seven hundred and five in the report; and on the 28th
only three hundred and twelve, or about one in twenty-six.
MARCH.
The weather was milder than in February. The thermometer was gradually
on the rise. During the month it never was lower than 50° nor higher
than 69°. The wind was most frequently from the west, from which quarter
it blew very strongly on the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 19th, 20th, and
21st. It rained on 12 days; and on some of them, about the middle of the
month, very heavily. The atmosphere was in general cloudy. On the 19th we
had claps of loud thunder. But for the existence of the plague the army
might be said to have been very healthy during the month; and, though
this disease was more diffused through the country and in the army, yet
more cases did not occur in the Indian army than in last month, and the
mortality from this disease was much less considerable than formerly.
The garrison of Ghiza had been, for some time, the most healthy part of
the army. During the present month the corps there presented long reports
of sick. The small-pox broke out among the Sepoys there; and in the 86th
regiment there was an immense number of venereal cases, several of which,
from their standing, were inveterate.
The following is a list of the number sick of the plague in March.
Royal Artillery 1
— Navy 1
26th dragoons 9
10th regiment 2
61st regiment 7
88th regiment 2
1st Bombay regiment 1
7th ditto 8
The Departments 3
Foreign corps 3
Strangers 2
Arab servants 7
--
Total 46
--
The spreading of the diseases rendered it necessary to multiply our
pest-establishments. In addition to those of Alexandria, Rosetta, and
Aboukir, one was formed at Ghiza, and one at Rahamania, situated on an
island at that part of the Nile where the canal of Alexandria formerly
took its rise. Between Aboukir and Rosetta, a serjeant and twelve men,
of the 26th dragoons, were stationed to prevent communication between
Alexandria and Rosetta. Nine of these were attacked with the disease
during this month. Within the walls of the pest side, or that part of
the lazaretto appropriated for the reception of cases of plague, at
Alexandria, a serjeant and twelve men were also posted as a guard to
preserve order. Eleven of them caught the disease in the present, and
the rest in the following, month. They were volunteers from the 10th,
61st, and 88th, regiments, and appear in the above list. The source of
this disease appeared to be clearly in Signior Positti. Four of the Arab
servants who attended him were seized; and the Board of Health obtained
an order that no more soldiers should be sent on so dangerous a duty.
On the 2d, a deserter from the queen’s German regiment, taken up in
Alexandria, was sent to the provost’s guard. He had only come to
Alexandria a few minutes before he was discovered. He complained of
being ill; and, on being visited by Mr Blackwell, inspecting surgeon of
plague-cases to the Board of Health, it was found that his disease was
the plague. He was immediately conveyed to the lazaretto, and all the
prisoners at the provost’s guard were brought to the observation-ground,
and the provost with his guard were sent to the quarantine-ground. The
deserter died a few minutes after his arrival in the pest-house. His case
was one of the most inveterate.
On the 14th, Broughman O’Neal, one of the prisoners sent from the
provost’s guard, having symptoms of the plague, was sent by Mr Cloran,
who was in charge of the observation-side, in to Mr Price, who was
in charge of the pest-side, of the lazaretto. On the 17th a case of
the plague was detected in the hospital of the regiment De Roll. The
infection could not be traced; however the surgeon and the sick in the
hospital were put under quarantine.
On the 19th a case was detected in the hospital of Dillon’s regiment, and
the hospital of that corps was also put under quarantine. On the 16th,
one of nine Lascars, attached to Major Falconer, deputy quarter-master
general, was attacked with the plague at Rahamania. The major had only
arrived there from Rosetta a few days before. Subsequently, the remaining
eight Lascars, and two of the Major’s servants, caught the contagion, and
every one of them died. On the 26th a private of De Roll’s regiment was
sent from the observation to the pest side of the lazaretto; and, on the
same day, a sailor, belonging to the agent of transports near Aboukir,
was sent into the pest-house, as was also a man of the Royal Artillery
from Aboukir-castle.
Of fever there occurred but a very few cases during the month, and the
disease was a very mild one.
Of five cases of small-pox two died, both of which were natives of India.
Of hepatitis and dysentery there appear fewer cases, and of the total
number more than one half were from the 61st regiment; and all the severe
cases were of that corps. Of ulcers the number still continued to be
considerable and increasing.
APRIL.
At the commencement of this month affairs wore a very unfavourable
aspect. The plague, which first appeared in Rosetta, and had hitherto,
with little exception, been confined to that place, at the present period
had travelled as far as Aboukir on the one side, and as far as Rahamania
on the other side, of Alexandria; and we had information that most of
the intermediate stages, betwixt us and these two places, were infected.
With so much severity did the disease rage at Rosetta, that, at the
end of last month, it was found necessary to withdraw the commandant
and every person from it, and the inhabitants shut themselves up. From
information received by the Board of Health, they likewise found it
necessary to place all those coming from Cairo and Ghiza under quarantine.
It was well known, that, in Upper Egypt, the plague was making dreadful
ravages among the Mamalouks. The few cases which occurred in Alexandria
made every one alert there, and a very strict police was kept up in the
town by the commandant and by the Scorbatchie.
The weather in the beginning of the month was variable. The thermometer
rose a little. It was rarely so low as 60°, and only once as high as 71°
50″. We had much high wind on twelve days. It rained on fifteen days, but
the quantity which fell was not so great as in the last month. The sky
was cloudy throughout the month.
On the 20th there was much loud thunder.
On the 1st, sixty-four invalids, from the Indian army, were embarked for
England. The greater part were cases of blindness.
Both Mr Price and Mr Rice, who dissected the body of Signior Positti in
the lazaretto, had been ill ever since; and this day they were so ill
that Dr Buchan was sent in to relieve Mr Price, and Mr Moss to relieve Mr
Rice.
On the 3d, a case of the plague appeared at Ghiza on a private follower,
and another case was detected in the hospital of the 26th Dragoons at
Alexandria.
On the evening of the 14th, Mr O’Farrel, who had charge of the pest-house
at Aboukir, was attacked with the disease. This day all the hospitals
were moved out of town, and encamped under the walls of Alexandria.
On the 6th, a Jewess dropped down dead in the streets of the city, and
it was discovered that she had been ill for four days of the plague. Her
husband, who concealed it from the Board of Health, was bastinadoed; and
afterwards was sent, with his whole family, into quarantine. On the same
evening an Arab’s family reported that one of them was ill of the plague.
The person affected was sent to the pest-side, and the rest of the family
to the observation-ground, of the lazaretto.
On the 7th, Mr Dyson, who on the 4th went to Aboukir to relieve Mr
O’Farrel, discovered bubo and symptoms of the plague in himself.
On the 10th, a serjeant of the 61st, who had had the disease last month,
and who, after recovering, officiated as in-steward of the pest-house in
Alexandria, was again attacked with the plague.
On the 11th Mr Angle died, being the fourteenth day of his disease. He,
three weeks before, went to assist Dr Buchan in the lazaretto.
On the 14th, symptoms of the disease were first discovered on Mr Moss
in the lazaretto. Of the Jew family sent to the observation-ground on
the 6th, which amounted to seven persons, two were sent to-day to the
pest-side.
On the 15th the husband of the jewess died in an observation-tent, having
glandular swellings, which were not discovered till after his death.
He did not appear to be ill. Mr Cloran was accustomed, once a day or
oftener, to examine those under observation, but nothing was discovered
to ail this man.
On the 16th, he discovered some symptoms of the disease in another of the
same family, and sent him in to Dr Buchan.
On the 17th, a deserter from the 61st regiment, sent to the regimental
guard-house, where he was discovered to have the plague, was sent to
the lazaretto, and the guard, amounting to nineteen persons, into the
observation-ground of the lazaretto. This man confessed that he had slept
one night near the pest-house at Aboukir. On the 19th Mr Moss died. On
the 24th the plague was discovered in another Jew family. The plague of
the Indian army, during the month, was as follows, viz.
Assistant-surgeons 4
61st regiment 4
80th ditto 1
7th Bombay ditto 5
Departments 12
--
Total 26
--
On the whole, it was a pleasing circumstance to see so little of the
disease among the native corps, as, when it did occur, it proved so much
more fatal to them. From my correspondence with different gentlemen in
the pest-houses it appears, that, during the month, bubo was not so
constant a symptom, and that carbuncles were now frequent.
At first this symptom was seen in no case. Excepting the 61st regiment,
the army was in a very healthy state. Fever was equally mild as in last
month. Opthalmia began again to appear. In the last return there were
sixty cases, fifty of which were Europeans. Of seventy-one men with
ulcers, sixty were Europeans. The total sick of the army, at the end of
the month, did not exceed three hundred; and in this are included every
ulcer, accident, or less serious complaint, which prevents a soldier from
appearing on parade.
MAY.
At the commencement of this month the principal part of the army was
still encamped at Alexandria. On the last day of April orders arrived
from England to General Baird, to return with his army to India, and to
detach the 10th, 61st, and 88th, regiments, which were placed on the
British establishment.
On the 3d the Indian army began the march to Ghiza, where it remained
encamped by the pyramids for some days, until water and the passage over
the desert were reported to be ready. At length the march commenced with
the sick.
We crossed the river, encamped at Boulac, set off from Cairo, and,
passing the ruins of Heliopolis, made Birket El Hadje our first stage.
Our marches over the desert of Suez, as in crossing the great desert,
were all performed during the night, and we always encamped by sunrise in
the morning. Luckily there had much rain fallen before we marched; and at
one place in the middle of the desert, and again at Suez, we found large
collections of rain-water, from which all were well supplied.
By the end of the month the whole corps, except the 7th Bombay regiment,
had crossed the desert and arrived at Suez. Part of the army was encamped
near the town of Suez, and part at Moses Wells, nine miles on the eastern
side of the Red Sea. The march over the desert of Suez was performed
with much greater ease than that over the desert of Thebes. The weather
was cool and favourable, the hot winds were less felt, and we found
abundance of good water provided at the different stations. At the
time of our arrival we found Suez very healthy. Though the plague had
travelled as far as Cairo and all the neighbouring villages, it had not
reached Suez till the arrival of the army.
The women and children of the army, as well as some invalids, were here;
and they, with the Lascars of the fleet, were under the medical charge
of Dr Colquhoun and Mr Waring, whose reports had all along shewn a very
great degree of health. The only disease was the tropical dysentery,
and this was confined to the women and children, who were inactive. The
Lascars, who were actively employed, were all very healthy. During the
month, several cases of the plague were reported, but they were all very
mild. On the 4th, a Sepoy of the 1st Bombay regiment, on duty with the
pioneers in the desert, was attacked with the disease, and was the only
man who died of it during the month. On inquiry afterwards, it was found
that the Sepoy had got the infection from one of the interpreters, named
Peter, and that Peter brought the disease from the Turks in Cairo. The
case of the interpreter was so mild, that it was treated by Mr Dick as a
venereal complaint. He took mercury to produce salivation, the bubo came
to suppuration, and Peter recovered. As soon as the Sepoy died in the
desert, every article belonging to him was burnt with the body. A perfect
separation was effected, and every precaution taken in consequence. No
other case appeared in this detachment.
On the 12th, another case appeared in the 7th regiment, now encamped at
a village opposite Boulac. No plague could be discovered to have been in
the village. The occurrence of this case, therefore, could be accounted
for in no other way than that the seeds of the disease still lurked in
this very unfortunate corps, and that they brought it from Aboukir with
them. A pest-house was established under the charge of Dr Henderson at
Boulac, and two other mild cases were admitted into it towards the end of
the month.
On the 23d, the disease was discovered on a Madras tent-Lascar at Moses
Wells. On the 26th it was discovered on a serjeant of the 86th regiment
in crossing the desert. This was the last case which appeared previous to
the embarkation of the army.
The weather, during the month, was uncommonly fine. The thermometer
was greatly on the rise. During the month it was from 60° to 68°: at
Alexandria from 60° to 78°: in the tents on the desert, and at Moses
Wells, from 60° to 98°. The wind was generally from north to north-west.
In the desert, and at Moses Wells, we had the dry suffocating wind that
we found in the desert of Thebes, at Kossier, at the same time in the
former year; and the atmosphere was generally cloudy. The army was very
healthy.
Ophthalmia now, however, became a more frequent disease, particularly
among the Europeans, and it might be said to be the only disease which
prevailed.
JUNE.
On the 2d, the embarkation commenced, and by the 15th the whole army was
embarked, and had sailed for the different presidencies, except the 7th
regiment, which, on account of the plague still prevailing in it after
the rest of the army had embarked, was ordered to remain two months. Most
of the corps in the army embarked in the most healthy state. There was
hardly a sick man, except a few cases of the venereal disease which had
resisted mercury.
To conclude, never, perhaps, was there an army embarked for any service
more healthy than the Indian army was when it re-embarked on its return
from Egypt.
Previously to the arrival of the army from Egypt, in order to provide
against the introduction of the plague into India, quarantines were
established at the presidencies of Bombay, Bengal, and Madras, as well as
at the island of Ceylon. The principal of these was at Butcher’s island,
near Bombay, where there were pest and quarantine establishments, of
which, on my arrival in June, I took the charge. At this period, letters
from Dr Short, at Bagdad, and from Mr Milne, at Bassorah, described the
plague as raging in Persia, and particularly at Ispahan and Bagdad: in
consequence of this information every vessel, both from the Red Sea and
Persian Gulf, was ordered to Butcher’s island.
As the ships arrived, the troops from the Red Sea were landed; but the
artillery, 86th regiment, 1st Bombay regiment, and the commissariat
department, were so uncommonly healthy, that I detained them but a very
few days on the island.
The 7th Bombay regiment landed at Butcher’s island in August. As this
was the corps in which the plague had principally prevailed, though
they were not unhealthy, I judged it prudent to detain them a month. On
my last inspection of them before they left the island, of a total of
seven hundred, including Sepoys, their wives, and the public and private
followers of the corps, I found only four sick, and these I believe were
all catarrhs.
Dr Henderson, with the pest-establishment, and all those whom we had
left at Suez, arrived at Butcher’s island on the 1st September. The
convalescents from the plague, as well as the guard, and the pest-house
servants, were, on their arrival, all of them very healthy; but I thought
it safe to keep them in quarantine on the island till October, when, like
all the others who had been in quarantine, they were provided with new
clothing and sent over to Bombay.
The company’s packets from Bassorah, and the vessels which arrived from
the Persian Gulf, had none of them the least suspicious appearance, and I
found that their crews were all very healthy.
I had likewise the satisfaction to receive accounts from the medical
gentlemen employed in the expedition, after their arrival at Calcutta,
Madras, and Ceylon: their accounts were so late as November. In none of
the corps did any death occur from the time of embarkation at Suez. The
deaths which appear in the annexed table, in the 80th regiment, were men
lost in the wreck of one of the transports.
END OF PART I.