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ber (I speak it with admiration), only two men could be said to die of the disorder itself, and two others of its effects, by which marasmus and death were at length induced.* If, therefore it should accord with your wishes to make known

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and December the 28th.
The following is the Number of Sick, both Soldiers and Sailors, who came under the Treatment

of the Naval Surgeon, between May the 22d,

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the causes of this success, and the means employed to ensure it, an insertion of the following events which came to my knowledge will answer that purpose.

"His Majesty's regiment embarked on board a ship of war (a two-decker) about the 9th of May 1809, to be conveyed to a very distant part of the world: they were composed for the most part of fine young men recruited from different parts of the kingdom, and remained on board the ship about a fortnight before the final orders came for sailing; during which time some of the soldiers, who had been in an hospital, were so far recovered from fever and dysentery, as to be thought capable of proceeding on their voyage; others, however, were found so ill as to require to be relanded, which however were few in number, and were taken to a military hospital by the medical attendant attached to that wing of the regiment which was embarked in the ship.

On the 22d of May the ship, with a consort containing the other part of the battalion, sailed from St. Helen's, and proceeded down Channel with a fair wind.

It may be necessary to remark, that when troops are embarked on board ships of war, the military and naval surgeons perform their respective duties independently of each other, unless that the naval surgeon more particularly reports to the Captain of the ship such circumstances in the economy of the vessel as may have influence on the general health of the people on board; but the individual treatment of the patients depends entirely on the respective surgeons of the two departments. Hence, although it is of delicate import for the naval surgeon to interfere with the soldiers without his advice being required by the military attendant, yet it behoves him especially to be attentive to the general state of the sick of both departments. For which reason, a complaint occurring, certainly, or even doubtfully contagious, being so alarming and of such great importance to every person in the ship, comes so far under the control of the naval surgeon as to render it necessary for him to interfere, in order as soon as possible to put a stop to the complaint, or to prevent its communication with the sailors.

The weather was moderate for the first week, but about the 30th of May a heavy gale was encountered, by which the ship was completely drenched with water, and the soldiers much exposed to wet and other severe suffering in the Bay of Biscay. The storm remitted on the following day, but another equal in violence took place three days after; and again on the 4th of June another tremendous storm added to their sufferings, during which day, Cape Finisterre being on the lee, they were chased by a strange ship of a large size,

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as much sail was set as possible, and the lower deck ports being ill closed, a great quantity of water was admitted, so that the carpenter was obliged to scuttle the lower deck to let into the hold a vast wave of water dashing from side to side of the ship among nearly four hundred men, women, and children. A remission was experienced on the fifth, and on the 12th the ship anchored in Funchal roads, many of the men being sick, and having in this short but severe passage become affected with the scorbutic diathesis.

When at anchor in this place the surgeon of the ship was surprised with the complaints of one of the soldier's wives, whom he found actually labouring under a severe attack of dysentery, with which she had been affected several days; and in a few days more two other women made complaint of the same symptoms. And to those who are acquainted with naval practice, it will not appear strange, that the disorder first appearing should continue to spread among the women, as they are all obliged to resort to the same necessary convenience, by means of which the complaint is more generally propagated.

The Surgeon of the ship deeming it of the greatest consequence strenuously to endeavour to put a stop to the further progress of the disease, by separation of the sick, advised that the women affected should be sent on shore at Madeira ; but the individual hardship of separating the wives from their husbands, perhaps under such circumstances precluding them from ever meeting again, so far prevailed upon the humanity of the Commander, that they were ordered to remain on board, and the only then preventative consisted in keeping the women as little communicating with other persons as possible; but how ineffectual an entire separation was, must ap-pear, when it is stated that there was not room for the inhabitants of the lower deck even to hang up their hammocks without absolute contact, many being compelled to place their bedding upon the wet deck.

The ship sailed from Madeira (the people having been refreshed with fruit, vegetables, and fresh beef) on the 19th of June, and on the 29th arrived at Porto Praya, on the island of St. Jago, from which they procured a stock of live cattle, and then proceeded on their voyage southward. On the 22d of June the armourer of the ship made complaint of severe dysenteric symptoms, and it is remarkable that this was almost the only sailor who had his birth on the lower deck among the soldiers, and he was placed very near the woman first affected with the disorder, for it is really impossible to prevent offensive matter being left about in a ship in -boisterous weather, when all is darkness between decks, and

scarcely

scarcely a healthy person is able to proceed from one part of the ship to the other, unless upon his hands and knees; and much less a poor sick woman from her hammock on the lower deck to the round-house, on the frequent occasions that take place in this complaint.

As might be expected, the malady having once appeared gradually increased both among soldiers and sailors; by the 6th of August, being then in South latitude 23o, West longitude 38°, twenty-six of the ship's company had been in various degrees attacked by the complaint, most of whose symptoms could be altogether removed or relieved by the remedies employed by the naval surgeon; there being only two of the sailors so ill as to take to their hammocks, and eight others under less severe symptoms.

At this time the most that the surgeon of the ship could do was, to permit little communication between the decks; the military having exclusively the lower, the sailors the gundeck. The reports of the sick daily made by the respective medical attendants to their commanding officers being compared, there was found to be a great disparity, both in the numbers affected, and in the severity of their com plaints; for while of the sailors there were but ten sick of dysentery, (the others previously having recovered from the disorder) there were forty-five of the soldiers; and of the former two only were confined to their beds, but there were twenty-seven of the latter: it was therefore determined by the respective commanding officers, to place the sick, bọth soldiers and sailors, under the care of the naval surgeon alone. This being enforced by a written order from the captain of the ship, aided by a regimental order from the colonel, entire authority was placed in his hands as far as related to the medical treatment of the persons then sick, or should at any future part of the voyage become so.

In obedience to these orders, the surgeon of the ship (being really placed in uncommon circumstances, having a very serious and arduous task to perform, and being endowed with double responsibility) immediately commenced his duty among the soldiers who he had never before individually visited, and with whose previous situation he was but little acquainted, unless from the written reports of their medical attendant, which he had sometimes an opportunity of secing.

He found twenty-seven persons in their hammocks, men, women, and children, labouring under different stages of dysentery; some with the primary symptoms; others with the consequences of the disorder, emaciation, extreme debi(No. 143.)

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lity,

lity, and severe abdominal pain. Besides those that were confined to bed, there were about as many others, less seriously, or more recently attacked, but labouring under the same disease.

Things being so situated, he prescribed such remedies as seemed to him necessary, and advised, that as the ship was within two days sail of Rio de Janeiro, she should proceed thither, where could be had every kind of refreshment, and where was an English fleet and a naval hospital.

As soon as the ship entered this harbour an admiral's order was procured to remove the more seriously sick to the naval hospital, and that every person, even the most slightly affected with the complaint, should be put on board a transport lying in the harbour, by which means the naval surgeon hoped to be enabled to give so effectual a check to the complaint as to be soon enabled to put a stop to it entirely.

When in Rio de Janeiro, provisions of every sort were sent to the ships, and after the sick were removed, a few slight cases of the disorder only appeared, which were no sooner seen than they were sent out of the ship, and in ten days no further case of the disease intervened.

On the 24th of August, having remained three weeks in this port, it was determined to proceed again to sea, having lost one old man only (who appeared to be moribund when sent there) at the hospital. The sick were then all returned on board from the transport in a state of convalescence; but those from the hospital very severely affected, for the most part with the consequences of the disease, rather than with the real com. plaint and eight or ten men, with two women far advanced in pregnancy, were too ill to remain out of their hammocks. It was hoped, that, by departing somewhat south of the tropic of Capricorn, the heat hitherto experienced in the torrid zone, and which was thought to favour the complaint, would be obviated, and thus no further recurrence would take place; and this in a remarkable degree was observed, not more than ten or twelve cases appearing after that time; and those that returned from the hospital of St. Sebastian conti

nued to recover.

The weather, during the passage from the Brazils to the Cape of Good Hope, being comparatively cold, (between the tropics it had been generally between 90 and 98 degrees of Fahrenheit, whereas here it was often under 60) few diseases, and these apparently arising solely from cold, were observed; some of these much resembled the former complaint. Many of the men also (having on their departure from Eng land not been furnished with any warm cloathing) were at

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