August
CURRENT MEDICAL NOTES.
1, 1879.]
CURRENT MEDICAL NOTES. Vesical Calculus
in
Assam.
The at
Deputy Surgeon-General of the Assam Circle Shillong finds there are so few instances of vesical
calculus in the Eastern Frontier Districts, that he has asked to be allowed to return the cases of lithotomy and lithotrity instruments which he has in his personal possession. No doubt if they are not frequently used they will soon spoil in that damp climate, and therefore sanction has been granted. Gurjun Oil for the Molokai Leper Island. The Secretary of State for India has sanctioned the supply of gurjun oil for experimental use in the Leper Asylum of Molokai, an island in the North Pacific under the Hawaiian Government. It is not expected that a perfect cure will follow its use in any case; but the Agent of the Hawaiian Government in England considers a trial may be fairly made, as, from the beautiful climate and the comparatively modern introduction of the complaint, its treatment will be specially favoured. Guriun Oil in the Trinidad Leper Asylum. Hillis, the Medical Superintendent of the Trinidad Leper Asylum, has tried the gurjun oil in thirty-two He considers it laxative, diuretic and cases of leprosy. alterative ; it causes sweating, and when this occurs sensation returns and the tubercles soften. Twenty-five of " the cases were greatly benefited" by the "treatment. is a most Mr. Hillis's conclusion is that the Gurjun oil valuable medicine in the treatment of leprosy in all its forms"?one capable of improving, and retarding the cure it. ravages of the disease, in some cases appearing to Dr.
A Medical Pilgrimage to Mecca.
Asst.-Surgeon Abdur Ruzzack having returned safely from a pilgrimage to Mecca, lias written a very clear and
interesting report of his journey with especial reference to the sanitary conditions under which the journey thither
bodies of pilgrims ia made, their accommodation both in and out of the City of Mecca, and the diseases which prevail among them. Assistant-Surgeon Abdur Ruzzack has an excellent command of English both in scientific and colloquial aspects?indeed many terms which he uses surprise us by their sudden pertinence. It is really extraordinary, for example, that in the short time he has been at sea he should have acquired the slang verbiage of sailors, and still more so that he has learnt to apply it correctly. The Government has permitted the report to be printed. Casualties among Medical Officers. The Pioneer has a note on the results of the late strain on the energies of the British Medical Service. The deaths of five Surgeons and Surgeons-Major, attributable directly to increased exposure and duty, are mentioned. Nor have the effects of climate, heat and exhaustion from hard work day and night been less evident in other ways. In the Indian Medical Service, Surgeons-Major A. J. Dale, ALB., G.V. Currie, P. W. Sutherland, W. S. Oaldwell, M.D., C. P. Costello, R. T. Lyons, Wm. Walker Galloway, M.B., A. McM. Patterson. Surgeons K. J. Linton, H. Boyd, J. O'M. McDonnell, M.D., W. A. Mawson, N. J. Halpin, J. Duncan, Wm. Coates, M.D., Arther, Hemsted have all been granted sick leave for longer or shorter periods. Surgeon W. A. C. Gray died of cholera at Peshawur on the 3rd July ; and Surgeon W. B. Smyth was murdered near Thull on the 24th June. From a telegram received in Calcutta, we regret to hear that Surgeon-Major Galloway's illness has terminated fatally on the 22nd
by large
July-
Later telegrams have brought tiding3 of the death of Surgeon J. E. Walsh, M.D., at Kandahar on the 23rd July, and of Surgeon-Major A. Neil, M.D., Professor of
239
Anatomy and Materia Medica at Lahore, on the 26th idem. Nor has the Subordinate Medical Department reThe exact proportion of illness mained unscathed. which has been undergone came to be guaged by the statistics of sick leave : for too often subordinates aro compelled to remain at their posts even when really unfit for duty, owing to the numerous detachments which require medical aid along the line of supplies through the Khyber. Public recognition
Officers
of the in
Services
of
Medical
Afghanistan.
The dispatches on the late Af? s;han war are published in the Gazette of India of the 11th July, and the Medical Department receives scant notice. Indeed at the time most of the documents were written, there had been little enough to do in the hospitals or in the field, so that Surgeons 0. T. Duke and G. E. E. Burroughes seomto have been forced by circumstances to perform cutting operations in the field which are not mentioned either by Bryant or Esmarch. It was not till all " service" was over that the doctors* hour arrived ; is it too much to expect a Gazette of recognition in regard to cholera duties? Even in the field, however, some names are omitted for whom room might well have been found. In the action at Futtehabad on the 2nd April 1879 the Guides Cavalry alone hud 32 killed and wounded, and the medical officer, young Surgeon Lewtas, was not only present through the field all day, but saw his wounded dressed and comfortable before retiring to rest after midnight. Since the above was written we are glad to observe the name of Deputy Surgeon Gibbons among the new 0. B's. It is the only medical name in the long list of the decorated. The Order of Merit. The following is the precise statement of the manner in which 2nd Class Hospital Assistant Shunkur Dass won the 3rd Class of the Order of Merit, being the first occasion of its bestowal on a hospital subordinate.
Major Fitzhugh, writing
to
Major-General Roberts,
V. C., C. B., dated 27th December 1878 " On the 13th December, when the Regiment was on rear guard and was attacked in the Supri defile, Hospital Assistant Shunker Dass behaved throughout in a manner which attracted the attention of all the officers of the
regiment.
a dandy for the late wounded ; he attended the wounded men under fire with great coolness ; he fired on the enemy with the arms of a wounded man, and ha showed throughout a most excellent spirit, and I consider he is deserving of reward." His good example has been quickly followed. The Gazette of 5th July announces that the 3rd Class of the Order of Merit has also been conferred on Hospital Assistant Stud Noor Khan of the Mhairwarrah Battalion for distinguished bravery in action at Kam Dakka on the 22nd April last. Captain Creagh, who commanded on this occasion, says "The Hospital Assistant set an excellent example not only by the courage with which he attended the sick and wounded under? a heavy fire, but also by setting the' hospital servants, bearers, &c., to help in making the Sunga^' a breastwork of stone, which materially aided in the Of his courage I cannot speak too highly." defence.
He obtained with
Captain Powell who
The
great trouble
was
late
severely
Surgeon Smyth.
Surgeon Smyth's death seems to have been brought about through his own bravery amounting to Poor
rashness. From the evidence of a spy who followed the thieves to the hills and heard the story from themselves, it of the Zaimush Kheyls had gone down appears that eight to the camping ground on the night between the 26th and
240
THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE.
27th June to see what they could plunder. At first they tried to break down the wall of the camp enclosure with the object of bringing away any camels they could steal, but being frightened by the n>>ise of the falling stones, One of them of which the wall was made, they desisted. then went into the enclosure and at last entered Dr. Smyth's tent. He saw him asleep with his head on the pillow, and thinking that the latter might contain something valuable, he gently drew it away, not however without awaking Dr. Smyth. The thief escaped and ran across the enclosure pursued by the young Surgeon unarmed and almost undressed ; but the latter caught him, and to extricate himself he dropped the pillow, his own covering sheet, and a country pistol. Again Mr. Smyth seized him, though this time the thief wounded him in the hand with his knife, but Mr. Smyth succeeded in throwing him on the ground, and was again mastering him when the other thieves arrived to the rescue and quickly murdered poor Dr. Smyth. It may seem strange that all this should have happened in the night within a camp enclosure without the guards turning out and reaching the struggle post, but the evidence shows that there was really no alarm nor any disturbance till all was over, and unfortunately Dr. Smyth had refused to sleep within the keep of the enclosure, fearing the great heat; he had also declined a guard to his tent, and the struggle took place at the ansjle furthest (150 yards) from the guard house. Promotion in tee Subordinae Medical Department. >
There have been a great many steps in the subordinate medical establishment, native hospitals, during the current year. Since the 1st January 9 hospital assistants have been pensioned. 3 have resigned, 3 have been dismissed, 5 have died.and 17 have been transferred to the civil reserve class : total 37.. This exactly absorbs the supernumeraries, so that the passed medical pupils will again enter Jthe roster for promotion. The first P. M. P. Khadam Hoosain is of
5th October, 1877, and allowing him to have entered the Department at 16, to have passed 2 years with a regiment, two with a medical school, and two with a
seniority
as a P. M. P., he will be now 22 years of age, which is quite early enough for the position and responsibilities of a 3rd class hospital assistant. A New Army Doolie. A new army doolie and stretcher combined has lately arrived in India emanating originally from the Volunand reteer Ambulance department, Whitehall Yard, commended by the medical professors at Netley. We have had occasion to inspect it. As a stretcher pure and simple it has the advantages of a self-locking traverse and the automatic action of the legs. But the doolie arrangement which is superadded is a very complicated apparatus, and withal so fragile in many of its bearings that any hope of its use on service must be abandoned. It wiil be sent with several others, all more or less ingenious and hopelessly unserviceable, to the Commission on Transport sitting at Simla. The Looshai Doolie.
hospital
The doolie which of all others has held its own during the recent operations across the N. W. Frontier is the Lushai pattern one, the invention of which is generally attributed to the late Colonel Dickens, 0. B., of the Commissariat Department. It would be simply perfect except for the occasional bagging of the canvas bottom ; the legs are so short that a patient of weight with his arms and accoutrements will partly rest on the ground if The medical the doolie has been in use for long. officers of the whole force and of both services seem -to be unai.imous regarding its merits, while transport and commissariat officers are keen to see it is simple, easily repaired, light, and comfortable, packs anyhow, and travels well. Camel Carriage of the Sick. We suppose there always will be doolies in Indian
[August 1,
1879.
Armies to the end of the chapter ; though when palanqueens are becoming rare in Calcutta, we should be prepared fnr any changes. But the direction in which real improvement for the transport of army sick should be l"oked for is in camel carriage. It is notorious that carriage by K ahars frequently approaches a point at which the safety of the whole army is menaced not by the actualities but by the potentialities of war ; in other words, that the burden of the followers becomes so grievous to be borne that nothing can be undertaken, and this not only when there are siclc and wounded, but even because there might be. There are really only two difficulties?the first to invent a serviceable hospital camel hajawa ; the second, to have trained camels?neither are insuperable. Cholera
on the
Frontier.
The history of the cholera epidemic of 1879, as it has affected our armies trans-Indus, has yet to be written ; but it is a relief to observe from the official reports that the severity of the attack has passed away in nearly every cantonment except Candahar. The following are the statistics of the epidemic at some of the principal stations up to the 18th instant:? Deaths. Cases. M. W. 0. Europeans. M. W. C. 76 1 0 103 1 0 ... Peshawur 83 0 0 Khyber Pass Stations... Ill 0 0 Jellalabad and i 35 0 0 62 0 0 Gundamuk. J 8 0 0 13 0 0 Candahar The disease as it affected the native army does not show the same mortality, though the figures as yet reported are open to doubt. The 11th B. Lancers, the Guides Infantry and the 4th Goorkhas seem to have suffered the most ...
severely.
The deaths of about 100 followers are
reported,
but
manifestly tliia cannot be accepted as, in any way approaching the real mortality. The station and city of Peshawur have been visited with great severity.
As regards General Roberts! force, the statistics are happily very light?the European cases under ten and the native soldiers ju?t over a score. Is this another
exemption, or is it that the Peiwar and Kotal is not a crowded area or a line of route of human intercourse. On the other hand the narrow defile of the Bolan pass, the embrochures at Dadar and Quetta have been sorely smitten?the recorded deaths being 320 out of 600 seizures in the natives At Candahar there have been, up to the 18th, 13 Europeans attacked and 8 deaths. The epidemic is reported to be now prevalent in Caubul. instance of new local
CURRENT MEDICAL NOTES.
1, 1879.]
CURRENT MEDICAL NOTES. Vesical Calculus
in
Assam.
The at
Deputy Surgeon-General of the Assam Circle Shillong finds there are so few instances of vesical
calculus in the Eastern Frontier Districts, that he has asked to be allowed to return the cases of lithotomy and lithotrity instruments which he has in his personal possession. No doubt if they are not frequently used they will soon spoil in that damp climate, and therefore sanction has been granted. Gurjun Oil for the Molokai Leper Island. The Secretary of State for India has sanctioned the supply of gurjun oil for experimental use in the Leper Asylum of Molokai, an island in the North Pacific under the Hawaiian Government. It is not expected that a perfect cure will follow its use in any case; but the Agent of the Hawaiian Government in England considers a trial may be fairly made, as, from the beautiful climate and the comparatively modern introduction of the complaint, its treatment will be specially favoured. Guriun Oil in the Trinidad Leper Asylum. Hillis, the Medical Superintendent of the Trinidad Leper Asylum, has tried the gurjun oil in thirty-two He considers it laxative, diuretic and cases of leprosy. alterative ; it causes sweating, and when this occurs sensation returns and the tubercles soften. Twenty-five of " the cases were greatly benefited" by the "treatment. is a most Mr. Hillis's conclusion is that the Gurjun oil valuable medicine in the treatment of leprosy in all its forms"?one capable of improving, and retarding the cure it. ravages of the disease, in some cases appearing to Dr.
A Medical Pilgrimage to Mecca.
Asst.-Surgeon Abdur Ruzzack having returned safely from a pilgrimage to Mecca, lias written a very clear and
interesting report of his journey with especial reference to the sanitary conditions under which the journey thither
bodies of pilgrims ia made, their accommodation both in and out of the City of Mecca, and the diseases which prevail among them. Assistant-Surgeon Abdur Ruzzack has an excellent command of English both in scientific and colloquial aspects?indeed many terms which he uses surprise us by their sudden pertinence. It is really extraordinary, for example, that in the short time he has been at sea he should have acquired the slang verbiage of sailors, and still more so that he has learnt to apply it correctly. The Government has permitted the report to be printed. Casualties among Medical Officers. The Pioneer has a note on the results of the late strain on the energies of the British Medical Service. The deaths of five Surgeons and Surgeons-Major, attributable directly to increased exposure and duty, are mentioned. Nor have the effects of climate, heat and exhaustion from hard work day and night been less evident in other ways. In the Indian Medical Service, Surgeons-Major A. J. Dale, ALB., G.V. Currie, P. W. Sutherland, W. S. Oaldwell, M.D., C. P. Costello, R. T. Lyons, Wm. Walker Galloway, M.B., A. McM. Patterson. Surgeons K. J. Linton, H. Boyd, J. O'M. McDonnell, M.D., W. A. Mawson, N. J. Halpin, J. Duncan, Wm. Coates, M.D., Arther, Hemsted have all been granted sick leave for longer or shorter periods. Surgeon W. A. C. Gray died of cholera at Peshawur on the 3rd July ; and Surgeon W. B. Smyth was murdered near Thull on the 24th June. From a telegram received in Calcutta, we regret to hear that Surgeon-Major Galloway's illness has terminated fatally on the 22nd
by large
July-
Later telegrams have brought tiding3 of the death of Surgeon J. E. Walsh, M.D., at Kandahar on the 23rd July, and of Surgeon-Major A. Neil, M.D., Professor of
239
Anatomy and Materia Medica at Lahore, on the 26th idem. Nor has the Subordinate Medical Department reThe exact proportion of illness mained unscathed. which has been undergone came to be guaged by the statistics of sick leave : for too often subordinates aro compelled to remain at their posts even when really unfit for duty, owing to the numerous detachments which require medical aid along the line of supplies through the Khyber. Public recognition
Officers
of the in
Services
of
Medical
Afghanistan.
The dispatches on the late Af? s;han war are published in the Gazette of India of the 11th July, and the Medical Department receives scant notice. Indeed at the time most of the documents were written, there had been little enough to do in the hospitals or in the field, so that Surgeons 0. T. Duke and G. E. E. Burroughes seomto have been forced by circumstances to perform cutting operations in the field which are not mentioned either by Bryant or Esmarch. It was not till all " service" was over that the doctors* hour arrived ; is it too much to expect a Gazette of recognition in regard to cholera duties? Even in the field, however, some names are omitted for whom room might well have been found. In the action at Futtehabad on the 2nd April 1879 the Guides Cavalry alone hud 32 killed and wounded, and the medical officer, young Surgeon Lewtas, was not only present through the field all day, but saw his wounded dressed and comfortable before retiring to rest after midnight. Since the above was written we are glad to observe the name of Deputy Surgeon Gibbons among the new 0. B's. It is the only medical name in the long list of the decorated. The Order of Merit. The following is the precise statement of the manner in which 2nd Class Hospital Assistant Shunkur Dass won the 3rd Class of the Order of Merit, being the first occasion of its bestowal on a hospital subordinate.
Major Fitzhugh, writing
to
Major-General Roberts,
V. C., C. B., dated 27th December 1878 " On the 13th December, when the Regiment was on rear guard and was attacked in the Supri defile, Hospital Assistant Shunker Dass behaved throughout in a manner which attracted the attention of all the officers of the
regiment.
a dandy for the late wounded ; he attended the wounded men under fire with great coolness ; he fired on the enemy with the arms of a wounded man, and ha showed throughout a most excellent spirit, and I consider he is deserving of reward." His good example has been quickly followed. The Gazette of 5th July announces that the 3rd Class of the Order of Merit has also been conferred on Hospital Assistant Stud Noor Khan of the Mhairwarrah Battalion for distinguished bravery in action at Kam Dakka on the 22nd April last. Captain Creagh, who commanded on this occasion, says "The Hospital Assistant set an excellent example not only by the courage with which he attended the sick and wounded under? a heavy fire, but also by setting the' hospital servants, bearers, &c., to help in making the Sunga^' a breastwork of stone, which materially aided in the Of his courage I cannot speak too highly." defence.
He obtained with
Captain Powell who
The
great trouble
was
late
severely
Surgeon Smyth.
Surgeon Smyth's death seems to have been brought about through his own bravery amounting to Poor
rashness. From the evidence of a spy who followed the thieves to the hills and heard the story from themselves, it of the Zaimush Kheyls had gone down appears that eight to the camping ground on the night between the 26th and
240
THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE.
27th June to see what they could plunder. At first they tried to break down the wall of the camp enclosure with the object of bringing away any camels they could steal, but being frightened by the n>>ise of the falling stones, One of them of which the wall was made, they desisted. then went into the enclosure and at last entered Dr. Smyth's tent. He saw him asleep with his head on the pillow, and thinking that the latter might contain something valuable, he gently drew it away, not however without awaking Dr. Smyth. The thief escaped and ran across the enclosure pursued by the young Surgeon unarmed and almost undressed ; but the latter caught him, and to extricate himself he dropped the pillow, his own covering sheet, and a country pistol. Again Mr. Smyth seized him, though this time the thief wounded him in the hand with his knife, but Mr. Smyth succeeded in throwing him on the ground, and was again mastering him when the other thieves arrived to the rescue and quickly murdered poor Dr. Smyth. It may seem strange that all this should have happened in the night within a camp enclosure without the guards turning out and reaching the struggle post, but the evidence shows that there was really no alarm nor any disturbance till all was over, and unfortunately Dr. Smyth had refused to sleep within the keep of the enclosure, fearing the great heat; he had also declined a guard to his tent, and the struggle took place at the ansjle furthest (150 yards) from the guard house. Promotion in tee Subordinae Medical Department. >
There have been a great many steps in the subordinate medical establishment, native hospitals, during the current year. Since the 1st January 9 hospital assistants have been pensioned. 3 have resigned, 3 have been dismissed, 5 have died.and 17 have been transferred to the civil reserve class : total 37.. This exactly absorbs the supernumeraries, so that the passed medical pupils will again enter Jthe roster for promotion. The first P. M. P. Khadam Hoosain is of
5th October, 1877, and allowing him to have entered the Department at 16, to have passed 2 years with a regiment, two with a medical school, and two with a
seniority
as a P. M. P., he will be now 22 years of age, which is quite early enough for the position and responsibilities of a 3rd class hospital assistant. A New Army Doolie. A new army doolie and stretcher combined has lately arrived in India emanating originally from the Volunand reteer Ambulance department, Whitehall Yard, commended by the medical professors at Netley. We have had occasion to inspect it. As a stretcher pure and simple it has the advantages of a self-locking traverse and the automatic action of the legs. But the doolie arrangement which is superadded is a very complicated apparatus, and withal so fragile in many of its bearings that any hope of its use on service must be abandoned. It wiil be sent with several others, all more or less ingenious and hopelessly unserviceable, to the Commission on Transport sitting at Simla. The Looshai Doolie.
hospital
The doolie which of all others has held its own during the recent operations across the N. W. Frontier is the Lushai pattern one, the invention of which is generally attributed to the late Colonel Dickens, 0. B., of the Commissariat Department. It would be simply perfect except for the occasional bagging of the canvas bottom ; the legs are so short that a patient of weight with his arms and accoutrements will partly rest on the ground if The medical the doolie has been in use for long. officers of the whole force and of both services seem -to be unai.imous regarding its merits, while transport and commissariat officers are keen to see it is simple, easily repaired, light, and comfortable, packs anyhow, and travels well. Camel Carriage of the Sick. We suppose there always will be doolies in Indian
[August 1,
1879.
Armies to the end of the chapter ; though when palanqueens are becoming rare in Calcutta, we should be prepared fnr any changes. But the direction in which real improvement for the transport of army sick should be l"oked for is in camel carriage. It is notorious that carriage by K ahars frequently approaches a point at which the safety of the whole army is menaced not by the actualities but by the potentialities of war ; in other words, that the burden of the followers becomes so grievous to be borne that nothing can be undertaken, and this not only when there are siclc and wounded, but even because there might be. There are really only two difficulties?the first to invent a serviceable hospital camel hajawa ; the second, to have trained camels?neither are insuperable. Cholera
on the
Frontier.
The history of the cholera epidemic of 1879, as it has affected our armies trans-Indus, has yet to be written ; but it is a relief to observe from the official reports that the severity of the attack has passed away in nearly every cantonment except Candahar. The following are the statistics of the epidemic at some of the principal stations up to the 18th instant:? Deaths. Cases. M. W. 0. Europeans. M. W. C. 76 1 0 103 1 0 ... Peshawur 83 0 0 Khyber Pass Stations... Ill 0 0 Jellalabad and i 35 0 0 62 0 0 Gundamuk. J 8 0 0 13 0 0 Candahar The disease as it affected the native army does not show the same mortality, though the figures as yet reported are open to doubt. The 11th B. Lancers, the Guides Infantry and the 4th Goorkhas seem to have suffered the most ...
severely.
The deaths of about 100 followers are
reported,
but
manifestly tliia cannot be accepted as, in any way approaching the real mortality. The station and city of Peshawur have been visited with great severity.
As regards General Roberts! force, the statistics are happily very light?the European cases under ten and the native soldiers ju?t over a score. Is this another
exemption, or is it that the Peiwar and Kotal is not a crowded area or a line of route of human intercourse. On the other hand the narrow defile of the Bolan pass, the embrochures at Dadar and Quetta have been sorely smitten?the recorded deaths being 320 out of 600 seizures in the natives At Candahar there have been, up to the 18th, 13 Europeans attacked and 8 deaths. The epidemic is reported to be now prevalent in Caubul. instance of new local
