Doubtless many reports have been written upon the subject, they are not to be seen by those most interested, ' they cannot be of much use. but when This
Kegiment, composed
of
Mussulmen, Sikhs,
and
Paharees,
to Delhi in December 1864, and remained free from the scourge till the following June. The men occupied the same came
lines that the 4th X. I. had are
pucka, having
just
vacated ; the barracks, which washed as well as the
been cleaned and
P. W. D. would allow.- The water the men used was the same as that used by the 4th, taken from wells in the lines, and the Jumna which runs close by ; and except that great cleanliness observed in the lines and latrines, outward circumstances alike. The men were paraded weekly, stripped and exa-
was were
head to foot, and only in June observed.
mined from sore
was
the first Delhi
A small, slightly elevated, reddish spot makes it appearance, on the elbows and knees, and not unlike a spot of herpes, except that there is no contingent redness ; the spot may be often
very small at first, not larger than a pea or No. 4 shot, perfectly painless, with a roughish feel under the finger, and well called " the mosquito-bite stage." In this state the spot will remain peihaps for a week or two, when it will, if left alone, commence to spread; the surrounding skin will become infiltrated, and the sore itself rougher and ni'.ro scaly, and a slight pressure will
produce a peculiar sero-purulent discharge from beneath scab; after this the ulceration rapidly spreads; burrows beneath the skin, which becomes livid, and in time ulcerates, and an open fungating sore results, rarely attended with pain, so that often patients present a most unsightly appearance and hardly the least uneasiness ; these ulcerations are attended with an irritating discharge, which is capable of producing a similar action if applied to any open healthy sore ; after a time, however, the disease appears to exhaust itself, and the sores dry up and leave a scaly mass to peel away gradually, often leaving behind it an unsightly scar which is never effaced. It appears, however, that the disease in its very early stage is quite amenable to treatment, which, if allowed to go on to the
ulceration, becomes most intractable and difficult to cure, resisting all treatment, until it gradually wears itself out and dries up. Caustics and iodine, with pressure or irritating poultices, such as neem, covered with sheet lead, appear to answer best when the sore is open and fungating, or the ung : teruginis of
DELHI SORES. By G. 5.
Assistant-Surgeon,
25tix
Regiment,
Pharmacopoeia, Edin. peculiar 'spot' is observed,
Punjab Native
Infantry. The idea of putting upon rccord the experiences of Medical Officers attached to Regiments that may have occupied certain stations for some time in any other way than in the shape of
Annual Reports, which
Regiment
may
inaccessible,
march,
seems
to be
either carried about wherever the carefully stored, so as to be almost
are or
little thought of,
and it is
But in the early stage, when the there is nothing like "enucleation;" and this should be done before the skin ulcerates. Potassa fusa, nitrate of silver, or the actual cautery may be used for this purpose ; in my hands the latter has proved itself most effectual, the
POOLE, M.D.,
no
common
event for a Regiment to march into a fresh cantonment without the Medical Officer in charge having any idea, or the means of gaining information, as to the diseases he is likely to meet with, and their most successful mode of treatment as determined his predecessor, whom in many cases, perhaps, he never
by
sees.
In this way much valuable information, experience, and time may be lost, and lives perhaps jeopardized, as every one is aware of the different types disease assumes in different districts. With this view, then, it may not be out of place to make a few remarks upon a disease stated to be peculiar this part of the North-West, viz., Delhi sores; and I can only say that had I been able to have come across a record of any one's ideas upon the subject before my Regiment marched into cantonments here, I should have been only too glad; such record should have been in the Brigade Office available, or a to
copy furnished to every Medical Officer who wished to
see
it.
it has been condemned as barbarous and inelegant, yet most suitable for the large body of men with whom I am deal ing. The men themselves have full confidence in this treatment,
though
-
and it is
no uncommon thing for them, in the interval of my weekly inspections, to recognise the characterstic spot in its "musquito stage," as Dr. Murray calls it, proceed to the blacksmith's shop, and burn it out then and there. Poultices of
leaves, or linseed meal mixed with the boiled leaves of the common neem, are well-known useful remedies for Delhi sores among the hakeems of the city, who also use an "omnium gatherum" sort of ointment composed of caustics and astrinneem
gents. I have scarcely found it necessary to admit any Sepoys suffering from Delhi sores into hospital, but those that have been admitted have simply been treated with tonics, alteratives, and cleanliness, and it is to be observed that I may say, without
ex-
ception, every bad case of Delhi sore I have had, has not been seen through inadvertence in its early stage. "Whether the Delhi sore poison is of an animal or vegetable nature, or parasitic, I am not prepared to state. I do not believe the disease is, which stated, dying out; the fact is it is more looked after than
has been
formerly was, and early sores detected and treated. As to its contagiousness, I fully believe in this, as I have seen simple
it
THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE.
300 cases
of
"
foot sore" if
carelessly dressed along I speedily take on the same nature originality in the treatment of these sores
Delhi sore, to
,
-with, those of do not
pretend
any ; I only, as I stated in the former part of this paper, wish to put on record my practical observations, in the hope that they may benefit others. Subjoined is a tabular statement up to date. Statement
of
Delhi Sores in the 25th P. N~. to September 1866.
I., from January
186-5
Of this number a few cases were doubtful cases of Delhi sore, that is, they were cauterised before their true nature had shewn itself, and this I think, under the circumstances, is quite
Number of Cases.
justifiable.
103
162
Delhi,
15th
10
47
Sept. 1866.*
* We thank Dr. Poole for his communication. The subject is a most of view, as well as in its bearings important one, from a Military point on Pathology. Having personal experience in the matter ourselves, wp shall have something to say regarding it on a future occasion ; mean" Delhi-Sore Commiswhile we cannot but regret that the lteport of the sion" has never, so far as we know, been published.?Ed,, I. 21. O.
[October 1,
1866.