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No. 444. September 25, 1858 1 THE XEAPER...
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DISEASE IN THE ARMY. We can hardly imagi...
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PHTHISIS IN THE AEMX An examination of t...
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t - in or - . t - y a - - . - ; t classe...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Book-Hawking In France. Amon G The Many ...
specimen of the tone in which the subject has been treated , we give the following extract from an article in the first-named periodical : — It is an incontestable fact , that since the . sixteenth centur 3 ' nations which have fed Qse nourissenf ) upon the Bible have , in spite of the varieties of sects , been-fundamentally religious ; while in nations where the Bible is not read , whatever has been lost by Catholicism has been equallV lpst bv Christianity , and gained by atheism , materialism , and aVutal indifference to the interests of the soul . This has been the state of things with the enlightened classes ; and this was it which more particularly hurried our France of the eighteenth century into such deplorable errors . And does not this evil of irreligion extend itself to the people ? If the relative numbers of the Catholics
and Protestants in each of our provinces were ascertained , who will venture to affirm that of the Catholics a large proportion—the majority , perhaps—is not practically indifferent to one or the other form of worship ? The question which arises then , is this : Shall we allow religious belief to become totally extinguished in the midst of a population absorbed in material labour and corrupted by misery ? Ought these . souls , unfortunately so depraved , to be abandoned to the temptations of an abject materialism ? Do they not rather offer a moral field whereon all Christian communities should be invited to
exercise their zeal ? Is it not better that the Christian spark should communicate a portion of its priority and strength to these desolate regions , even at the risk of sowing Protestantism there ? It will be seen that we do not appeal to passions—that we address ourselves to the sentiment of the good mother in the jud gment of Solomon , who , rather than struggle for the severed limbs of her child , abandoned it living to her rival . Ashamed of being caught in the masquerading garb of a servant of the Holy Office , Louis Napoleon has compelled the over-zealous prefet of the Sarthe to issue a circular , in which it is condescendingly stated , that as works of Protestant divinity y including the Protestant version of the Scriptures , have a general moral tendency , and do not stir revolutionary questions , his Majesty , the moral ruler of France , will graciously permit them to be sold as formerly bv the colporteurs .
No. 444. September 25, 1858 1 The Xeaper...
No . 444 . September 25 , 1858 1 THE XEAPER . 1003
Disease In The Army. We Can Hardly Imagi...
DISEASE IN THE ARMY . We can hardly imagine a more important subject , in the present state of European affairs , than the sanitary condition of our army . The lamentable sacrifice of life from disease in the Crimea , and the scarcely less formidable ravages in India , for Russians and Sepoys are nothing to fever and phthisis , have thoroughly aroused all classes , including the Government , to a sense of the necessity of a searching inquiry and thorough reformation in relation to the treatment of the soldier . The Royal Commissioners appointed to examine
into the condition of the army m their recent report have given a great deal of valuable information on the subject . They collected a mass of diversified evidence , and they have elicited facts which will enable those capable of making correct inductions to point out the reforms and improvements that are necessary . We are spared the necessity of detailing these , as we have been enabled to lay before our readers a very full report of Mr . Neison ' s paper on the " Phthisis in the Army . " The purport of this remarkably able paper is to take up the facts where the Royai Commissioners left them , and to carry on the induction which they seem to have abandoned at the first stage .
It was indisputably proved that a great proportion of the deaths from disease in the army arises from phthisis or consumption . Having arrived at this remarkable , and wo believe wo may say unexpected , fact , the commissioners abandoned further statistics , and sought for a solution of the causes rather after the common manner of speculation than of rigid scientific inquiry . Three opinions , and they were nothing more , were indulged in , and the causes were stated to be either intomperance , exposure to the weather , or overcrowding in the residences or barracks , Tho last came to bo
generally adopted , and it was declared as tho opinion to bo stated in the report j and thus confidently {> ut forth and powerfully recommended , it is probable hat the Legislature will proceed to legislato upon it . Whore the practical mom stopped , the scientific investigator took up the matter , and sot himself diligently to test by numerous and various data whether consumption was a disorder generated by overcrowding . The result is shown m tho conclusive paper road at Loeds before tho British Association , and which wo reprint entire . Aftoi' ' a oarofiri perusal of il ; , wo thiuk there can bo no doubt that tho conclusion , to whioh tho Royal
Commissioners jumped , for they were led to it by no apparent sound reasoning on substantial data , was an erroneous one , and that the causes of consumption in the army must be looked for in another direction than overcrowding in barracks . Mr . Neison confirms the received opinion that the zymotic , or fever diseases , arise from overcrowding , but finds that consumption does not , except in certain degrees that do not come within the case of the soldier . .... t ,. > r s J- e
Now , if this be the fact , it is of the very highest importance that , previous to legislating on the matter , Mr . Neison , or some other equally competent statician , should be empowered to thoroughly investigate the subject . It would not only save a large amount of otherwise misdirected money , but also save many valuable lives , and preserve a class of men valuable to and deserving of the earnest attention of the Government and the nation . Mr . Neison seems carefully to abstain in his paper from giving any opinion of the causes of the alarming preponderance of phthisis . He only shows that it does not arise from overcrowding . Having got to this . fact , true Baconian as he ishe does not speculate on the cause , but t , . ' ' ¦ I s i 3 ' . . '
, gains some clue by testing the mortality in different regiments , and thus elicits the fact that the Foot Guards suffer the most . It then remains to be seen whether there is anything peculiar in the life , dress , or exercise of this particular regiment ; but it is not for us to anticipate the deductions of a strictly scientific and philosophic inquiry ; and we therefore only call the attention of all interested in the matter to a careful perusal of Mr . Neison ' s paper ; and at the same time urge , on the Government the necessity of paying every attention to the important results of the investigation . We seem to be approaching a true diagnosis of the evil , and when that is once attained , the remedy will be easily found and as readily applied . ' ' ' 1 ; * :
Phthisis In The Aemx An Examination Of T...
PHTHISIS IN THE AEMX An examination of the influence of overcrowding and density of population in producing phthisis and diseases of the respiratory organs , applied to . the solution of some quc & - tions discussed in the recent Report on the / Sanitary Condition of the Army , as read-by Mr . G . F . Nei $ on , at the British Association , at Leeds , on Thursday , 23 rd of August . The Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the sanitary condition of the British army , the state of the hospitals , & c ., published early in the present year , a very elaborate and most valuable report , the result of an exceedingly comprehensive amount of varied and diversified evidence taken before them . As is already well known to the public through the medium of the press , a frightful rate of mortality takes place in the ranks of the army while stationed in the United Kingdom ; but I shnll here seek to engage your attention by only a brief recapitulation of the general results . Abstract A . * " Deaths which would have happened according to the mortality in •" " » ¦ nnuo .. «¦>„» ., DjSffi ., ^ no . jX Ko . p aroj ^ Household Cavalry = 134 122 10 . 1 95 40 . 6 75 77 . 9 Drtucoon Guards I and Dragoons « 705 512 37 0 408 72 . 7 321 110 . S Foot Guards «* 820 303108 . 0 314 181 . 1 240 2 U 3 . 3 lufnjvtry £ f tho Lino « = 2823 1472 01 . 8 , 1208133 . 0 V > 58 194 . 7 " ^ Theso results are certainly very remarkable , and afford a succinct view of the relation in which the different results Btand to each other . In the War-offlco Report itself a comparison is instituted between thu actual mortality of the army and that whioh prevails in twenty-four large towns of England and Wales ; but such a comparison is obviously at fault , for , as I have elsewhere fully shown , tho gross mortality , not only of the whole kingdom , but of individual towns and districts , ia greatly increased by the inclusion of the destitute , the dissolute , and tho intompcrate , as well as by the presence of many persons following occupations and trades of an unusually unhealthy character . Even in the rural districts of this country it will be seen , on referring to pp . 53-09 of " Contributions to Vital Statistics , " that the mortality of the sixteen trades referred to in page 68 of that work is greatly in excess of tho residue of the same districts . Tho military arc certainly free from the noxious Influences peculiar to many trades and occupations . They do not sutler from destitution , nor can they be
T - In Or - . T - Y A - - . - ; T Classe...
classed as a body with the notoriously intemperate . Every just comparison must , therefore , be made with some such classes as those forming the two last sections of the preceding abstract , but if the comparison be made with the general mortality of England ana Wales ( for the male , sex ) , it will be found that the infantry of the line are subject to an increased ratio * of mortality of no less than 91 . 752 per cent . If the out-door occupations be made the standard of comparison , there is an excesss amounting to ... ... ... 133 , 620 per cent . And in respect to labourers in the rural districts , the ex ~ cesss is no less than ... ... 194 . 658 per cent ; being nearly three times the rate of mortality in this branch of the service that is found to take place amongst labourers in the rural districts at the corresponding ages . In Appendix LXXI . of the Beporfc of the Commissioners , as well as in the body of the Report itself , it is shown that among various classes exposed to severe night duty in the open air , such as the Metropolitan Police Force , and the railway employes , and also as otherwise since established in the Id > ndon Fire Brigade , the rate of mortality is somewhat leaa than that for the country generally at the correspond ' ing ages . In the same Appendix it is also conclusively shown , as admitted in tlie report of the commissioners , that the high rate of mortality in the army cannot be accounted for by the prevalence or intemperance . It further appears in the same Ap > - pendix that whatever may be the primary cause of the greatly augmented mortality in the army , the immediate cause of it is the prevalence of consumption to an extent entirely unprecedented , and quite unknown in connexion with any other series of observations in the whole range of vital statistics ; and without a corresponding increase from other causes , taking all branches of the army , the deaths from disease pf the respiratory organs form about sixty per cent , of the deaths from all causes . The following-abstract , however , places the results in a verydistinct light . Abstract B * ' " ~~ . Number of Deaths from Diseases of the Respiratory Organs . - • -: ^ WS ~ Act ° - percent . Household Cavalry 62 . 870 79 + 25 . 65 f t Dragoon Guards , & c . 251 . 112 400 + 59 . 291 Infantry 760 . 005 1641 -+ ¦ 115 . 902 Foot Guards 203 . 560 655 -j-172 * 64 : 7 Total . 1 , 277 . 547 2675 -f-109 . 387 The Commissioners finding that the enormous mortality from consumption was the great scourge of the army , and that it was as impossible to account for its prevalence from any of the causes already described , have , as most readers of the newspaper press are no doubt fully aware , attributed it mainly to overcrowding of the barracks . In my examination before the Commission , and in * the papers submitted by me , and forming the Appendix already quoted from , the effect of yarioua employments on health , the influence of different forms of physical exercises , and the manner in which , intemperate and irregular habits show themselves in the immediate cause of death , are very fully discussed . None of the questions , however , submitted for my consideration by the Commission involved , I regret to say , the consideration of the influence of over-crowding or bad ventilation on the development of diseases of the lungs , or I should hare been glad * at the time to have submitted the hypothesis towhatever statistical tests were available . Nor has any other witness , nor the Commissioners themselves ,, supplied any facts or numerical evidence leading to . the conclusion at which they have arrived in their Report , that over-crowding in ill-conditioned barrack * is the main cause of tho great - destruction of life by inducing phthisis in the army . From the deserved importance attached by the public to the deliberation of the Commission , it is in every way most necessary that such means as are available should be employed to teat the practical value of the empirical opinions on which the overcrowding hypothesis is founded . The still imperfeqt returns made by the Registrar-Generftl , however , prevent this from being done in that completemanner which is desirable , but they contain much , available evidence whioh can , although only by a considerable amount of labour , be brought to boar on the question . Having devoted the necessary time for tluit purpose . I now beg to submit to this section t »» o result * at whioh I have arrived , . * , ! , «„ «« Tlmta Bufficiently broad basis wight bo *«« en «» which to fpund or establish are »* W ° * M h * TJ taken tho returns of the mortaUtyjor the whole of England and Wales , and tho various districts thereof , for tho Bevenyottrs 1848-54 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 25, 1858, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25091858/page/19/
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