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aeral population , but certainly the deaths amongst ose " must be considerable , and in comparing the o classes , soldier and civilian , it is much to the ; advantage of the civilian , because we are taking atha -from one and g iving them to the other , lere is still another disturbing cause which gives proportion o £ mortality to the civil population in e -whole range of blighted and weakly lives , from aich the soldier is exempt . The argument then that the mortality of the soldier at home , com-. red with that of civilians of all grades , is conlerably more than twice as great as that sliown the returns .
The report institutes a comparison , with the agri-Itural labourer , on the ground that the soldier ' s ity is chiefly in the open air , and tliat he is amply d and housed at great expense . To us this seems l unlucky comparison , oecausc the evidence goes show—and it is our own conviction , too— -that e soldier is not well fed , neither is he well msed . The comparisons with printers would be suj > poscd be in favour of the soldier , but still it remains at tPo times as great as that of night printers , which y-090 per 1000 . In WxQ'Times offi . ee , where much ire has been bestowed on ventilation , the rate was per 3000 from 1850-54 inclusive .
The comparison with the police is instituted for ic point of night duty- The policeman is on duty 1 night lon& , while the soldier on guard takes his vo hours and then comes to the guard-room , for > ur hours' rest , being on guard one night in five in ic Foot Guards . The rate is still 2 ¦ £ ? times as rcat as that of the police . Driven from the police , we are obliged to search inongst the most permanently unhealthy occupaons of London—clerks and dressmakers—in order
> find a parallel to our Guardsman . ; but here again ; is without success—he remains twice as mortal . ! he conclusion arrived at is , that "at present the rmy stands almost at the head of unhealthy occulations in the United Kingdom , " The figures ; iven by Mr . Neison are , for the Foot Guards , 0 S' 556 per cent , in excess of the average deaths of England and Wales ; 161 'OGo in excess of outdoor occupations ; and 233 " 320 per ccait . above that of he labourers in rural districts .
So much for the consumption of life required for he maintenance of the army at home ; let us now , ce how the British soldier is consumed when . cm-) loycd in the active duties of his business , those or which he is carefully selected as a man best able o encounter-them , s ' ulrject to all I he contingencies ) f foreign service . Colonel Tulloeli slates that luring the last forty-two years in India we have juried 100 , 000 men , In Sfccundcrabad idonc ,. Dr . Burke slates the loss , by the death of Kuropean soldiers , was 150 , 000 / . in thirty years . This was an . unhealthy station , "the ratio of mortality being
sometimes us hi g h us 13 per cent , per annum . In 3 amaica , our soldiers have been dyi ng for geucrat ions past at the rate of . 13 U per 101 ) 0 per annum , lu Ceylon , it was for twenty years 70 per 1000 by disease alone , lu native troops of the West Indies the mortality was for twenty years 40 per 1000 . With regard to this point , it is envious to observe that the native population is subject to a very high rate of mortality , " . bYom 30 to JO per 1000 ' of the prime of the population die annually , the negroes there having in the last forty years fallen oil' onethird . In the lirst llunncsc war , the European force was almost entirely destroyed by scurvy : and the horrors of Wnk'hercn soon enabled us to interpret the irony of Napoleon , when , hearing of our landing , he expressed his hope that we should remain there . With reference to the excessive mortality on foreign service , . it , . should be stated at once , that after repeated representations from the medical oiliccrs during the last , few years , barracks have been removed to hjo'U ground , uml other expedients adopted , that have reduced the- mortality in some cases to half ; and the : tendency of the examination of the witnesses isto . slunv thai ' hail a sanit ary officer
, of high rank and ( pialiliealions formed purl ' of ihe staff , Lbe . se terrible ! sacrifices might have ; been avoided . As Colonel Tulloeh says , " if some one of lujjjh authorit y could have suggested to Sir Archibald Campbell during the losses at , Rangoon , ' Send round a ship for fresh vegetables , ' our troops would have been saved . " l' \> r our losses in ' liiilgaria , nx thohite campaign , Ilicsniiiepiilent remedy is suggested by a cmost ion from the , commission ' - ¦ lull it was not at hand . Skill and bravery enoiigb to tackle any amount of Russians , but , no preparations against I he night , attacks of miasma uiwl eholera . To make the suWjeef coni ])! etL ' , wo must confess I lie lament .
able truth as regards the uohle army we sent out under all the latest improvements of 1854 . The total of deaths in theEastem army was 18-057 , or 2278 per cent , per annum . The evidence of Miss Hightingale , which appears to us to be most reliable , tells us that the sick embarked in transports for Scutari from September ., lS 54 , to January , 1855 , numbered 13 , 093 , of wliom 976 died on the passage of eight days . In . individual instances the deaths were very much liigher , as in the CadueeuSj when out of 430 , 114 died in the six days ' voyage , and many survivors died in hospital afterwards . At the two hospitals at Scutari , 29 , 000 entered from August , 1854 , to May , 1856 , and the deaths were 4634 . But there were several
other hospitals , and two sliips not included m tins . We get a closer estimate by Dr . Parr ' s black diagram , where the expanding radius of death reaches , in January , 1-S 55 , for all "the hospitals in the East , 1174 per 1000 per annum , or to bring this home to us , for the first seven months of the Crimean campaign , the mortality was greater than at the plague of London . The causes of all this dreadful suffering we shall have to consider hereafter in speaking of the Barracks , Camps , and Hospitals , hut not to leave the impression of glaring faults without an attempt at remedy , we must tell the satisfactory result of the efforts made , and the sanitary measures adopted- — " that during the last five months we had a mortality amongst our troops of only twothirds of what it is at home . "
There can be no question , then , as to the fact of our army being liable to an excessive mortality . Compared with other armies , we find in the evidence of Colonel Tulloch that the United States army , from 1829 to 1 S 38 , had a mortality of 1 S / S per 1000 . The Prussian army for the same time , in which , liOAvevcr , we must remember the service is only three years , shows 13 \ L per 1000 . In the French army , hi which the service is seven years , from 1 S 12 to 1 S 45 the mortality was 19 per 1000 . lu the Bengal native army , the average from 1 S 25 to 1 S 44 is 17 ' 9 per 1 . 00 O .
This , then , is not so unfavourable to the English amiy , especially when we consider the short terms of service . Indeed , we Lave the advantage in our line regiments , the mortality in which is 17 "S per 1000 at ages from twenty to forty . Still our ease is not improved because it may be that the same causes are to a certain extent at work in other armies as well as our own . It will be understood that we have been putting
out of the estimate generally the mortality of those killed in action , therefore we have to search amongst ' morbid causes for the source . Referring "to Dr . I I'iut's ingenious diagram , we lludthat the soldier ' s I diseases arc t hose atl ' ecting the respiratory organs . | Of the parallelogram , ' not quite S inches long and i ' l-A- inch broad , I ] incli is occupied with zymotic diseases , in numbers represented by J'l to 1000 ! living . The chest and tubercular diseases fill 4-. \
' inches , and in numbers arc 10 'l per 1000 . All iother diseases fill up the remaining space of 1 § S inch . ! The analysis of disease in the Eastern campaign i is most instructive ; it shows that " , little more than jin eighth of the deaths in hospital are attributable , to battle , the rest being from causes more or less ' within the control of preventive , measures , as the Jiiniil result showed . i The following arrangement gives the prominent ipoints in Dr . i ' ' s elaborate classification , of the causes of death ;—J Order . DJuca . wif . C ((* e ,-t . Deaths . I / Typhus nvul fevers ... 31 , 20-1 , ' 5 ,-llCi , llVvsentery 8 . 27 S 2 , 2 ill ) Miasmatic-.,: , - J ,. ' ,. _ ,. , '~ . o jCliolera ( i , !) 7 () ' 1 , ;> 12 ( Diarrhoea -4-1 , KM 3 , 051 fAeeident 2 , 181 5 ! 52 Violent ^ Snii-idc . 20 20 ^ Battle 18 , 2 * 3 1 , 7 (> 1 The tables I ' roni ilu ; invaliding depot , at , Chatham give a more detailed result , ia which tlie ; most not iceabhi element is the number of rheumatic cases , viz ,,, l ^' ll ) per cent , on JO years' average . The thoracic are Mated at , Ki'Sl ) , ami the venereal ! 1- | .-S : > . In re I ' m'i tee to Hit : causes of this mortality , the report says , " Thi ^ cxeessiveinortality should in some way be accounted for . The collecting together of great , numbers of men has always been found to generate , disease , because , they were probably in excess of what a givim locality could accommodate , or for which the sanitary precautions of th
men without any sanitary precaution , suddenly doubling the population to the area , and thereby halving the proportion of every accommodation , supplies , water , drainage , sewerage , &c . &c ., should engender disease is readily understood ; but the problem submitted to us is to find the causes of a mortality more than double that of civil life among 60 , 000 men scattered in numbers , seldom exceeding a thousand , in one place among a population of 28 , 000 , 000 in time of profound peace , in a country which is not only the healthiest , but which possesses the greatest facility of communication and the greatest abundance of supply in Europe . "
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3 STo . 424 , May 8 , 1858 . ] THE LEAPS B ,. 44 ?
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Her Majestt ' s Theatre . —On Tuesday evening Madame Alboni made her rentre ' e as Azucena in the Trovatore , and was received with the cordial and respectful welcome due to the greatest singer of the day . Madame Alboni ' s artistic reputation 5 s not that of a transitory star , brief and 1 ) right , but evanescent ; it is rather the reputation , of a living classic , beyond all discussion or dispute . The ease with which the inimitable quality of her voice is displayed almost disguises its perfection , and the faultless method with which , the voice is managed and delivered conceals from the uninitiated public the extraordinary difficulties which aie conquered -without effort , and , as it were , unconsciously .
Such perfection in the art of singing is so rare that only an audience of professor 3 is capable of doing it justice ; the general public is more disposed to admire and applaud an exhibition of mere physical power and effort . The contrast between Madame Alboni and Madlle . Titiens is very striking iu the Trovatore : the German prima donna sings with immense energy and power , but without charm , while the favourite . ¦ 'disciple of Rossini satisfies the nicest Judgment and charms the finest ear without a thought of exertion or a seme of labour . Madlle . Titiens astonishes and transports the audience ; t is a luxury to listen to Alboni . We are not quite
isure that Madlle . Titiens surpasses Bladlle . Jenny Xey as Leonora ; but ( with the single exception of Madame Viardot ) there has never been an Azucena to compare to Madame Alboni , dramatically ; and as a singer , she has no rival . Uotk the Azucetia and the Leonora , however , iii the Trovatore at Her Majesty ' s Theatre , are most remarkable ; and the success of Madlle . Titiens is well deserved . Signor Giuglini is more effective as Manrico than he has been of late in other operas ; iu the tender passages , but for a disposition to cloy the expression , he is heard to the greatest advantage . Kext week Utadlle . Titiens is to appear as Donna Anna , in Don Giovanni .
St . James's Theatre . —Signor Carlo Andreoletti has succeeded to Professor Frikell at this charming- little theatre , and as " Physicien to the King of Sardinia" sets up his " Mystical Illusions" against the rival wonders of the " Physician to the Emperor of Kussia . " This kind of entertainment is always sure of a fair amount of patronage , and Mr . Mitchell ' s name is a sufficient passport to success . Gallery of Ilxtjstuation . — We have not yet spoken of a very pleasant new entertainment at the Gallery of Illustration , recently produced by Mr . and Mrs . German Ueed , and specially composed for them by Mr . Edmund Yatcs . It is a series of light and lively social sketches , well adapted to display the versatility and cleverness of this admirable siuger and actress and her accomplished associate .
St . Jamks ' s I-Iai . l .. —31 . Gompertz has opened nt tins Hall a Diorama representing the principal scenes of the Indian Mutiny , including the siege and capture of Delhi , the entrenchment at Cnwnporc , the victory at Alumbngh , and the City of Lahore . The paintings nre on a large scale and effectively designed . M . Gompertz has wisely withdrawn a representation of the Cawnpore massacre as a subject too irredeemably horrible for public exhibition ; and his Diorama is attractive enough , with its pictures of the great operations of war , relieved by views of Ilie magnificent scenery of Hindustan with sunset and moonlight ell ' ects .
Madame Szaicvadv . —This charming pianist , better known to our renders as Wilhcltniiux C'lauss , -will make her liz-st appearance in London thin season , at her first matinee nm . iiciik ' , at Willis ' s Rooms , on Monday morning next . UATTKltSKA l'AUK AXI > C'lIKl-SK . V HuiIHiK . TllC wholo outlay onJJuttersea Park is stated by a Parluimentnry paper , published last Saturday , to have been : ) 1 : > , 8 . K )/ ., of which ¦ _ -L (> , f > 17 / . was paid " for tlxe purchase of laud . Tin- quantity of land sot aside , for the park is lHo acres , and 10 1 ium ' oh remain unsold . On Clielsca Now-bridgo the wholu outlay has been 85 ,: lli )/ . The estimated yearly income from toll ia 0000 / ., iuul 5 f > O / . in the . eslilnaii . 'il yenrly cost of its colleetiuii . On Clmlsea em-. linnkmJnl . 1 . 1 l , l : i ' . )/ . Iwis been laid out .
b ' iKK at lioTin . itn ithk . —A lire occurred curly on Sunday morning at tlui premises of Messrs . Howard ami L ' livenliill , who an ; tlut oocupiers mnl proprieUi'd of tho King and < , ) ueon lrmnvurks , Uothcrhitlio . The damage was eontincd to a shed uncd as a simp ibr smiths and p . ittfrn-maUcrs , about , seventy feet lung by twenty deep , four-liflliH of whieli ivm'i ! destroyed . C ' oinummculn . n was , without . < lelay , forwarde . l to Lhu lirc-ntaturns , im < l there was Ho lin ' k cither of ' en ^ ine . i or water . J-H ^ IhuncH , therefore , were soon subdued .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 8, 1858, page 447, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2241/page/15/
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