Statistical Report On The Sick

Author : United States; Surgeon-General' Office
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781331922179
Total Pages : 708 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (221 download)

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Download or read book Statistical Report on the Sickness and Mortality in the Army of the United States, 1856 (Classic Reprint) written by United States; Surgeon-General' Office and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-21 with total page 708 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Statistical Report on the Sickness and Mortality in the Army of the United States, 1856 In order to make the records of this office practically useful to the physician in civil life, and to render them subservient to the elucidation of the effects of climate in the causation and development of disease, it was necessary not only to present the vital statistics of the army in peace separate from those in war, but also to arrange the former in such manner as to render their comparison with the statistics of civil communities as free from objection as possible. For this purpose, the statistics of troops on marches, or while engaged in warlike operations, hare been excluded from the first division of this report; so that it presents as nearly as possible the diseases incident to soldiers in garrison, which must in a very great degree partake of the general characteristics of diseases effecting persons in civil life. It has not, however, been practicable to exclude those diseases which may have been contracted during a temporary tour of field service, but which were either developed at, or reported from, a permanent post; nor should it be concealed that diseases so contracted affect to a considerable degree all the statistics, but more particularly those of the stations on the Gulf coast of Florida, and on the Indian frontiers. The general plan adopted in the report above referred to - that of considering the statistical and topographical details of the military posts in geographical divisions and subdivisions, having similar climatological features - has been followed; but instead of presenting the diseases of each post in a distinct abstract, it has been determined to consolidate the diseases of the several posts in each subdivision or region into one general abstract for that region. Those abstracts have been compiled from the original "reports of sick and wounded," which the medical officers are required to transmit to this office on the 31st of March, 30th of June, 30th of September, and 31st of December, annually. The arrangement of those reports in the classification and nomenclature of diseases is similar to that of the "Sanitary Report" of the British army; and as uniformity adds value to statistics, I have not hesitated to adopt such of the forms used in the admirable "Statistical Reports on the Sickness, Mortality, and Invaliding" in that army, as the difference in the nature of the two services and the general plan of this report permitted. The elaborate medico-topographic reports which have been made in reply to your circular of April 30, 1852, are presented as written, and are duly credited to their respective authors. The only changes which have been made are those incident to editorial supervision, and the omission of certain tables which were rendered unnecessary by a change in the mode of presenting the statistics, adopted subsequent to the issue of the circular. The brief topographical descriptions, for which credit is given in a less distinctive form, are transcribed from the reports of sick and wounded; and those for which no credit is given, have been compiled from the observations of several medical officers. In the few instances in which no more recent information could be obtained, the topography has been copied from the statistical report published in 1840. The medical officers arc designated by the rank which they held at the time their respective reports were written. In connexion with the report on vital statistics, a portion of the annual summaries of observations on the winds and weather, and the consolidated temperature and rain tables, from the Army Meteorological Register, recently prepared by me under your direction, are respectfully submitted; and it is also suggested that the outline map, used for the illustration of that work, accompany this report, as it gives the true position of the military posts.