| Description | Flyleaf: List of hospital stations and medical officers in charge.
Page 1: 'At the commencement of this month, head quarters were still at [Fuento?] Guinaldo, the army continued in its cantonments…I had only last month returned from my tour to Castello Bom'.
Page 3: 'The sick in February were mostly cared for in their [respective?] regimental hospitals. The General hospitals were as follow[s]: Lisbon, Santarem, Abrantes, Alto da Chao, Coimbra, Vizeu, Celerico, Ciudad Roderigo'. Notes that some hospital stations were still in need of officers and mentions difficulty in conveying medicines to the stations furthest away from Lisbon. Also refers to cold situation of many of the hospitals and building of fire places [continues on page 5].
Page 5: 6 February - in letter of this date Mr. Nixon refers to effects of fever on the 1st Guards and Mr. Guthrie notes that he is obliged to retain a hospital at Lisbon for the care of French prisoners of war.
Page 13: 26 February - Deputy Inspector Brown reports on ophthalmia in Italian regiment.
Page 19: Report from Santarem by Doctors Buchan and Irvine. The latter notes that in the part of the hospital under his charge the prevailing diseases were intermittents, dysentery, some acute inflammatory cases and a few cases of continued fever. Reference also made to cases with visceral affection and causes of [tumid?] abdomen [continues on page 21].
Page 21: In some of the chronic pulmonic affections, and in one case of phthisis pulmonalis, the best results were effected by using calomel in small doses combined with 'tartar [antim?], 'causing gentle ptyalism'.
Abrantes: Cases of continued and intermittent fever have prevailed.
Alto da Chao.
Castello Branco: The prevailing diseases were cases of synochus and a few cases of dysentery. Notes treatment used in the former disease, including the cold affusion [continues on page 23].
Page 23: The cases of dysentery were variously treated with purgatives and repeated doses of calomel (10 or 12 grains) and in between a solution of magnesia and tartarised antimony.
Coimbra: Dr. Tice comments on prevailing diseases, noting that in many instances, pulmonic affections were combined with agues and fluxes [continues on page 25].
Page 25: Discussion of other diseases including intermittent fever and diarrhoea, and notes results of postmortem examinations carried out on dysenteric cases [continues on page 27].
Page 27: Vizeu. Dr. Forbes reports that during the month he has treated cases of fevers 'of the typhoid kind', simple continued fever, chronic intermittents and chronic dysentery. 'As will be seen in the statements of two former months, the malignity of fever was greater in this than in any other station…The fever in the hospitals at Vizeu, was evidently rendered virulent by the admission of the sick of the Guards, infected with the most malignant typhus _ , attended with a mortality seldom equalled in the West Indies' [continues on page 29].
Page 29: 'The fever in the Guards, was particularly characterised by strong tendency to [dissolution?] of the body, exemplified in extreme debility, the very frequent occurrence of deadly coldness in the extremities, and in many instances of all parts of the body, excepting those nearest the source of the circulation'. Discusses further symptoms of this 'most formidable fever' [continues on page 31].
Page 31: Further notes on symptoms of fever: 'Yellowness of the skin, was not an infrequent symptom, and it was observed, that patients with this seldom recovered…'. Notes postmortem examination of one patient and discusses milder form of fever, the symptoms of which included 'an affection of the head, with a dull headache' (to lessen this leeches were applied to the temples) [continues on page 33].
Page 33: Notes Staff Surgeon [Power's?] comments on fever who highlighted that some of his patients 'laboured for days under a bilious diarrhoea before the febrile symptoms made their appearance'. Also description of cases of fever treated by another surgeon and treatment administered including antimonials and James's powder [continues on page 35].
Page 35: Reports from Convalescent Hospital, Division A and Celerico.
Page 37: [Report from Celerico continued]: Simple continued fever was the most prevalent form of fever at this station and was successfully treated with the cold affusion. Dr. L'Affan succeeded greatly by alternating between the cold affusion and purgatives for the first three days: 'this treatment frequently cut the fever short'. Also notes report from surgical hospitals.
Report from Ciudad Rodrigo.
Page 39: Reports from Divisions of the Army, including Artillery, Cavalry and 1st Division. In the latter, the Guards had a combination of fever and dysentery but within last fortnight the disease has assumed a much milder form [continues on page 41].
Page 41: Comments on 3rd Battalion of 1st Guards. Mr. Nixon notes that the sickness commenced when the Guards were stationed near Salamanca and continued to increase from the time they left this place until their arrival near Celerico (lists number of men admitted to hospitals and number of men who have died). 'This is indeed a sorry account of 300 men, and is only [equaled?] by one _ that came under my [observation] and that was of the 56th Regt. intended for St. Domingo, but who in 1795 put into Barbados, _ with [contagious?] fever' [continues on page 43].
Page 43: 'Tho' this disease has become so very much milder, it still retains, even in this milder form, its original most remarkable features, that of extreme depression of bodily and of mental energy, with which patients are affected from the very first hour of attack'. Discusses symptoms and yellowing of skin in some cases, particularly in the 1st Regiment. 'To bring back the Guards to a state of health, frequent change of their cantonments was made; they got large portions of hospital stores, to put up large regimental hospitals...' [continues on page 45].
Page 47: Report on 2nd Division including discussion of febrile disease prevalent in the Division. Also notes number of admissions including 164 cases of continued fever, 127 cases of remittent fever and 111 cases of intermittent fever. Also discusses 39th Regiment [continues on page 49].
Page 49: Discusses weather conditions and prevalence of pneumonia, describing symptoms of this disease [continues on page 51].
Page 51: 'This form of disease is nearly peculiar to soldier[s] and th[eir] peculiar situation, for it seldom in England affects the other inhabitants; as it results, from sudden or cautious exposure to cold, after _ for some time the debilitating exhausted atmosphere of a crowded narrow quarter, a barrack room'. Also discusses location of Ciudad Rodrigo.
Page 53: 'The loss in this hospital station [Ciudad Rodrigo], as may be imagined, was very great this period first from the nature of the [disease] which came in an advanced stage...[second] by the want of stores necessary for so large a body of sick, and [third] from the _ and [sickly?] state of the town...'.
Page 55: Report from 3rd Division.
Page 57: Report from 5th Division. Cases of synochus and typhus continue to prevail but the latter has been milder of late.
Page 59: Report from 6th Division. Mr. Cole reports that synochus, 'aggravated by the _ and crowded state of the cantonments', has been the prevailing disease.
Report from 7th Division.
Page 61: Report from Light Division. |