| Administrative History | From September 1801 to May 1802 McGrigor was stationed in Alexandria as superintendent of the medical department of the Indian Army and had to contend with an outbreak of the plague among the troops. In June the army left Egypt to return to Bombay. |
| Description | 'Hospital Case and Prescription-book of a detachment of His Majesty's 88th Regiment...kept at the Garrison Hospital in the fort of Bombay including the Sick of Detachments of His Majesty's 61st, 75th, 77th and 84th Regiments'.
Each daily entry records the name of each patient, their complaint, the medicines prescribed, their progress and if they have been dismissed from hospital. Weekly remarks, providing more general comments on the health of the troops and summarising the progress of patients, are included for the following dates:
1801
5-12 December (page 7)
13-19 December (page 12)
The weather has been very cool during the week. Walls' dysentery is gone but it is not improbable that the liver is affected as he has had several intermittent fits but they are now more protracted: 'they attacked every evening about 8 o'clock'. Smith's dysentery is stopped but his bowels are still affected. Cunningham's fever 'ended well and a liittle before the mercury affected the mouth but there can be little doubt that that powerful mineral contributed almost entirely to the favourable [crisis?] _ _ diarrhoea ushered in the change _ bark with opium has continued the favourable state brought on by 8/1'. The venereal cases all do well with the use of the nitric acid apart from Bond.
26 December (page 17)
27 December-2 January (page 21)
1802
3-9 January (pages 24-25)
10-16 January (pages 30-31)
17-23 January (page 36)
Fever has been very prevalent recently.
24-30 January (page 41)
31 January-6 February (pages 44-45)
Week ending 13 February (page 48)
14-20 February (page 51)
Comments on various cases including Housen who is much better: 'the laxity of his bowels is abated and a degree of obstipation [intractable constipation] he says is succeeded. He uses [Rubya?] ferri bark and Aqua [Calaya?]. Burrows, Taylor and Gribbin are better with the use of mercury and acid nitricum.
21-27 February (page 53)
28 February-6 March (page 56)
7-13 March (page 58)
14-20 March (page 61)
21-27 March (pages 65-68)
28 March-3 April (page 73)
4-10 April (page 79)
11-17 April (pages 84-85)
The weather is still very hot in the middle of the day. Comments on cases including:
Thorpe: '[He] is no better under the acid treatment [;] the swelling of the prepuce is the symptom that resists all our efforts and it is doubtfull whether it can be cured without the operation'.
Housen: 'Sunk into eternity without a groan on the 15th without any fresh symptom than gradually exhausted vitality'.
Taylor: 'In addition to his liver [complaint] has a laye chancre on the frenum [which] is now completely healed by the same means which eradicated the other complaints'.
Also discusses other cases including case of gonorrhoea and the health of the 75th Regiment.
18-24 April (page 89)
25 April-1 May (page 93)
2-8 May (page 97)
9-15 May (pages 100-101)
16-22 May (pages 105-106)
23-29 May (page 110)
31 May-5 June (pages 113-114)
Week ending 12 June (pages 115-116)
13-19 June (pages 123-124)
20-26 June (pages 140-141)
27 June-3 July (pages 150-151)
Notes weather conditions. The 68th are still very healthy. The 77th still have a great number of fever cases but none are dangerous. Many have suffered relapses. 'The nature of the fever and the propensity to relapse in some cases are almost _ proofs that it is not an endemic disease but in a great degree imported from on board ship. Delirium was present in a few instances but the most painful _ are excruciating pains of the joints. The cure seems to be effected readily without the aid of mercury which in every case in which it has been tried protracts the recovery by [reducing or introducing] a great degree of debility...'. The 61st have been healthy from the beginning but have had several cases of fever. Woods has a great deal of debility and a rapid pulse and McLelan is convalescent but prone to a great laxity of the bowels. Also refers to four 'hopeless' cases, one of whom died. Of the others, one has an ulcer which is showing improvement, one is 'much reduced and is not likely to be benefited by any remedy' and one has ulceration in his bowels evidenced by the nature of his stools.
4-10 July (page 159)
11-17 July (page 166)
18-24 July (page 174)
There are a number of blank pages at the end of the volume where it was intended to add an index. |