TART II,] Conclusions as to the Nature of the " Oriental Sore.'' 433 



SUMMARY. 



The report which we now bring to a conclusion may be thus briefly summarised : 



1. Assuming that the cutaneous affection which we have studied at Delhi is, prac- 



tically, of the same nature as the sore which is prevalent in Mooltan? 

 Lucknow, Lahore, Scinde and other parts of India, as also the chronic sore 

 known in Aleppo, Biskra, Bagdad, etc., as " bouton," it comes under the general 

 designation suggested by Dr. Tilbury Fox of " Oriental sore " : 



2. Our information of the distribution of the sore in India is taken from the statistics 



regarding " abscess and ulcer '' collected from all parts of the country, but our 

 pathological observations are, for the most part, based on typical examples of 

 the affection witnessed at Delhi : 



3. Whereas of late years the statistical returns indicate considerable diminution in 



the number of hospital admissions among European troops from " abscess and 

 ulcer," and among native troops also in such stations as are garrisoned by the 

 two classes of soldiers; there is no such manifest decrease in the stations 

 occupied solely by sepoys : 



4. This discrepancy may be due to more attention having been paid to the sanitary 



requirements of those stations at which European troops are located : 



5. That although at Delhi this inference does not constantly hold strictly correct, 



nevertheless it appears to do so at those seasons when the European and native 

 soldiers are placed under equally advantageous conditions as to water : 



6. In those years, when sores were notoriously prevalent among both the European 



and native troops stationed in Delhi, their water-supply was derived from 

 wells. Latterly, the European troops in the Fort have been supplied with 

 water from the river Jumna, whereas the native troops still resort to the 

 wells. The wells, however, are flooded with water from the canal, which is 

 derived from the Jumna, some miles distant. The canal supply occasionally 

 fails, the well water assumes the character normal to the locality, and 

 cutaneous disorders are a not uncommon sequence : 



7. So far as our own observations go, there is no evidence of any parasitic agency in 



the production of the disease, and it appears probable that the deleterious 

 effects are due to the chemical constituents of the water. In Delhi the 

 quantity of salts with which the water is impregnated and its extreme 

 hardness in so many of the wells is the most noteworthy feature. The 

 unoxidised organic contents of the water would not appear to be of material 

 influence, seeing that the water is not worse or even so bad as in many of 

 the stations in Lower Bengal, where this cutaneous affection is, practically, 

 unknown : 



8. Although we are not in a position to speak definitely regarding the character 



of the wells in other military stations where the Oriental sore prevails, 



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