a 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 15a 
and the volunteer force still in its strength, England has a military armament equal 
to any emergency. The desired position, then, having been attained, every effort 
should be made to preserve it, and success, through Providence, will be certain if 
the other services continue efficient, and the volunteer army be rendered perma- 
nent. The idea of invasion may have become latent, or merged in the memories of 
the past ; still men well know that as the tide of time rolls on, the nations, as they 
rise and fall in its course, can neither command the sunshine of peace nor prevent 
the thunder-clouds of war.” 
On the Vital and Sanitary Statistics of our European Army in India, com- 
pared with those of the French Army under like conditions of Climate and 
Locality. By Dr. Jamus Brep. 
The author showed that the mortality of 69:0 per 1000, adopted in the lately 
ublished ‘ Sanitary Report for India,’ obtained under the insalubrious conditions of 
ocality and climate, had been greatly ameliorated of late years. For the last twenty- 
six years, or from 1829 to 1855, the death-rate, inclusive of a considerable period 
of war, the Cabul massacre, the Scinde and Gwalior campaigns, and the two Sikh 
wars, was only 44-4 per 1000. For 1817, during the Pindaree war, the mortality 
er 1000 was 69:0; the average for the next six years of peace being 75:0, In 
824, 1825, and 1826, during the first Burmese war and siege of Bhurtpoor, the 
mortality rose to 129, 157, and 158 per 1000 for these years respectively; and for 
the next six years of peace fell to an average of 56 per 1000; and for the next eleyen 
years of war, 1839 to 1849 inclusive, the rate vibrated from 47 to 124 during the 
first Sikh war—hbeing for the eleven years an average of 74 per 1000. In the last 
six years, 1850 to 1855 inclusive, the average mortality was 37:3 per 1000, By the 
latest return of the British army in India, exclusive of the late Fast India Com- 
, neta troops, it appears that the deaths in India amounted to 35:3 per 1000; and 
eaths on the passage home caused a further loss of 35:3 per 1000; being altogether 
a decrease of the whole strength of 68°6 per 1000. It was shown that invaliding, 
even at home, causes a decrease of 32°53 per 1000, while the average death-rate, 
exclusive of the Horse Artillery, was 14:7; so that this cause of decrement in 
India is not greatly in excess. In comparing these rates of Indian mortality in 
the British army with those of French troops, in their tropical colonies of Marti- 
nique, Guadaloupe, Guiana, and Réunion, during ten years—1838-47 inclusive— 
the mortality was 69:5 per 1000—vibrating between 90-4 and 25:3. In Algeria, 
in an effective strength of 108,000 men, for ten years, from 1837 to 1846 inclusive, 
the death-rate was 788 per 1000; and during 1846 it was 68°83; while the 
other casualties of discharged, sent to France, killed in battle, deaths in French 
hospitals, pensioned, and invalided, amounted to 28°3, increasing the total decre- 
ments of French troops in Algeria to 97:1 per 1000, The author also showed, 
that whereas at home, for fifteen years previous to 1854, the average death-rate was 
14:7, and that of invalids 32:1 per 1000, those rates respectively in 1860 had fallen 
to 7:32 and 21:30, evidently a gain to the effective force of 18°38 per 1000. In 
the hot climates of Jamaica, Ceylon, and Mauritius, where from January 1830 to 
March 1837 the death-rates respectively were 91:49 and 34-6, they had fallen in 
1860 to 20:2, 19°6, and 25°8 per 1000, proving beyond doubt that, with the intro- 
duction into India of improved sanitary appliances, adapted to climate and loca- 
lities, and with restraints on vice and intemperance, correspondingly decreasing 
rates of augmented health among our troops must follow as natural results. The 
author, in conclusion, referred to Miss Nightingale’s evidence, recorded in the 
Topographical and Statistical Reports, printed in the Appendix to the Sanitary 
Commissioners’ Report of 1863. 
On the Coventry Frechold Land Society. By C. H. Bracesripes. 
After describing the six estates of the Society and their appropriation to build- 
ing purposes, the author stated that the mode adopted for obtaining these results 
had been by a contribution of one shilling and sixpence per week per share bein 
paid to a common fund, and when that fund had sufficiently accumulated, an 
estates offered in localities suitable to the convenience of members, they had been 
