A manual of practical hygiene / by Edmund A. Parkes ; edited by F.S.B. Francois de Chaumont.

Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of practical hygiene / by Edmund A. Parkes ; edited by F.S.B. Francois de Chaumont. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    655/820 (page 599)
    EFFECTS OF MARCHES. 599; These are incidental to the soldier's life, and can never he altogether avoided. But one great hoon can he given to him ; a waterproof sheet, which can cover him both day and night, has been found the greatest comfort by those who have tried it. The soldier may have to march through malarious regions. The march should then be at mid-day in cold regions, in the afternoon in hot. The early morning marches of the tropics should be given up for the time ; the deadliest time for the malaria is at and soon after sunrise. If a specially deadly narrow district has to be got through, such as a Terai, at the foot of hills, a single long march should be ordered; a thoroughly good meal, with wine, should be taken before starting, and if it can be done, a dose of quinine. If the troops must halt] a night in such a district, every man should take five grains of quinine. Tents should be pitched in accordance with the rules laid down in the chapter on Camps, and the men should not leave them till the sun is well up in the heavens. Yellow fever or cholera may break out. The rules in both cases are the same. At once leave the line of march ; take a short march at right angles to the wind ; separate the sick men, and place the hospital tent to leeward; let every evacuation and vomited matter be at once buried and covered with earth, and employ natives (if in India) to do this constantly, with a serjeant to superintend. Let every duty-man who goes twice to the rear in six hours report himself, and, if the disease be cholera, distribute pills of acetate of lead and opium to all the non-commissioned officers. Directly a man who becomes choleraic has used a latrine, either abandon it, or cover it with earth and lime if it can be procured. If there is carbolic acid or chloride of zinc, or lime or sulphate of iron or zinc at hand, add some to every stool or vomit. In two days, whether the cholera has stopped or not, move two miles ; take care in the old camp to cover everything, so that it may not prove a focus of disease for others. The drinking water should be constantly looked to. A regiment shoidd never follow one which carries cholera; it should avoid towns where cholera prevails; if it itself carries cholera, the men shoidd not he allowed to enter towns. I know one instance (and many are known in India) where cholera was in this way introduced into a town. The men may suffer from insolation. This will generally be under three conditions.* Excessive solar heat in men unaccustomed to it and wrongly dressed, as in the case of the 98th in the first China war, when the men having just landed from a six months' voyage, and being buttoned up and wearing stocks, fell in numbers during the first short march. A friend who followed with the rearguard informed me that the men fell on their faces as if struck by lightning; on running up and turning them over, he found many of them already dead. They had, no doubt, struggled on to the last moment. This seems to be intense asphyxia, with sudden failure of the heart-action, and is the cardiac variety of Morehead. A dress to allow perfectly free respiration (freedom from pressure on chest and neck), and protection of the head and spine from the sun, will generally prevent this form. The head-dress may be wetted from time to time j a piece of wet paper in the crown of the cap is useful Whon the attack has occurred, cold effusion, artificial respiration, ammonia, and hot brandy and water to act on the heart, seem the best measures. Bleeding is hurtful; perhaps fatal. Cold affusion must not be pushed to excess. * Of course I do not enter here into the pathology of this affection. For this I refer to the great works of Morehead and Martin and Aitken and Maclean. I look at it from a snecial point of view.