On the sanitation of armies on active service in the field / by Thomas F. Dewar.

  • Dewar, Thomas F.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: On the sanitation of armies on active service in the field / by Thomas F. Dewar. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    the efficiency of a fighting force may be divided into seven classes, of which the first far outweighs in gravity all the other six combined. These are :— 1. Diseases of the zymotic type. 2. Diseases due to vicious habits. 3. Diseases due to atmospheric conditions or associated therewith. 4. Diseases due to defective or unsuitable food. 5. Diseases due to the conditions of military service. 6. Diseases due to parasites. . 7. Diseases secondary to wounds. It will be necessary to pass each of these classes in brief review. Generally speaking, all the conditions which determine the occurrence or incidence of infectious, preventable, or epidemic illness in civil life prevail also among campaigning troops. In addition there are other factors worthy of careful consideration which are not found in a state of peace. First: there is a gathering together in close proximity of men who are of the age specially susceptible to the specific fevers. These men are ignorant and careless by training, brought into close personal contact, and frequently overcrowded. Second : these men are inevitably in a state of mind which ■fosters their natural carelessness and indifference. They have taken their lives in their hands. Their expectation of life is very uncertain. At any hour they may be called upon to face great danger. It is only to be expected that they will not greatly bestir themselves to guard against the remoter risks of infection. (20). I have heard officers of education and experience confess considerable .sympathy with this mood ; that it permeates the ranks and is a trait of no small significance is not to be denied. Third : these men are subject to exhausting conditions of life. Exposure, hardship, and fatigue are their daily portion. The food is monotonous, frequently of poor quality, often deficient in amount. These depressing conditions not only lower the physical resistance of the body to the entrance of pathogenic germs, but also increase the mental indifference above referred to. Fourth : these men dwell perforce amid specially insanitary surroundings, under conditions which would not be tolerated in an enlightened country in peace time. Camps hastily pitched and destined for residence for but a few hours or days are, through unforeseen military necessities, occupied for protracted periods. In the full expectation of but a brief stay, neither is the camp site carefully chosen nor its soil protected from pollution. When a prolonged detention is seen to be inevitable it is too late to remedy the evil. Further, the risks of warfare and the need