Notes on the medical history and statistics of the British Legion of Spain; comprising the results of gun-shot wounds, in relation to important questions in surgery / [Sir Rutherford Alcock].
- Rutherford Alcock
- Date:
- 1838
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Notes on the medical history and statistics of the British Legion of Spain; comprising the results of gun-shot wounds, in relation to important questions in surgery / [Sir Rutherford Alcock]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![4] they would cut less deeply into heavy roads, and be less liable to stick fast, and create a stoppage, which—however short it may be, as all military men know—is among the worst evils which can befal a column en route. As to the remedy proposed, however, it will be for abler me- chanics than myself ‘o determine how far it is calculated to answer the end. The mechanism and construction of the cartsin many other points—the slinging of the cot, the covering, and the mode by which the cart may be used, either with springs or without— are excellent. As to the general question of how far they are adapted to supply the transport for wounded, required by an army on active service, I have formed an opinion unfavour- able to their general—perhaps I should rather say—exclu- Sive use. A general action, even when but a few thousand men are engaged on each side, if well sustained, will often pro- duce from 500 to 1000 wounded. ‘To remove this number from the field, supposing one-half to be slight—and this is a very favourable proportion—the number of carts would be enormous,—sufficient to fill a town of themselves, and extend and encumber a line of march for miles. A single campaign, however, is sufficient to prove to any one the importance of having means readily available for the transport of wounded from the immediate scene of action, without allowing a legitimate excuse for any part of the effective force being so employed. In all armies, there are a sufficient number of men who, although they may have passed their previous lives without manifesting any sympathy for the misfortunes of their neighbours, suddenly, on a field of battle, become wonderfully compassionate to a wounded comrade; and never is this sympathy so strongly displayed, perhaps, as when there is a check or the probability of a reverse,—precisely the moment when their presence in the](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b33279147_0053.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
