The sanitary reform of the British Army / by Philostratiōtēs.

  • Philostratiōtēs.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The sanitary reform of the British Army / by Philostratiōtēs. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Such radical and important changes cannot he carried out suddenly, but a beginning may be made, and that without a week’s delay. The necessity is a crying one. To continue the present state of affairs, is wasteful, unjust, oppressive, and in¬ human. The remedies proposed are proved to be practicable, and are guaranteed effective by military, medical, and civil expe¬ rience. The field for a commencement is not wanting, but is most opportunely and happily found in the camp at Aldershott. The situation of this encampment in its medical topography is excellent; the subsoil, with proper drainage, unexceptionable; but without 'proper and scientific drainage, the ground may in a few years, with a population of twenty or thirty thousand persons in a small space, become saturated with pestilential matter. It affords ample space for the erection of workshops. The heath land (upwards of eight thousand acres) offers room for the utili¬ zation of manure, and the employment of many thousands of men in healthful agricultural and horticultural pursuits, men who are now wasting their energies in ennui, idleness, and dissipation. In my visits to Aldershott I have several times mentioned the subject to the men, and they readily and heartily responded, saying they would be happy to employ their leisure time in such occu¬ pations, if even allowed nothing for their labour. Let the opportunity, then, be afforded them, and I can fancy the glad¬ ness, the hearty and loud cheers that would answer the call to industrial occupation. The example of the industrious would soon shame the idle, the lazy, and the dissipated, into similar efforts, tending to their own moral regeneration, the great good of their country, and the economy of the national outlay. By such means Aldershott, now considered by the whole Army as the soldier's penal settlement, might be made his sanitorium and his pleasure ground, affording him useful, profitable, and agreeable occupation for his leisure hours, and an abundant supply of wholesome vegetable productions, so necessary to his health, and which he cannot now obtain at any reasonable cost. One more suggestion demands immediate attention by the military authorities, and is implied in the reforms herein recom¬ mended : the establishment of a ivell-organised and efficient sanitary staff in the camp of Aldershott. Nature has made the situation healthy, but the neglect of sanitary science will soon render it pestiferous. The permanent barracks are not well placed, and will require active and vigilant sanitary supervision. It is well observed by a distinguished writer on sanitary science, that “ what is wanted in the army, is intelligent sanitary advice, and the means of giving it immediate and practical effect.” These reforms, if carried into effect, will, to some extent, take the sting from the remark, that “in amassing riches, and playing the philanthropist to all the world, England neglects those to whom she is indebted for wealth and power.” Reed & Pardon, Printers, Paternoster-row, London.