Address delivered on the occasion of the presentation of prizes at the Army Medical School at Netley, February 1st, 1896 / by Richard Quain.

  • Richard Quain
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address delivered on the occasion of the presentation of prizes at the Army Medical School at Netley, February 1st, 1896 / by Richard Quain. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    last year of the campaign, commenced that system which, intelligently and skilfully developed, has resulted in what may be termed almost perfection at the present day. The very obvious principle, that it is more economical to preserve, in every way, the health and strength of the soldier as a mere fighting machine, was at last grasped by the authorities. The first step to this end was to ascertain what was really required; and much credit is due to Dr. Andrew Smith for establishing an organised system of reports as a basis for formulating future requirements. It may be noted in passing, that when preparing for the Crimean campaign, he could only find, as the medical records of the whole Peninsular War, two or three valueless documents, which merely indicated the number of staff medical officers serving in Spain during a few months of 1812. Thus were learned, from the defects of the past, lessons for later guidance. How valuable was the information thus gathered (and how delusive was Dr. Smith's prophecy) has been shown in the recent Egyptian campaigns. This a very few figures will clearly indicate. The average strength of the troops serving in Egypt from July 17 to October 9, 1882, was 13,013, the admissions into hospital were 7,590, giving a ratio of 583-3 per 1,000, but the number of deaths, including 93 killed in action, amounted to only 172, giving a ratio of 7*15 per 1,000 deaths from wounds and disease. Even still more striking are the results of the Suakim expeditionary force for a similar period, viz., from March 1 to May 14, 1885, when, with an approximate strength 0f 9,944, there were only 17 deaths out of 2,047 cases of sickness admitted to hospital, giving a ratio of 1'71 deaths per 1,000; whilst absolute perfection was reached in the first Suakim expedition, from February 15 to April 6, 1884, when, with an average strength of 4,018, of which there were 314 cases of sickness admitted to hospital, the mortality was nil.
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