The Sanitary Commission of the United States Army : a succinct narrative of its works and purposes.
- United States of America. Sanitary Commission.
- Date:
- 1864
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The Sanitary Commission of the United States Army : a succinct narrative of its works and purposes. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
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![Europe would not wilLJCpD a e^^^^^^ ''^''^'-'^ «f centuL ago was a Sa,-ac/n sC Ttt^ZJ'^' ^^^ An experienced surgeon of the Austrian army, said he would call at- tention to the fact that— Those persons who comprise the sanitary corps in the i\M am rv,'r tary persons and bear arms, which they only irv as L dlrn! 't). tioa of their mission to he sick and wm,n,Wl T. ^ * prisoners wherever they are found since tlis is the ^^I 't injury is inflicted upon'a hostile a my byZ vin. i ? ts stoT.';'' phes and provisions, so also it may b'e Lde'^ to suf^^r' /l;H;:d1f\l whole or a part of its sanitary corps. Upon the field of batUe however hose places where they deposit their arms to take care of the wounded should be considered by the enemy as sacred ; and to eflect this, an £ national flag of a particular color should be raised ; and since this Co nml U ifT^ ' ' l^^' ' ^'-^ to'designate the volunt rl nu.ses, let all places where the wounded and their attendant suro-eons am found be a^o indicated by a flag of this color. All nations hC now adopted a flag for their ambulances, but each has a flag of a different coW It IS white in Austria, red in France, yellow in Spain, in other countries i IS black and the soldiers composing the armies are 'only familiar w[ he color of their own ambulances. This difficulty would be remedied if a white flag with a red cross should float over the ambulances of all the armies ot Europe. In his [Dr. Unger's] opinion, the enemy must ret.in the right to make prisoners of military surgeons; but he must respect their persons, and the places of asylum and succor upon the field of battle the ambulance, and the hospital in the rear, indicated by the national W shall be considered neutral, °' Dr Mannoirsaid he could not appreciate the motive which induces Dv. Unger to suppose that the neutrality of sanitary corps cannot be ac- cepted. The history of war has never demonstrated that an army has been destroyed, or a sovereign compelled to make peace, because such army or sovereign had lost its sanitary coi-jds. The only result of the loss of the sanitary staff and supplies is, that the wounded cannot receive proper care. It is the soldier who suffers, and this is of no advantage to the hostile army, as no general has ever hesitated to engage in battle from such a motive. Moreover, Dr. Mannoir objected to what can only be con- sidered a mere hypothesis on the part of Dr. Unger, for unfortunately neither this Conference nor military surgeons possess the authority to de- cide this question, and M. Mannoir affirms, as his personal opinion, the entire innocence of the neutrality of the sanitary service. He would, there- fore, propose the following amendment ; *' Conference, before adjourning, unanimously recommends : That the several States of Europe co-operate in urging the neutrality of persons who compose the sanitary staff of armies in the field, includino- in this neutrality not only the staft actually in service, but the corps of](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2475867x_0302.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
