Report of the Commission on the Nature, Pathology, Causation and Prevention of Dysentery and Its Relationship to Enteric Fever, appointed by the Secretary of State for War, August 1900.

  • Great Britain. Commission on the Nature, Pathology, Causation and Prevention of Dysentery and Its Relationship to Enteric Fever.
Date:
1903
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Commission on the Nature, Pathology, Causation and Prevention of Dysentery and Its Relationship to Enteric Fever, appointed by the Secretary of State for War, August 1900. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/198 (page 4)
    putridity and suspended matter in water together with chills being more especially connected with dysentery. All the places referred to were visited except Paardeberg, much of the information relating to Modder River Camp, Bloemfontein, and the British prisoners in Pretoria had to be obtained from others, the conditions no longer existing, but the remainder came under the \personal observation of the Commission. In this portion of the report the question of the preven- tion of dysentery and enteric fever in an army in the field is carefully con- sidered and the changes to effect that purpose are suggested. DAVID BRUCE, Lieut.-Colonel R.A.M.C. W. J. SIMPSON, M.D., F.R.C.P. November 29, 1901. STATEMENT BY COLONEL NOTTER. (1) I take no exception to Part I of this report, but there is much in Part [II from which I dissent. F108 (2) I think undue stress is laid upon the absence of special sanitary: returns. With troops in the field, the units of which are often for days together moving rapidly, elaborate statistics are quite impessible. gontained in Army Form A 28, furnished by Principal Medical Officers daily to the General Officers Commanding, which is a summary of information received from medical officers with units.—[Chapter IV, pages 62 and 63.] - A copy of Army Form A 28 1s shown as Appendix IV. tion of and arrangements at the Bloemfontein Waterworks. I cannot accept this statement, as I consider the safeguarding of the water at and above the intake was extremely faulty, and further the system of filtration was so crude as to secure little more than the mechanical separation of the grosser sus- pended matter. The character of the filtering media was not such as would ensire a vital action of purification.—[Chapter IV, pages 66-69. | (4) Certain statements are made with regard to the water supply of West Fort, Pretoria, and the incidence of sickness attributable thereto. These facts are said to have come within the cognisance of the Commission. Personally I have no knowledge of their having come under our notice.— [Chapter V, page 70. | (5) Further, some statements as to fouling of water near Pretoria by faulty burial of horses are suggestive of defective sanitary supervision on the locality devolved on the civil administration.—[ Chapter V, page 71. ] (6) Too much is made of a failure to put a guard on a particular disused water supply. It must be remembered that the men at that time were getting but one night in bed per week, owing to the onerous duties then prevailing, The same criticism applies to what is said further on.—[Chap- ter V, page 71; Chapter VII, page 76. | _ (7) The circumstances narrated in Chapter VI, pages 73 et seq., too place some time before the Commission arrived in South Africa, and appears tome to be hardly germane to the inquiry. The facts recorded were not submitted to the. Commission, but only to Dr. Simpson by Dr. Von Gernet. (8) The remarks in respect to Naaupoort were the outcome of observa- tions made by Dr. Simpson alone, and constitute I believe an isolated case.— [Chapter VII, page 77. | .(9) The statement that it was the general exception for water to be filtered or boiled by regiments I consider to be far from the real facts. Com- manding officers were most keen on this point, and in my experience it was rather pe exception to find water not boiled or filtered.—[Chapter VII, page 77. 7 a.