On military and camp hospitals, and the health of troops in the field : being the results of a commission to inspect the sanitary arrangements of the French Army, and incidentally of other armies in the Crimean War / by L. Baudens ; translated and annotated by Franklin B. Hough.

Date:: 1862

Credit: On military and camp hospitals, and the health of troops in the field : being the results of a commission to inspect the sanitary arrangements of the French Army, and incidentally of other armies in the Crimean War / by L. Baudens ; translated and annotated by Franklin B. Hough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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$purified by fire, may be eaten without clanger, but stil], I would not venture to advise the eating of diseased liorses. I know that the meat of oxen, flaccid, colorless, and gluey, which we were sometimes forced to distribute in times of scarcity, has caused diari-lioias.* Fish, and especially the buckle turbot, are abundant on the coasts of the Crimea; and while butchers' meat, ' even of poor quality, sold at Kamiesch at a quarter of a dollar a pound, a turbot of ten pounds cost only seventy-five cents or a dollar. After the taking of Se- bastopol, the officers, with nets found in the city, made wonderful hauls of fish in the bay of Streteska. I regret that Ave were \mable to establish large fisheries, to con- tribute by this precious resource to the support of our army, and afford variety to its food. We also found excellent game, quails and woodcock, at the time of their migration, and hares, pheasants, and roebucks in the forest of Baidar. The feast of St. Hubert was » held in the forest. It is needless to say, that the luxu- ries did not go to the soldiers' tables. Some of the officers kept fowls for their eggs. The want of fresh vegetables for our army was a great privation. Preserved vegetables were never wanting; and the mixed kinds, which we distributed very regu- larly, were the most relished of all. At the end of the campaign, these preserves were of poor quality, and were found sometimes so altered by fermentation that the soldiers threw them away. The avidity of the dealers was not checked by the miseries of the army, and tended greatly to increase them. The sacks of potatoes received from time to time, were very acceptable. The government delivered them at the rate of three cents the pound, but in the shops at Kamiesch they were sold * Under favorable circumstances, cattle are issued to the American army upon hoof, their weight being determined by the following rule: From the live weight of a steer, tliero is deducted 45 per cent., when the gross weight exceeds 1300 pounds, and 50 per cent, when it is less than that, and not under 800 pounds. When pasturage or forage are abundant, the post or regiment may often reahze a valuable saving, both in quality and quantity, by allowing their cattle to recruit from the exhaustion of a long journey by railroad and to gain flesh by feeding.—Tr. 3$