Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the regulations affecting the sanitary condition of the army, the organization of military hospitals, and the treatment of the sick and wounded ; with evidence and appendix. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty.
- Great Britain. Royal Commission Appointed to Inquire into the Sanitary Condition of the Army.
- Date:
- 1858
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the regulations affecting the sanitary condition of the army, the organization of military hospitals, and the treatment of the sick and wounded ; with evidence and appendix. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![value of the ration, but the comparative amounts of the different kinds of nutriment of which it should be composed, ought to be fixed. But we extract the following passage, which was quoted in his evidence by Sir John McNeill:— Q. 9850. After stating the proportions of food which are necessary to the health and sustenance of a man, Dr. Christison says, If the above proportion between the two sets be maintained, the weight of real nutriment per day varies, for adults at an active age, between 17 and 36 ounces ; the former being enough for prisoners confined for short terms, the latter being required for keeping up the athletic constitution, or thatwhich is ca])able of great continuous muscular efforts, as in prize running, and other similar feats. Dietaries ought never to be estimated by the rough weiffht of their constituents, without distinct reference to the real nutriment in these, as determined by physiological and cliemical inquiry. Keeping these principles in view, and with the help of a simple table, it is not difficult to fix the dietary advisable for any body of men, accordino' to their occupation. It is also in general easy to detect the source of error in unsuc- cessful dietaries. For example, any scientific person, conversant with the present subject, could have foretold, as a certain consequence, sooner or later, of their dietary, that the British troops Avould fall into the calamitous state of health which befel them last winter in the Crimea. Soldiers in the field will be more efficient the nearer they are brought to the athletic constitution. But as the demand for protracted unusual exertion occurs only at intervals, the highly nutritive athletic dietary is not absolutely necessary. On the whole, from experience in the case of other bodies of men somewhat similarly circumstanced, 28 ounces of real nutriment, of which seven are nitrogenou sor reparative, will probably prove the most suitable. Any material reduction below 28 ounces will certainly not answer ; and under usual exertion, kept up for days continuously, as in forced marches, or forced siege labour, the quantity should, for the time, be greater if possible. We leave the exact amount and cost of the ration to be decided upon by those who have means at their disposal, which we have not, for ascertaining what are the varia- tions which the climate of the various possessions of the Crown, garrisoned by British troops, require, and which the products of those countries will enable the Government to supply; keeping in mind always that an equivalent in nutritive qualities, both carboniferous and nitrogenous, for the standard ration fixed for home service, must be preserved. The result then of the change which we propose will be, that the soldier will receive, whether at home or abroad, in peace or in war, on board ship or in hospital, a uniform net pay and a uniform ration, sufficient both in quantity and quality to provide him with three meals, and to keep him in health and efficiency. The only occasion on which the soldier would lose by this arrangement is when he is in hospital while serving with an army in the field ; but as, by a change lately made he is then to be found in everything, including hospital clothing and necessaries, instead of providing Q. 2050. himself, as he has hitherto been expected to do, from his kit, and as increased comforts will be afforded him while in hospital, the arrangement will not be inequitable for him ; and some mischief will be obviated by preventing the accumulation of so much balance to be paid to the convalescent when dismissed from hospital, which is not unfrequently the cause of his return thither. Whether one exception should be made in peace by the continuance of the present hospital stoppage of 1 Od. at home and 9^^- abroad, is a question which falls m.ore properly under the consideration of the military autho- rities. The increased stoppage does not cover the whole expense of the man's treat- ment in hospital. It is supposed to act as a check on malingering, and there is no injustice in giving a man less pay when his work is not done, especially when he is subsisted and provided with every means of cure. It has been alleged that the rate falls heavily on the married soldier by trenching on the balance with which he supports his family, and one witness recommended that the married man should be exceptionally treated in this respect, a proposal to which the objections are many and obvious, the amount of pay to the soldier being apportioned to the value of his service, and that service being the same whether the soldier be married or single. The opinion of Mr. Kirby, the chief examiner of accounts at the War Office, which is strongly in favour of the proposed single and uniform stoppage, as greatly diminishing the labour both of account and audit, is on the same principle opposed to any additional stoppage in hospital. The chief advantages, liowever, which are to be derived from an uniform stoppage would still be secured, even though an exceptional stoppage were preserved for men in hospital during peace; and in war no addition to the fixed rate of stoppage would be exacted from men in hospital, and the uniformity and consequent simplicity of account would then be complete. Whether in lieu of the nominal rate of pay and stoppage, being lower by Id. abroad than at home, the rates should be equalized by adding Id. for beer money to the pay abroad, and making the same addition to the stoppage, is immaterial except as a matter of account, the net balance remaining in the hands of the soldier being the same in either Q. 3952.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21365210_0034.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
