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.
797/978 page 37
![removal from the sick by requiring for them an abun- dance of under clothing and a supply of coml)s and brushes, as well as of small-tootlied combs (of the fornier 10,000 sets, of the latter 1,000), have been furnished for use in the hospital, also a large supply of soap, which, with plenty of water, will no doubt soon remove from the persons and clothes of the sick the nuisance which accomjianicd tliem from the field. Nothing, I fear, short of the removal and change of every article of clotliing now in use from every man of the army, in addition to daily ablution and marked attention to personal cleanliness, will effectually era- dicate the vermin. The inmates of our poor-houses are cleansed of them by the use of wliite precipitate, and the removal of the infected clothes from their persons. I have, &c. (Signed) A. Smith, Director General. Tiie Under Secretary of State, &c. iSic. No. 118. Extract of a Letter from Dr. Hall, Inspector General of Hospitals, to the Director General, dated '■^Before Sebastopol, 2Zrd February 1855. I HOPE the 40,000 gallons of lime juice you men- tioned is not far off at present, so that the ration may be continued to the whole army. I am quite sure that lime juice, fresh vegetables, warm clothing, and better shelter would eradicate scurvy and cure the diarrlioeas the men labour under much sooner than any system of medical treatment tliat could be adopted ; and if they could only have so much relaxation from their duty in the trenches as would admit of their having two consecutive nights in bed, I am quite satisfied they would soon regain their strength and health. * * * * Now the regularly fitted out transports that were recommended at the beginning of December are coming into use, and will be a relief to us ; but what I am calculating on, and am most anxious about, is the new hospital near the castle at Balaklava. I was up there to-day to see how they Avere getting on, and found eight huts are nearly completed, and we are getting them equipped as rapidly as we can, and in a few days we sluill be able to send a coui)!e of luindred more up there. I am quite pleased with the jjlace, and anticipate much more benefit by sending men there than down to Scutari. At Scutari the buildings are large, crowded, and difficult to keep Avell venti- lated. Fever consequently has made its appearance and proved fatal to many, both officers and men. No. 119. From Dr. A. Smith to Colonel Miindi/. Army and Ordnance Medical Sir, Department, 27th February, 1855. As the season of the year is now approaching when sick and wounded may be transferred to England without risk of serious suffering from inclement or severe weather on approaching the channel or landing at its poi'ts, I am of opinion that the time has arrived for considering whether it would not be desirable to remove to this country, direct from the Crimea, cases of that nature which might safely be subjected to a long voyage. Of the advantages of such a measure we have ample experience in the good effects attending removals of this kind from the East and West Indies, where cases of dysentery and diarrhoea, stationary in their progress or disposed to deteriorate as long as the sufferers remain in the country where they have been contracted, derive so much benefit from the sea voyage that the soldier who has embarked in tliese climates a broken-down invalid frequently lands here in comparatively re-estal)lished health. But as it will not be possible to foresee what will be the eff(?ct of a prolonged sea-voyage in cases of other diseases or wounds, I submit, should the sug- gestions I now propose be entertained and acted on, that arrangements be made that each vessel conveving sick soldiers should touch at certain intermediate ports, viz., Malta and Gibraltar, in order, should any of the cases on board have become aggravated so as to render their landing desirable, that an opportunity may be thus afforded for effecting tliis. Ordinary vessels, it is needless to say, will not be applicable for the removal of the sick to whom I refer, but the conveyances for this purpose must be of the description recommended in my letter of the 11th May 1854, namely, steamers with appropriate fittings. If it be found expedient to adopt the proceeding of the kind above proposed, I have no doubt but that great benefit will result from it to the suffi^rers, and another very obvious advantage will be the facilities which this arrangement will afford for relieving the overcrowded state of the hospitals at Scutari and in the Crimea. I have, &c. (Signed) A. Smith, Colonel Mundy, Director General. &c. &c. No. 120. Dr. A. Smith to the Under Secretary for War. Army and Ordnance Mei.ical Sir, Department, 27th February 1855. With reference to my letter of the 7th instant, pressing that a further supply of lime juice should be sent out to the army in the Crimea beyond what has been forwarded Ijy the Admiralty, I have the honour to state, for the information of the General Com- manding in Chief, that it is most essential to the inte- rests of the troops, that 40,000 gallons proposed to be purchased by the Commissariat Officer at Malta should Ijc des])atched to Balaklava as speedily as pos- sible, tliere being every reason to fear that the supplies sent from England will soon be exhausted, considering tliat a scorbutic taint has shown itself veiy generally among tlie troops. I have, 8cc. (Signed) A. Smith, Director-General. The Under Secretary for War, &c. &c. No. 121-2. Dr. A. Smith to the Under Secretary for War. Army and Oi'dnance Medical Sir, Department, 28tii February 1855. I HAVE the honour to acquaint you, for the in- formation of the Secretary of State lor War, that I have been concerned for some time past to observe tliat l)y the returns received great sickness has pre- vailed in the force serving at Gallipoli and Bouliihir. This has been on the average 26 per cent., an amount <piite disproportionate to the strengtii and to the duties ])ei'formed at these stations. Having been led by these facts to believe, eitlier tliat there existed some local causes very prejudicial to health, or something in the constitution or conduct of the detachments Avliich rendered them more prone to sickness and less able to bear and recover from it than other men similarly circumstanced, I requested on the 9th November and the 16th January last, from the senior medical otEcer at Gallipoli, a report on the subject of the unusual sickness in the detachments under his charge.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21365210_0797.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
