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.
808/978 page 48
![der your orders, the receipt of wliich you are re- quested to acknowledge. I have, &c. (Signed) A. Smith, Principal Medical Officer, Director General, &c. &c. Similar letter to Principal Medical Officer, Abydos, on same date. No. 165. Dr. Smith to the Principal Medical Officer in Scutari. Army and Ordnance Medical Sir, Department, 13th April 18oo. I HAVE the honour to forward, by desire of the Minister for War, ten printed copies of instruc- tions on sanitary arrangements, extracted from the Sanitary Journal, for circulation .among the medical officers under your orders, the receipt of which you will acknowledge, and notifying the steps taken for giving effect to Lord Panmure's wishes. I have, &c. (Signed) A. Smith, Principal Medical Officer, Director General. &c. &c. No. 166. Dr. Smith to the Principal Medical Officer in the Crimea. Army and Ordnance Medical Sir, I)e])artment, 13th April 18oo. I HAVE the honour to request you will inform nie whether the number of medical officers you now pos- sess is sufficient for the performance of the medical duties of the army before Sebastopol, and if there is fair reason to believe that it is likely to prove efficient during the summer, when active operations may be anticipated. In the event of your being of opinion that the medical staff is not sufficiently numerous, you will be pleased to lose no time in communicating with me, and state the number and ranks of the additional officers you are likely to recpiire. I am anxious that each division of the army should have a deputy in- spector general of hospitals, as the superintending medical officer, and at least one, if not two, staft' sur- geons of the 1st class. I may add that I have addressed a similar letter to this to the Principal Medical Officer at Scutari. I have, &c. (Signed) A. Smith, Principal Medical Officer, Director General. &c. &c. No. 167. Dr. Smith to the Under Secretary for War. Army Medical Department, Sir, l4th April 18oo. I HAVE the honour to state, for the information of the Minister for the War Department, that a letter I am in receijjt of from the Inspector General of Hospitals in the camp before Seliastopol, dated 26tli March, speaks of the sultriness of the weather, the thermometer of Fahrenheit having been as high as 70°. The winter clothing still in wear must in such circumstances be oppressing to the soldier, and it is most essential to his health and comfort that he should l)e put as speedily as possible in possession of lighter articles of dress. I beg, therefore, earnestly to recommend that no measure be left untried calculated to expedite and hasten the arrival at their destination of the articles of clothing for warm weather, which has no doubt already been provided and deposited. The supply above referred to, which it is proposed should be worn during the warm parts of the day, will prove most beneficial to the health and well- being of the troops, though at the same time it will not be possible to withdraw from them the warmer clothing with which they have been supplied ; as it is well known that though the spring days in the Crimea are warm, the evenings and nights are ex- cessively cold ; indeed this peculiarity is a character- istic of the climate, even during the summer months. I have, &c. (Signed) A. Smith, The Under Secretary for War, Director General. &c. &c. No. 168, Dr. Smith to Colonel Mandy. Army Medical Department, Sir, 14th April 1855. With reference to your letter of the 7th in- stant, I have the honour to state, for the information of Lord Panmure, that I h.ave forwarded by the mail of this day to the Principal Medical Officers at Scutari, Kululie, Abydos, and Balaclava, a supply of printed copies of instructions on sanitary arrange- ments, extracted from the Sanitary Journal, agreeably to his Lordship's desire. In regard, howcAer, to those intended for the hospital at Smyrna, I take leave to enclose ten to be forwarded by the War Department, as I have no medical authority at that station with whom I can communicate. I am, &c. Colonel Mundy, (Signed) A. Smith, 8cc. &c. Director General. No. 169. Dr. Smith to the lender Secretary for IVar. Army Medical Department, Sir, 14th April 1855. Reperriko to your letter of the 7th instant, conveying the decision of Lord Panmure, that each soldier should carry on his person a linen bandage, I have the honour to remark, previous to complying with the final clause of the letter which instructs me to furnish a pattern bandage to the Board of Ordnance, that the linen bandage is comparatively little used, and that calico is by nearly all practical and experienced men considered the material most applicable for the formation of bandages for surgical purposes. Further I would beg to observe, as it is deemed expedient that a provision of this kind should form part of the equipment of the soldier, that some com- pleteness should be given to this appliance by the addition of a portion of lint, as the value of the first named surgical adjuvant would be greatly en- hanced if conjoined with the latter, its almost insopar- rable companion in tlie treatment of wounds. Tiie subject has already been considered, and 1o a certain extent acted on, by me, as the enclosed copy of a letter to Dr. Hall, dated the 15th November last, will evince. I have, he. (Signed) A. Smith, The Under Secretary for War, Director General. &c. &c. No. 170. Dr. Smith to Dr. Hall. Army and Ordnance Medical Sni, Department, 14th April 1855. ReferrinCt to your private letter of 26th March, and that portion of the contents commenting on the furs, &c., which the troops were then wearing, I hope you will not fail to urge that every practicable exertion may be made to have the soldiers of the army supplied with the description of dress which](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21365210_0808.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
