A report on the sanitary condition of the Army : particularly during the late war with Russia / by a non-commissioner.

  • Non-Commissioner.
Date:
[1858]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A report on the sanitary condition of the Army : particularly during the late war with Russia / by a non-commissioner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    “ monthin short, “ the hospitals were becoming ** more unhealthy the longer they were used.” (Report, p. xxxi.) Unfortunately for the reputation of the Medical Department, the Medical History of the War, drawn up from official sources, still lays upon the table of the House of Commons, inaccessible to those to whom it might be useful, and useless to those to whom it is accessible. We are compelled, there- fore, to use figures derived from other quarters, which often disagree, and to borrow such additional light as we may from the official returns of the J^avy, and the published statements of our Allies, in order to examine this gloomy picture, painted by the Royal Commissioners, in which no one could recognise the features of those hospitals that had “ agreeably sur- prised” the Eastern Sanitary Commission at their cleanliness and comfort.” (Letter from Lord W. Paulet to Lord Panmure, 8th March, 1855.) Before inquiring if this “ unexampled mortality arose from other causes than the severe type of disease,” we may institute a general comparison between the total losses sustained by the French and English Armies during the war, founded on the valu- able information laid before us by M. Scrive (Rela- tion, &c., p. 350), and the tables in the Report of the Royal Commission (Appendix, pp. 524-5). It appears that the aggregate French force sent to the East amounted to 309,268 men, and that the total loss on this number was 69,229 men, or 22-38 per cent, of the whole strength. The total English force embarked to March 1856 was 93,959 men (Sayer, p. 415), and the total loss from all causes was 20,812 men, or 22-15 per cent, of the aggregate strength. This comparison, which is prol)ably the fairest that could be made, from the documents as yet before the public, is rather favourable to our own troops. Again, in the French Army the total admissions into hospital were 112-6 per cent, of the aggregate
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