On the causes of sickness in the English wars : and on the means of prevention / by E.A. Parkes.

  • Parkes, Edmund A. (Edmund Alexander), 1819-1876.
Date:
[1862]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the causes of sickness in the English wars : and on the means of prevention / by E.A. Parkes. 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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    festly, as appears from all the circumstances of the case, of the fact that spirits could not be issued to, or procured by them. But perhaps the most interesting example of this fact is to be found in the celebrated Cornwallis campaign of 1781, in which a body of men made a long and fatiguing march of more than 2,000 miles, were exposed fully to in- clemencies of weather, were supplied by a commissariat which was rather indifferent, and yet remained extremely healthy. Dr. Chisholm, the surgeon of the 71st Highlanders, shall however narrate this case. I will read an extract froiu his book giving an account of this celebrated march. He calls it “ the most remarkable campaign of the American Eevolutionary War, owing to the dangers, fatigues, and privations sustained by the army in the course of it— “ They effected a march of nearly 2,000 miles through a poor country, inhabited by inveterate enemies, always more than 200 miles from their resources; forded many large, deep, and rapid rivers at the hazard of their lives; fought one pitched battle against thrice their number; were almost constantly engaged in skirmishes; were deprived of nim or any strong liquors; were for weeks successively reduced to the scanty support which a few heads of Lrdian corn, and a precarious very limited allowance of lean fresh beef afforded them; had no shelter from the inclemency of the weather, or the damps of the earth and night, but a single blanket and a few boughs of trees hastily put together in the form of wigwams. These hardships, fatigues, and privations they were enabled to support by the example shown them by their excellent and amiable commander; by the exercise of marching being alternated by rest every third day, when practicable; by parading in clean linen once every marching day and twice every halting day, being obliged to clean and bathe themselves every day; by the men being obliged to Avash their shirts and w^aistcoats and pantaloons themselves; by a necessary abstinence from strong liquors; and, finally, by what may be considered as not the least cause, their pursuing, not flying from, an enemy. The regiment I was surgeon to, the 71st Highlanders, composed a part of this truly gallant army; they con- sisted of about 600 men, and the average number of their sick during this arduous service was about twenty-five, exclusive of wounded, and they were all trifling cases.” Now here the great immunity from sickness may be considered to be dependent, 1. Upon abstinence from liquors. 2. Upon the enforced cleanliness. 3. Upon the rest every third day. The commissariat, though indifferent, was not extremely bad; the men had fresh meat, at any rate, and appear also to have had corn, and possibly other vegetables. Of these causes the abstinence from strong liquors must be put down as the most important. In the long catalogue of wars I have not been able to find a single instance in Avhich the use of spirits has been proved to be useful, and there is a very large number in which it has been proved to be detrimental. Ihere are only three ways of keeping men from the excessive use of spirits. The first is to supply them with good malt liquor, and with red wines Avhich contain a small per-centage of alcohol. The supply of red wines of this kind was