Sketch of the medical history of fhe [sic] British armies in the Peninsula of Spain and Portugal, during the late campaigns / [James McGrigor].

  • McGrigor, James, Sir, 1771-1858
Date:
[1816]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sketch of the medical history of fhe [sic] British armies in the Peninsula of Spain and Portugal, during the late campaigns / [James McGrigor]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    1 shall arrange what 1 have to offer under three heads. In the first I shall give a short sketch of the medical history; in the second, some remarks upon the diseases which prevailed; and in the third, an accouut of the chief means by which sickness was diminished in the army, and morta¬ lity in the hospitals. I proceeded to the Peninsula, and assumed the medical superintendence of the army from Decem¬ ber 1811, and remained till June 1814, when the army was finally broken up at Bourdeaux. I _ For the sake of order 1 shall divide the history of the peninsular service into four periods. The first of these commenced in December 1811, when Lord Wellington opened the campaign with the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, passed over into Es- tremadura, and took the strong fortress of Badajos by assault. Having thus laid open the passage in¬ to Spain by seizing on its two strongest bulwarks on the Portuguese frontier, the campaign closed, the army going into cantonments at the end of April. The second campaign began by the army ad¬ vancing into Spain in June 1812, and fighting the memorable battle of Salamanca which opened to us the road to the capital, cleared Cadiz and the whole south of Spain of the enemy, and, perhaps.