A manual of practical hygiene : prepared especially for use in the medical service of the Army / by Edmund A. Parkes.

Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of practical hygiene : prepared especially for use in the medical service of the Army / by Edmund A. Parkes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    work a cure, as, for example, in the case of the dwellings of our poorer classes. In many parts of the country the cottages are unfit for human beings; in many of our towns, the cupidity of builders runs up houses of the most miser- able structiu-e, for which there are unhappily no lack of applicants; or masters obhge their men to work in rooms, or to follow plans which are most detri- mental to health. But even in such cases it will, I believe, be always found that self-interest would really dictate the couise which is one of the foremost rules of religion, viz., that we should do for our neighbour's as for ourselves. Analyse the effect of such selfishness and carelessness as I have referred to on the nation at large, and we shall find that the partial gain to the individual is far more than counterbalanced by the injm-y to the State, by the discontent, recklessness, and inditference prodiiced in the jjersons who suffer, and which may have a disastrous national residt. In many cases, again, the employer of labour finds that, by proper sanitaiy care of his men, he reaps at once an advantage in better and more zealous work, in fewer interruiDtions from ill healtli, &c., so that his apparent outlay is more than compensated. This is shown in the strongest light by the army. The State employs a large number of men, whom it j)laces under its OAvn social and sanitary con- ditions. It removes from them much of the self-control with regard to hygienic rules wliich other men possess; and is therefore bound by every principle of honest and fail- contract to see that these men are in no Avay injured by its system. But more than this : it is as much bound by its self-iuterest. It has been proved over and over again that nothing is so costly iu all ways as disease, and that nothing is so remunerative as the out- lay which augments health, and in domg so augments the amount and value of the work done. It was the moral argument, as well as the financial one, which led Lord Herbert to devote his life to the task of doing justice to the soldier, of in- creasing the amount of his health, and moral and mental training, and, in so doing, of augmenting not only his happiness, but the value of his services to the coixntry. And by the side of Lord Herlaert in this work was one whose name will ever be dear to the coimtry, and whose life, ever since that memor- able winter at Scutari in 1855, has been given up entirely to the attempt to improve the condition of the soldier. This book has been written to assist in carrying out one of Lord Herbert's plans, and in accordance with his wish, and with that of Lord De Grey, his friend, coadjutor, and successor. It has, therefore, been sketched on a narrower basis than the longer treatise indicated above, which would have to deal with both sexes, all ages, and various trades and conditions. Although, however, as dealing with Military Hygiene, and drawing its examples from the soldier's life, it is a work on Anny Sanitation, it yet in- cludes the general principles of hygiene applicable to all men; principles which, though here stated necessarily in the briefest and barest way, are, I am persuaded, fraught Avith benefit to all men, if they are properly interpreted and faithfully applied.