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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    about sore feet, and the means of preventing those and other evils shoxild he attended to (see page 345, et seq.) at this time. Certain changes in the food of the men should be made. The exertions of war, bodily and mental, are often very great, and demand an increased quantity of food, especially in the niti-ogenous and fatty ele- ments ; an increased amount of meat and bread, Avith the addition of fat bacon, cheese, and peas or beans, should be given, so as to briug the daily amount of nitrogen to 400 grains, and of carbon to 5000 or 6000 grains daily, or, in other words, 6 ounces of albuminates ( = 400 grains of nitrogen and about 1400 grains of carbon), 3 ounces of fats (=1137 grains of carbon, and about 14 ounces of carbo-hydrates ( = 2702 grains of carbon). The salts also must be increased, and it would be well to do this by adding chloride of potassium, phosphate of soda, and perhaps a little citrate of iron to the cidinary salt. During the war, make every effort to get bread and flour sup- plied in lieu of biscmt (see pages 187-189), and to supply red wine (p. 227). As one of the perils of war is the occui-rence of scurvy, the supply of fresh vegetables should be increased; if these at all fail during the cam- paign, the preserved vegetables must be issued, and the other precautions taken (see pages 445-447). Considering the benefit apparently derived in Captain Cook's voyages from wort made from malt, it might be worth while to try the effect of introducing this as a beverage; it can be readily made. Donald Monro mentions that at Bremen, in 1762, when no vegetables could be got, and fresh meat was dear, and scvirvy broke out, infusion of horse-radish was found to be useful. Spruce beer was also used. The concentrated foods should also be largely stored, so that the troops can be supphed on excursions or in emergencies, and the men should be taught hoAv to cook them, and especially in the case of the compressed vegetables. SECTION III. ACTUAL WAR.* Experience has showed in hundreds of campaigns that there is a large amount of sickness. The almost universality of this proves that, Avith every care, the conditions of war are unfavourable to health. The strenuous * Sanitary Rules of the Romans during War. Vegetius {De Re Militari, lib. iii. cap. 2) says the Romans took great care that the men should be well supplied with good water, good provisions, firewood, sufficient quantity of wine, vinegar, and salt. They endeavoured to keep their armies in good health by due attention— 1. To Situation; avoiding marshes and dry imcovered ground in siinimer; in having tents; frequently changing camps in summer and autumn. 2. To the Water ; for bad water was considered to be very productive of diseases. 3. To the Seasons ; not exposing men to heat. In winter, taking particular care that the men never were in want of firewood or of clothing. 4. To Food and Medicine; the officers saw that the men had their regular meals, and were well looked after by the commissariat. 5. To Exercise ; by keeping the troops during the day-time in constant exercise; in dry weathei- in the open air ; in time of rain or snow under cover ; for exercise was believed to do a great deal more for the preservation of health than the art of physic. The Prajfectus-Castromm (Quartermaster-General), an officer of high rank in the Roman army, looked after the sick, and provided everything required by the surgeons. Both Livy and Tacitus mention that the commanding officers used to visit the sick and wounded soldiers to inquire if they were well taken care of. Rules oftlie Macedonians.—Th^ only notice, I believe, of the means by which Alexander the Great preserved so wonderfully the health of his small army, is a statement that he frequently changed his encamping grounds (Quintus Curtius, lib. v. 32). This great soldier must certainly have been acqiuiinted with the art of Hygiene. 2 p