Treatment of the sick and wounded, illustrated by observations made at the seat of war : being the introductory address in University College, October 3rd, 1870 / by Berkeley Hill.

  • Hill, Berkeley, 1834-1892.
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Treatment of the sick and wounded, illustrated by observations made at the seat of war : being the introductory address in University College, October 3rd, 1870 / by Berkeley Hill. 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.

    5/32 (page 5)
    througli their preparations for vrar, imperfect as they Tvere, suffered less from disease during the first muter, sending in that period from sickness alone 81,000 cases to the hospital, Tvith a mortality of 10,000, sent in the second wfinter 106,000, with a mortality of 21,000, or twice as large as that of the fii’st winter. Let us now consider the consequences of neglecting or of observing two of the most important principles of army hygiene. One of the most incontestably proved principles of military hygiene is segregation, or avoidance of overcrowding either of the sick or of the healthy. Still this important condition of health was not ensured to oiu' troops until the middle of the Crimean War, since which time it has been upheld in every campaign as of first-rate importance. For in- stance, Sir John Pringle, medical officer in the campaigns of the British forces in Germany under George II. in 1742-43, and in Scotland and the north of England in 1745-46, gives the plainest possible examples both of the effect of over- crowding in producing disease, and of isolation in arresting its progress when at its worst. He tells us that after the battle of Dettingen in the year 1743—which you may remember was the last occasion of an English king being present on the field of battle—nearly half the English forces of about 16,000 men fell sick of dysentery. The village of Feckenheim was employed as a hospital. In it 1,500 sick were lodged. Hospital fever soon broke out, and spread even to the doctors and attendants, causing great mortality throughout the army. At last the camp was raised, and the di'sease at once rapidly abated. But 3,000 sick were left behind. Of these nearly half died, and with them the unfortunate inhabitants of the village were almost wholly destroyed. So again, in the campaign against the rebellion of 1745, the sick of the army under the Duke of Cumberland suffered most severely from typhus, or “jail fever,” as it was then called, through the