Notes on diseases in Turkey ; and Memoir on the remittent fever of the Levant.

  • United Kingdom. Army and Ordnance Medical Department.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on diseases in Turkey ; and Memoir on the remittent fever of the Levant. 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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    established on the sea coast, all arrangements should be com- pleted before the setting in of winter. The erection ©If wooden hospitals for temporary use would be both cheap and easy ; the Turks understand the lighter sort of carpentering very well. IMats of reed are excellent coverings for the floor, and can be got anywhere; nor is there a scarcity of rough and strong carpeting. Mattraases can be extempo- rized by means of dry kuhuruz (Indian corn) leaves. There ia an ample supply of material for whitewashing, which has, in Turkey, many advantages over the process of painting. A good supply of portable iron-bedsteads will be found in- dispensable. Every hospital ought to have one or two very light waggons, as the roads are unfit for heavy vehicles; There are, in neai-ly all tlie larger towns, German wag- goners, who are capable of constructing and fitting up these light vans. They generally understand mattrassing also; but the supply of cow or horse hair is far too small, even for the usual home consumption ; on the Wallachian side, on the contrary, there is no lack of that commodity. The bread is hardly fit for hospital use; nor are there any good bakers, except at Constantinople and Bucharest. A few bakers and one or two millers might be advantageously attached to the army. There is, likewise, a great scarcity of persons who understand the washing of linen ; soap is horrible, and candles not much better; and, as I am on hospital neces- saries, I may state that leeches are very cheap and good. Considering the density of the population, the narrow streets, and the want of arrangements for the removal of filth in Turkish towns, the selection of a site for an hospital becomes a matter of great importance. However, there are, in most of these towns, some large buildings which could be appropriated, and by means of whitewashing and other cleansing processes, rendered at once fit for use. Where it