The ventilation is more apt to be deficient or to become deranged in them than in huts or tents, and hence the effects of overcrowding become the more pernicious. " It was often proved in the history of the late war," says Jackson in his work on the economy of armies, "that more human lite a fiords cul)ic feet of air, have contained only twelve t> fifteen mm, but was made from the exigency of the service to cover.at number. The unsuitableness of the bell t -lit to hospital purposes has been fully expressed by the missioners when they say u Whatever may be the supposed advantages which have led to its adoption as a ek tent, it would be difficult to contrive anything much more unfit for the aeeommodation of the sick." There were no bedsteads, and those patients who had empty sacks to lie upon were considered fortunate.
Few blankets belonged to the afforded was but ill adapted for sick men, nay, in many instances, constituted a veritable poison; medicines,; the most necessary, but scantily provided; attendance by overworked, and in many cases sick doctors, by a handful of orderlies, themselves for the most 6 natures. however kindoriginidly, must have become soured and crabbed by the hardships.file to which they were exposed such was the iit in of the sick during the first winter. If to sick\\-ere added wounds a broken limb or contused body how small was the chance of recovery! Splints and bmdlgefl ni' d and fretted. 'The man lost i. in-nmstanee forbade recovery. Thepov of evil seemed to grasp his destiny. The problem of lite was l.einir solved, by every mnceivablr antaifonism having a voice in the moment. >u- decision.
Such beinv; the how could any other result follow was destroyed by accumulating sick in low an<l ill ventilated apartment*, than in leaving them exposed in severe and Inclement weather at the side of a hedge or common dyke." WAlf. than a mortality which caused our land to ring with the voice of mourning, and which for a moment para1vsrl our senate and our people? The wildness of despair is the only excuse which can be made for the blame of so much misery having been cast on the medical department, which had no control whatever over the events that led to it, and the voluntary sacrifice of whose members, though glorious to themselves, was unable to retrieve the deplorable errors committed by others.
During the early part of the war, the regimental hospital system, which I believe is peculiar to the British army, was alone At a later period, general According to this plan, the soldiers are kept, when sick, in hospitals which belong to their regiments, in place of being transferred to general The discussion is an old one as to whether the system which has been always followed by us, except in times of great necessity, or that of general plan adopted by the French and other continental nations during war, is the best. I do not intend here to review the question, but would merely remark that, after fairly weighing the subject, I think the regimental hospital arrangement presents the greatest advantages.
One strong claim which it ha* on our support is, that the surgeon of the corps must be greatly better acquainted with his men, their character and habits, and thus be more able to treat them, as well as more able to detect imposture if attempted, than the medical attendant who probably never saw them till they present themselves to him as patients. The men are by this system also kept among their comrades no small advantage to them and thus their minds are cheered by the companionship of friends. More time and attendance, too, can be bestowed on the sick in these small hospitals, from the proportion of medical attendants and orderlies being in general much above what it is in the larger establishments, and from the responsibility being, if possible, more binding on the regimental surgeon, and the stock of comforts proportionally greater and more regularly supplied, from the resources of the whole regiment being at his command.