He has no visits from sympathizing friends, as he lies on a sick bed, far from home, amidst the selfish hardness of a camp. He is soon separated from his comrades, and placed among strangers gathered like himself from the accidents of the field, and he finds himself in circumstances where he has little to cheer, but much to depress him. In the injuries to which he is exposed in war, he is more hardly dealt with than the civilian. The accidents which befall him, equal in their severity the most terrible which occur in civil life. The effects produced by the massive round shot or ponderous shell, are very like the crushing and tearing of machinery impelled by the resistless steam; so that, among the I.IAKITY <>F W<>i IN THi: CRIMEA. many assimilating of our railways and manuries, one will evidently be, in course of time, the of the siir-vry in civil hospitals more and more into conformity with that of P>ut. besides all that I have said as to those matt, rin which military and civil sur-vry are similar, or dis1 as to the contrast which exists on some points between the patients falling to be treated in either. there are yet some circumstances in the late war to which I must allude, as they are peculiar in themselves, and have an especial bearing on its surgical annals.
A siege differs considerably from ordinary campaign work, both in the description and mortality of the wounds to which it exposes the soldier. The close proximity of! uitteries, the steady and deadly aim which bo obtained by the riilemen, the range so soon ascertained f,r cannon and mortar, the guns so carefully and accurately worked from the absence of hurry, and from 'aily tract ice of the gunners, all contribute to render the proportion of casualties higher and their severity greater in sieges, than the injuries which attend a cami in the lirld. Wounds of the upper half of the body may be expected to be more common in a siege, from tip- lower parts protected by the works, and shell wounds must also be of more frens ami Miind than among the soldiers, who occupied the open street 1)6 srucr.uv OF THI: CKIMKAN WAR. the enemy's lire while t'orminij; and guarding the trenches, all conduce to swell the number of those injured.
The health of the troops, moreover, does not maintain so high a standard when they are stationary, and want the wholesome animation which results from the change and stirring incidents of a moving campaign; whence it follows, that on becoming inmates of the hospital, they are not so fit to stand active treatment, nor are they so " lively at recovery." However, there is one advantage which a siege lias over a campaign in the field, and it is a considerable one. The hospitals being more stationary can be better arranged, and placed so near the scene of conflict, that the injured may be more quickly succoured. During the late war, our army had not only to go through the ordeal of great battles, but the prosecution of a siege unequalled for its difficulties in the history of war a siege in which every obstacle and every trial was enhanced by the stubborn resolution of a brave enemy, and the frailty of our own military preparation.
The sorties were on a scale so gigantic, and pushed so resolutely, as to occasion effects little inferior to those of a pitched battle; and the extraordinary length and active prosecution of the siege caused results resembling those of a constant battle, several months in duration. A few general engagements, and the casualties of outpost service, make up the accidents of an ordinary campaign; but with us, day after day, and night after night, kept up a constant strain, which was more exhausting to the strength of the army than any other sort of wartare could have been. The majority of the recruits who joined the army early in 1 s.V>. and who supplied many of tlie wounded of that year, were tar from being well chosen.