332 ASHFORD— APPLICATION OF SANITARY SCIENCE TO 



wheels, devised by the French with a portable bath was however a 

 most ingenious application. 



Men should be bathed at least once every ten days and deloused 

 at least once a month. Hence battalion organizations were each fur- 

 nished, in our Army, with a Charles Le Blanc heater and 8 head 

 showers, in addition to divisional baths. 



Every rest area should have its cobbler shops, its tailor shops, 

 and its barbers. They are, as are baths and delousers, run by Class 

 B men, generally. Dirty, ragged men lose respect for themselves. 

 " Smartness " has a determining influence on the soldier at the front. 



Billets. — Neatness and cleanliness are the keys to their success- 

 ful employment. Our men did wonders in tidying up stables, barns 

 and outhouses in France. Scabies in a billet required " delousing " 

 of all blankets and a working quarantine, if feasible, of occupants. 

 The English greatly feared scabies and an English chief surgeon 

 insisted that much of it was spread on latrine seats. 



Kitchens. 



Time does not permit their discussion, which offers much of in- 

 terest. The main desiderata are : 



1. Cleanliness and simplicity of equipment. A clean kitchen in- 

 spires a good appetite. Everything that shows should be immacu- 

 late and always in its place. Men should be allowed to help them- 

 selves from a common receptacle and be told to never take more 

 than they want, but always come back for more if they were still 

 hungry. The English said that they saved 10,000 pounds in that 

 way in a year at one large camp. 



2. All grease should be salvaged and sullage water deprived of 

 its grease by traps. The water then percolated into the earth with- 

 out clogging its pores after being led into a filtering cess-pool or 

 " soakage pit." 



3. All scraps of food, especially bread and meat, were saved and 

 made into tasty dishes at subsequent meals. This means not only 

 the teaching of cooking to cooks, but of •" catering" to mess ser- 

 geants. A full garbage pail became a poor recommendation for any 

 unit in the A. E. F. 



