326 ASHFORD— APPLICATION OF SANITARY SCIENCE TO 



the whole male fighting population of his nation is requisitioned for 

 war, to keep all of his men and not only those who can rise above 

 his own peculiar selective processes. It is vicious to get men up 

 before sunrise, give them their breakfast in the dark and start them 

 out in the cold morning mist, chilled, unfed and with clothing still 

 damp from the rain of the day before to do a hard day's work, 

 again terminating in wet and cold. It is still worse to gather such 

 men after supper with clothes still wet for lectures running far into 

 the night. This " intensive training " may break down a man before 

 he has the opportunity to deliver a blow, not only the palpably weak, 

 but, to our surprise, the apparently strong. Our Field Regulations 

 preach against this, our best officers of the old Army condemn it, 

 and it is only mentioned to deter a well-meaning but inexperienced 

 newcomer from a dangerous point of view. The best officer knows 

 how to care for and feed his men and the best troops are faithful 

 witnesses of the effect of the care bestowed upon them. 



The Sanitation of Trench Warfare. 

 In the Trenches. 



Sanitation is reduced to its simplest terms in the trenches. It 

 has to be. Men are there to fight. In the brief week or ten days 

 they are there before their relief, lights, smoke, evacuation, building, 

 are taboo. Moreover every nerve is taut to get the best of the enemy 

 and there is little time for things of immeasurably less importance, 

 however simple and enticing the procedure may seem. Sanitary 

 science is reduced to its barest necessities and then greatly reduced 

 from that point. 



Latrines: These are either buckets under a flyproof seat or fly- 

 proof boxes over a pit in a blind offshoot from a communicating 

 trench. There is a camouflaged head cover and there should be a 

 can or trough leading to a soakage pit for urine. Pit latrines should 

 be deep and buckets emptied in adjacent shell holes at night, as is 

 garbage from food brought up to the men. 



Water: This, in well consolidated positions, is pumped from a 

 chlorinating source. It may be stored in cement water tanks or 

 carried up from water carts in the rear. A trick of our soldiers was 



