THE GREAT WAR IN THE ZONE OF THE ARMY. 327 



to fill a large number of canteens in the rear, string them on a pole 

 and thus carry them up. Water may be obtained from wells in dug- 

 outs and, after filling the 40 gallon canvas Lyster bag, and disin- 

 fecting with hypochlorite powder, be doled out to the men. Best of 

 all it may be piped up, but this could only be depended upon in very 

 quiet sectors, as bombardment quickly broke down such a system. 



Food: This is usually sent up once a day from kitchens in a com- 

 municating trench somewhere in the rear and is kept hot by storing 

 food for 16 men in a marmite, or thermos can. There is a special 

 danger in these cans, when the lid is left ofif until the temperature 

 falls to blood heat and the lid then replaced, from fermentation, 

 which may cause serious food poisoning. 



Clothing: Dry socks should be supplied with the evening ration 

 when men are standing in wet trenches. The necessity of standing 

 in muddy water is the only excuse for the rubber boot, otherwise 

 an abomination. 



Drainage of trenches: Well-constructed trenches are floored with 

 a duckboard path and under-drained by a gutter with occasional 

 sumpholes which are emptied by suction pumps in favored positions. 



Drying rooms: Every trench position of any permanence should 

 provide these rooms, necessarily in a dug-out, and a brazier coke 

 stove or two will be sufficent to accomplish satisfactory results. 



Heating of dug-outs is by braziers. Ventilation by stove pipes 

 with closing apparatus in case of a gas attack. Light by candles, 

 kerosene lamps, acetylene or electricity, but oil lamps require oil to 

 be brought up, a thing possible only in times of inactivity, acetylene 

 is practically confined to medical dug-outs and electricity is only 

 available in well-consolidated positions, long occupied. 



The Sanitary Duties of the Battalion Medical Officer: The sacred 

 relations established between this lone representative of our great 

 profession and the soldier in his hour of trial is readily seen in the 

 influence this officer wields for the prevention of disease. It is a 

 personal relation. He talks to no audience and he indulges in no 

 flights of fancy. A good battalion surgeon knows all the men ; he is 

 over in the trenches ; he knows when the breaking strain has been 

 reached in Jones and he laughs Smith out of his " shell-shock." 

 He invents a thousand ways to make the men more comfortable, 



