An Exhibit of Military Hygiene 



HOW SCIENCE SUPPLIES THE NEEDS OF THE MODERN SOLDIER 

 Bv C-E. A. WIN SLOW 



THE department of public health of 

 the American Museum has recently 

 installed an exhibit on military hy- 

 giene, designed to deal with a problem at 

 present of supreme interest to all of us — the 

 needs and requirements of the modern sol- 

 dier, and the part that science plays in sup- 

 plying these needs. 



In the matter of clothing for the soldier, 

 two things are primarily considered : the tex- 

 ture and material, according to the climate 

 in which the troops are to serve; and the 

 color of the uniform. Although various dis- 

 tinctive colors give an esprit de corps to 

 bodies of troops, modern warfare demands 

 that in the field all other considerations must 

 be subordinated to "low visibility." The 

 relative values of colors in the field are illus- 

 trated in the exhibit by a series of samples 

 of cloth for uniforms arranged according to 

 their visibility from a distance, and accom- 

 panied by a color sketch showing soldiers in 

 uniforms of various shades, seen at close 

 range, at eight hundred and eighty yards, 

 and at a distance of one mile. In the test 

 of distance white has the highest visibility, 

 red comes next; khaki and the olive drab 

 at present in use in the United States Army 

 fade away into the ordinary background at 

 relatively close range. 



The head covering of the soldier must 

 protect the head and shield the eyes and the 

 nape of the neck from the sun. While its 

 nature depends on the locality in which the 

 men are to serve, for temperate zones the 

 campaign hat with the "Montana peak" 

 proves very satisfactory. This kind of hat 

 provides sufficient air space above the head, 

 good circulation being insured by four eye- 

 lets. For trench warfare a more efficient 

 protection is required, and this is obtained 

 by the use of the steel helmet, a sample of 

 which from the Trench trenches is exhibited 

 through the courtesy of Dr. Louis Living- 

 ston Seaman and the American Museum of 

 Safety. 



Among newly recruited troops ten per cent 

 of the men used to be disabled by injuries 

 due to ill-fitting shoes. It should be remem- 

 274 



bered that under the weight of the body and 

 the added weight of the equipment which the 

 soldier carries, the foot may lengthen half 

 an inch and broaden a quarter of an inch. 

 This necessitates shoes of the right shape 

 and size, and of flexible material. As a 

 buffer between skin and leather, a thick 

 woolen sock is used. 



The equipment of the soldier should be as 

 complete as possible without being so heavy 

 that it fatigues him. If it is reduced too 

 much, he is liable to suffer in camp through 

 insufficient protection from the weather ; and 

 if it is very elaborate, his efficiency will be- 

 come impaired from carrying too heavj-^ a 

 load. The weight carried on the march by 

 a United States soldier varies from thirty- 

 nine to sixty pounds. This should be so dis- 

 tributed that posture and the free movement 

 of the chest and arms are not interfered with. 



Among the items of the soldier's equij)- 

 ment featured in the exhibit is the typical 

 daily field ration of the United States, an 

 amount of food supplying 4,199 calories of 

 energy and shown realistically in terms of 

 bread and bacon and potatoes and other in- 

 gredients. There are also the mess kit, con- 

 sisting of fork, spoon, knife, and meat can, 

 the last to be used ordinarily as a plate, but 

 in time of need also as a cooking dish; the 

 canteen, which suffices to sujiply the few 

 swallows of water so much better for the sol- 

 dier on the march than a longer draught; 

 the gas mask essential in the horrors of 

 modern warfare; and the little sealed first 

 aid packet of sterile dressings for the prompt 

 bandaging of wounds, now supplied to our 

 soldiers with instructions as to their proper 

 application. 



In the realm of camp sanitation there are 

 models shoAving methods for the disposal of 

 waste and the purification of water, factors 

 which have played a large part in reducing 

 the havoc wrought in war time in the past 

 by diseases like cholera, dysentery, and ty- 

 phoid fever. In the Crimean War, in pre- 

 sanitary times, armies of the contending 

 nations lost more than one third of their num- 

 bers from disease, and only one tenth from 



