HYGIENE IN THE ARMY. 



507 



ritate the longs, and affect the respiration. 

 The animal oils give off carbon, carbonic acid, 

 and carburetted hydrogen in too large quantity 

 to be desirable. The heating of the hospital 

 wards should be connected as far as possible 

 with the ventilation. The usual method is by 

 stoves, though in some, hot water is introduced 

 with advantage. Ruttan's system would seem 

 to possess advantages over any other plan of 

 warming and ventilation, but, so far as we are 

 aware, has not been introduced. The te'mper- 

 ature in cold weather is carefully watched, and 



is not allowed to vary much from 64 to 66 

 Fahrenheit. 



The alimentation of the soldier is one of the 

 most important items in the hygienic condition 

 of the army. Great attention has been paid 

 by the medical and commissary officers of the 

 Government, to the arrangement and character 

 of the ration, in order to furnish such combina- 

 tions of food, and of such quality, as should be 

 best adapted to maintain the health and strength 

 of the soldier in its greatest perfection. The 

 rations of most of the European armies are de- 



(Fio. 4.) 



GROUND-PLAN OF HAMMOND GENERAL HOSPITAL, POINT LOOKOUT. 



fective in these respects. The quantity of meat 

 is generally too low, and in some, the supply 

 of fresh meat and vegetables, and of coffee and 

 sugar, is altogether inadequate. The fearful 

 prevalence of typhus fevers, and of scurvy and 

 other cachectic diseases, in the British and 

 French armies in the Crimean war, was un- 

 questionably owing to the poor quality and 

 scanty quantity of the rations. The British 

 soldier receives at home stations sixteen ounces 

 of bread, and twelve ounces of flesh meat un- 

 cooked ; on foreign stations, sixteen ounces of 

 bread, or twelve ounces of biscuit, and sixteen 

 ounces of meat, fresh or salt. This is charged 



to him at three and a half pence per day abroad, 

 or four and a half pence per day at home. Cof- 

 fee, sugar, pepper, potatoes, salt, or whatever 

 else he may need, he must purchase from his 

 own funds, where and how he can. In a few 

 of the foreign stations, as at Hong Kong and 

 the Cape of Good Hope, rice, sugar, coffee, 

 and salt, in insufficient quantities, are issued as 

 component parts of the ration. In the United 

 States army, the ration is wholly independent 

 of the pay, and consists of the following arti- 

 cles : bread or flour, 1 Ib. 6 oz. ; fresh and salt 

 beef, 1 Ib. 4 oz., or pork or bacon, 12 oz. ; po- 

 tatoes, 1 Ib. three times a week ; rice, 1 T 6 ff oz. ; 



