SANITARY COMMISSIONS. 



735 



"Wood, M.D., U. S. A., Washington ; William 

 II. Van Buron, M.I'*., N\-w York; Wolcott 

 Gilbs, M.D., New York; Cornelius R. Agnew, 

 M.D., New York ; George T. Strong. 

 York ; Frederick Law Olmsted, New York ; 

 Samuel G. Howe, M.D., Boston; J. S. New- 

 berry, M.D., Cleveland, Ohio. To these were 

 subscquentlv added Horace Binney, Jr., Phila- 

 delphia; Bt Rev. Thomas M. Clark, D.D., 

 Providence, R. I. ; Hon. Joseph Holt, Ken- 

 tucky ; R. W. Burnett, Cincinnati, Ohio ; Hon. 

 Mark Skinner, Chicago, Illinois ; Rev. John H. 

 Hey wood, Louisville, Kentucky ; Professor 

 Fairman Rogers, Philadelphia ; J. Huntingdon 

 Wolcott. Boston; Charles J. Stille, Philadel- 

 phia ; Ezra B. McCagg, Chicago, 111. ; and 

 nearly six hundred associate members, in all 

 parts of the country. (See AXXUAL CYCLO- 

 PEDIA, 1861, p. 36.) 



It is a matter of wonder that in a field so 

 wholly new the delegation should have so 

 fully comprehended the duties which would 

 be incumbent upon the Commission, and the 

 range of its future operations. There were 

 indeed certain features of its work which, of 

 necessity, could only be developed by the bit- 

 ter experiences through which it was called to 

 pass ; and in the end,- the great lack in the 

 Government Medical Service, compelled it to 

 assume more of the executive and less of the 

 advisory functions. Still it has never failed to 

 bear in mind that it was created to aid by its 

 advice, counsel, and, where needed, its direct 

 help, the medical department of the Govern- 

 ment service, and has ever been ready to with- 

 draw from every duty which that department, 

 under its constantly increasing efficiency, could 

 successfully perform. 



Lender its charter, it at once proceeded to or- 

 ganize its action and to appoint committees 

 from its members to visit every camp, recruiting- 

 post, transport, fort, hospital, and military sta- 

 tion, to ascertain and report ah 1 abuses, and to 

 perfect such organization as might insure a 

 higher degree of health and comfort for the 

 soldiers. 



The medical members of the Commission un- 

 dertook to consider the questions which might 

 arise concerning the diseases of the camp, and 

 their medical and surgical treatment, from the 

 highest scientific point of view ; and guided by 

 the rich and abundant experience of European 

 army surgeons, to prepare brief medical and 

 surgical tracts adapted to the wants of the vol- 

 unteer surgeons of the army. Among these 

 tracts, of which many thousands have been cir- 

 culated, were "Advice as to Camping;" ''Re- 

 port on Military Hygiene and Therapeutics;" 

 '"Dr. Guthrie's Directions to Army Surgeons 

 on the Battle-field ; " " Rules for preserving the 

 Health of the Soldier ; " " Quinine as a Prophy- 

 lactic against Malarious Diseases ; " " Report on 

 the value of Vaccination in Armies ; " " Report 

 oa Amputation ; " " Report on Amputation 

 through the Foot and at the Ankle-joint ; " " Re- 

 port on Venereal Pisea-c- : " " Report on Pneu- 



monia ;" " Report on Continue! '. ' :i Re- 



port on Excision of Joints for Traumatic Cause; " 

 "Report on Dysenter >rt on SCT;: 



" Report on the Treatment of Fractures in Mili- 

 tary E "Report on the Nature and 

 Treatment of Miasmatic Fevers ; " " Report on 

 the Treatment of Yellow Fever ; " " Report on 

 the Treatment of Infectious Diseases." etc. 



Three committees were appointed, one to 

 communicate the matured counsels of the Com- 

 mission to the Government, and procure their 

 ordering by the proper departments ; a second 

 to maintain a direct relation with the army offi- 

 cers and medical men, with the camps and hos- 

 pitals, and by all proper methods to make sure 

 of the carrying out of the sanitary orders of the 

 Medical Bureau and the War Department; and 

 a third to be in constant communication with 

 the State Governments, and the public benevo- 

 lent associations interested in the army. 



This plan of organization was approved by 

 the Secretary of War, on the 13th June, 1861, 

 and on the 21st of that month the Commission 

 issued its first address to the public. This was 

 soon followed by an appeal to the Life Insurance 

 Companies, and another to men of wealth 

 throughout the country for aid in the prosecu- 

 tion of its work. The members of the Commis- 

 sion, as such, received no compensation, but the 

 purposes of the organization would require a 

 very considerable number of paid employes, 

 and would involve heavy expenses for publica- 

 tions and supplies, which could only be pur- 

 chased with money. A considerable number 

 of associate members were elected at this time, 

 who gave their services in raising means for the 

 operations of the Commission, and Ladies' As- 

 sociations, in all parts of the country, prepared 

 clothing and supplies of all sorts, and" forwarded 

 them to its depots. 



The members of the Commission visited, 

 during the summer of 1861, the different camps 

 of the widely-extended armies of the republic, 

 and carefully inspected and reported upon their 

 sanitary condition and needs. 



The necessity of the services of the agents of 

 the Commission on the field immediately after, 

 or, when practicable, during the progress of, im- 

 portant battles, was felt, as soon as such battles 

 occurred. At first, owing to the difficulties 

 of procuring transportation for its supplies to 

 the field, in consequence of the dependence of 

 the Medical Bureau upon the Quartermaster's 

 Bureau for transportation, it could not reach 

 the field so early as its officers desired, and in 

 some of the earlier battles there was gro;, - 

 fering (partially ameliorated, it is true, by indi- 

 vidual effort and enterprise) in consequence. 

 But the Commission soon found it necessary to 

 have its own independent transportation, and 

 this both by land and water ; its hospital trans- 

 ports, its wagons and ambulances, and its am- 

 bulance railroad cars. In July, 1863, it added 

 to these the plan of attaching to each army 

 corps a Superintendent of Relief, with his as- 

 sistants, wagons, ambulances, and supplies, tc 



