FIELD HOSPITAL 



FIELD MADDER 



Field Hospital. Popular name 

 for the clearing hospital, the near- 

 est stationary, but mobile, medical 

 institution to the actual battle line. 

 A clearing hospital 

 is established by 

 the Eoyal Army 

 Medical Corps ', 

 attached to each 

 division in the 

 field, and is situ- 

 ated in buildings 

 schools or similar 

 structures for pre- 

 ference in civil- 

 ized country, or in 

 tents and mar- 

 quees when no 

 better accommo- 

 dation is a vaila ble. 

 Technically, it 

 forms a unit of the 

 evacuating zone, and is preferably 

 placed out of the enemy's range, 

 and near rail-head, but should 

 be as close to the firing line as is 

 practicable, and must be in touch 

 with the field ambulances. The 

 normal accommodation is for 200 

 casualties, but the equipment and 

 organization must be such that 

 far larger numbers can be dealt 

 with if occasion demands. 



It is the central point on which 

 a definite section of the collecting 

 zone converges, and the station to 

 which the field ambulances bring 

 casualties,and from which the latter 

 are dispatched by ambulance train 

 or water transport to the stationary 

 hospitals. Transport for the hos- 

 pital and for the wounded it has 

 received are arranged by the 

 inspector-general of communica- 

 tions. A clearing hospital only acts 

 as a hospital in the generally 

 accepted sense of t-he term during 

 such time as it is unable to pass 

 its patients farther down the line, 

 and for such casualties as are unfit 

 to be moved. See Ambulance; 

 Red Cross. 



Fielding, HENRY (1707-54). 

 English novelist. Born near Glas- 

 tonbury, April 22, 1707, a scion of 

 the Denbigh 

 family, he was 

 educated a t 

 Eton and at 

 the university 

 of Leiden, 

 studying civil 

 law. Coming 

 to London 

 about the age 

 of 20, he gave 

 up his legal 

 studies and 

 began to work 

 for the stage. 

 He wrote a number of farces and 

 other light pieces whick have all 

 passed into the limbo of literary curi- 

 osities. Called to the bar in 1740, 



he was appointed justice of the peace 

 for Westminster in 1749 and proved 

 a conscientious and painstaking 

 magistrate. His private life, how- 



Entrance to a clearing bos 

 Front during the Great 



ever, had not been beyond reproach 

 and careless living had undermined 

 his originally strong constitution. 

 He died at Lisbon, 

 whither he had 

 gone for his health, 

 Oct. 8, 1754. 



Fielding's first 

 novel, Joseph 

 Andrews, ap- 

 peared in 1742. 

 It began as a de- 

 liberate caricature 

 of Richardson's 

 Pamela, then just 

 published. As the 

 narrative pro- 

 gressed, Fielding 

 became interested 

 in his characters ; 

 the caricature fades into the back- 

 ground, and the result is a human 

 and lifelike story. Joseph Andrews 

 was followed in 1743 by Jonathan 

 Wild, a grim portrayal of the career 

 of a consummate scoundrel. Then 

 in 1749 came Tom Jones, which 

 some critics regard as the greatest 

 novel ever written. The plot is a 

 masterpiece of construction, the 

 narrative is Homeric in its power to 

 sustain interest, while the intensely 

 lifelike characters the hard-drink- 

 ing, hard-swearing Squire Western, 

 his beautiful and lovable daughter 

 Sophia, the hypocrite Blifil, the 

 egregious humbugs Thwackem and 

 Square, and the ingenuous Part- 

 ridge will live for ever. 



Fielding's last novel, Amelia, 

 1751, is subdued in tone as com- 

 pared with the boisterous high 

 spirits of Tom Jones. It is to a 

 certain extent autobiographical,the 

 original of the erring Captain Booth 

 being Fielding himself. Amelia was 

 the favourite novel of Thackeray, 

 who gives a masterly appreciation 

 of Fielding in his English Humour- 

 ists. See English Literature ; Novel ; 

 consult also The History of Henry 

 Fielding, W. L. Cross, 1919. 



Fielding, WILLIAM STEVENS (b. 

 1848). Canadian statesman. Born 

 at Halifax, Nov. 24, 1848, he be- 

 came a journal- 

 ist. In 1882 he 

 entered the 

 legislature o f 

 Nova Scotia, 

 and from 1884- 

 96 was prime 

 minister of 



that province. H^MK'^/ t%. "V; 

 In 1896 he 

 entered the W. S. Fielding, 

 Dominion par- Canadian statesman 

 liament, and Ruisel1 



from 1896-1911 was minister of 

 finance in the Laurier cabinet, 

 being responsible for tariff changes. 

 In 1921 he again became minister 

 of finance. 



Field Kitchen. Boiler and self- 

 contained furnace mounted on 

 wheels for horsed transport. It is 

 sufficiently mobile to move with 



Field Kitchen, of British Army pattern, in use on the 

 Western Front during the Great War ; 



marching infantry. Field kitchuas 

 enable soup and stews to be cooked 

 while on the march. See Supply. 

 Field Madder (Sherardia arven- 

 sis). Annual bristly herb of the 

 natural order Rubiaceae. It is a 

 native of Europe, Asia, and the 

 Canaries. Its trailing stems, a foot 

 or more in length, spread from the 

 root, and are clothed with whorls of 

 sharp-pointed lance-shaped leaves. 

 The lilac funnel-shaped flowers are 

 about in. across. It grows in corn- 

 fields and pastures. 



Field Madder. Spray of foliage and 

 flower, and a detached leaf 



