534 



NATURE 



[June 24, 1920 



"on which" (we are informed by high authority) "the 

 army marches " likewise gave cause for the most 

 careful study and preparation. In the past the mili- 

 tary ration had been arranged upon more or less 

 empirical lines after actual test marches. During the 

 war, however, the menace of a national shortage of 

 food and the importance of avoiding waste led to more 

 exact studies of the needs of the troops by a detailed 

 assessment of their actual energy output by the 

 method of indirect calorimetry. Snnultaneously with 

 these studies, the assessment of the needs of the civil 

 population by the Royal Society (War) Committee 

 furnished information of incalculable value both for 

 the future and, indeed, for the present time oi world 

 shortage. 



It was a matter of no little difficulty to provide 

 the many varied rations required by different peoples in 

 different theatres at differing seasons and under varied 

 military conditions ; but, speaking generally, the Army 

 of eight and a half millions had throughout been fed 

 in such a manner as to enable it to fight effectively, to 

 provide the energy and heat required, and to avoid 

 outbreaks of disease traceable to the diet, with the 

 exception of minor outbreaks of neuritis and scorbutic 

 cases in those most distant areas — Mesopotamia and 

 North Russia. In these localities the difficulty of at 

 once arranging for local produce in severe climatic 

 extremes and the dependence on preserved supplies 

 from home were accountable for the outbreaks in 

 question. Steps were quickly taken, however, to 

 provide the necessary accessory food factors, at first 

 by germinating pulses and by yeast, later by the 

 intensive cultivation locally of fresh foodstuffs- 

 measures which proved of great value both to the 

 native inhabitants and to the troops. 



The question of water-supply is one of the first 

 importance. During the few years before the war 

 experimental work on the various physical and 

 chemical means of sterilisation — or at least of purifica- 

 tion — of water had been carried out in several direc- 

 tions. Just prior to the war dependence had largely 

 been placed on the use of filter-candles, but they were 

 found to be unsuitable for active service conditions, 

 and were replaced in every case by chlorination. The 

 net result of war experience was the undoubted value 

 for sterilisation purposes of. chloride of lime in the 

 form of bleaching powder. This substance, as is 

 generally known, contains from 30 to 33 per cent, of 

 available chlorine, which in turn liberates nascent 

 oxygen in water, and this is effectively lethal to micro- 

 organisms. Chloride of lime was used throughout the 

 war as the means of dealing with all water-supply, 

 either in bulk, as in the big "water-points," or regi- 

 mentally in water-carts, pakhals, or containers of 

 different shapes and sizes. As the war proceeded the 

 need for the provision to advancing troops of properly 

 treated water in large quantities led to the develop- 

 ment of special Water-tank Companies. These units 

 — first recommended in France by our own sanitary 

 advisers — are capable of collecting, filtering under 

 pressure through sand, sterilising by chlorine gas (by 

 means of an ingenious regulator), and transporting 

 large quantities of water wherever the motor-lorry 

 (which was their basis) could move. In the same 

 way barges for use along the waterways of the 

 various theatres of war were developed. As an 

 example, it may be mentioned that the ordinary barge 

 of Northern France would deal with — and deliver — 

 5000 gallons of pure, sterile, and tasteless water per 

 hour; any suggestion of flavour of chlorine was 

 removed by a "dechlorinating " process with sulphur 

 dioxide gas. 



These new water units proved of immense value, and 

 are effective against mineral poisons as well as against 

 NO. 2643, VOL. 105] 



bacterial or protozoal contamination. To meet the 

 varying requirements of the different waters utilised 

 in, e.g., France or Egypt or Murmansk, different 

 amounts of "bleach" were needed. The estimation 

 of the required quantity would have been a 

 matter of some difficulty but for the provision of a 

 special test in the form of the "Horrock's Test 

 Case," the action of which is based on the known 

 fact that, generally speaking, i part per million of 

 free chlorine suffices to ensure bacterial sterilisation 

 in water, and that before this amount of free chlorine 

 is available a certain varying amount will be used up 

 indirectly in the oxidation of organic matter and the 

 ordinary non-pathogenic or saprophytic organisms. 

 Similarly, in view of the possibility of mineral poisons, 

 medical officers were supplied with test cases to detect 

 arsenic and the other commoner metallic poisons. Of 

 the detail of the water organisation there is barely time 

 to speak here. It is perhaps enough to say that, 

 despite the variety of the theatres of war and the 

 possible contaminations in these various areas, there 

 was no outbreak of those water-borne diseases which 

 have been so destructive to armies in the past. In 

 this connection it may be of interest to add that the 

 success of water chlorination in the field led to its 

 adoption in certain major schemes at Boulogne and 

 Rouen, where, for example, we were enabled to 

 undertake chlorination of the municipal water- 

 supplies, and so satisfactory was this that laboratory 

 tests showed the tap-water of Boulogne, drawn at 

 random some few weeks after the scheme was 

 initiated, to be absolutely sterile. It is interesting 

 to note that the American Forces adopted a similar 

 scheme in a number of the larger towns in France 

 occupied by their troops with equally good results. 

 It is necessary to say how much of the excellence of 

 the water arrangements was due to the high 

 technical skill of the Royal Engineers in their very 

 difficult task of providing the huge quantities required. 

 In many cases this necessitated the actual boring of 

 wells and the pumping forward to large " water- 

 points," even in some cases to the trenches, by means 

 of rapidly laid pipe-lines. During the offensive in the 

 summer of 1918 the Third Army advanced through a 

 waterless zone having a frontage of 12 miles and a 

 depth of 20 miles ; water was obtained by means of 

 6-in. bore-holes sunk by the Royal Engineers in the 

 chalk, which yielded 9000 gallons per hour. Alto- 

 gether, 500,000 gallons were obtained daily from the 

 bore-holes and distributed to the troops by the Water- 

 tank Companies. This method was continued until 

 the enemy's water system was available. 



I would now briefly touch on the question of air 

 and ventilation. At an early date after the Crimea it 

 was recognised that " spacing out " of men in barracks 

 was essential, and the Army Regulations were framed 

 to give every man a space of 600 cub. ft., or, assuming 

 a 10 ft. high room, 60 sq. ft. of floor-space. This very 

 excellent decision was in itself sufficient to reduce 

 markedly the sick-rate and death-rate from tubercular 

 and other respiratory diseases ; and, in view of latter- 

 day knowledge, was a remarkable piece of foresight. 

 One need scarcely recall Pfliiger's experiments on 

 droplet infection, and how he showed the range of 

 such infection from mouth to mouth to be somewhere, 

 within i| metres — in other words, that that range 

 should represent the minimum proximity of men's 

 heads in barracks or beds. The importance of that 

 knowledge had not, perhaps, been fully realised, or, 

 at any rate, had been submerged by reason of national 

 necessity. Two instances have, however, recently 

 shown that the principle involved — now known as 

 "spacing-out" — cannot be disregarded. These^ were 

 (i) the cerebro-spinal meningitis outbreak, starting in 



