370 



Popular Science Monthly 



Train and Tent Baths in Use by the 

 Russian Army 



FILTH, vermin and disease are 

 among the most deadly foes to 

 which an army is subjected. This is 

 proved by the wars of the last century 

 in all of which far more soldiers died 

 from epidemics than from wounds. 

 The combatants of the present day are 

 more fortunate in these respects than 

 those of the past, for owing to the 

 great advance in sanitary science much 

 better hygienic regulations are en- 

 forced. Many problems, though, are 

 not yet solved, one being that of the 

 personal cleanliness of the men. 

 Among the various methods brought 

 forward to meet this difficulty two of 

 the most ingenious have been devised 

 by the Russians, namely, train and 



into parts not weighing over six hun- 

 dred pounds, which can be transported 

 on two-wheeled carts; the interior is 

 protected from cold, and one hundred 

 men per hour can bathe, have their 

 hair cut and their clothes disinfected. 

 There are two concentric tents sup- 

 ported by the same center-pole. The 

 inner tent forms the steam-chamber, 

 where fifty men at a time can have a 

 steam bath. The circular corridor be- 

 tween the two tents is divided into 

 five compartments, two dressing 

 rooms, a mechanical hair-cutting sec- 

 tion, a laundry for towels, etc., and a 

 disinfecting chamber with four disin- 

 fecting appliances. The men 

 enter the first dressing room, 

 pass their tagged clothing into 



The Russians have devised as many sanitary short cuts and mechanical engines of war as 



any of the rattling nations. Here is a picture of one of the big tents which help to make 



cleanliness possible to soldiers who come from the muddy trenches 



tent baths. The bath train consists of 

 a series of cars, one for dressing, one 

 for disinfecting the clothing with 

 formalin at a temperature of two hun- 

 dred and twelve degrees, another for 

 the baths, still another for putting on 

 clean underwear and the disinfected 

 uniforms, and a final one for rest and 

 refreshment. The equipment of such 

 a train costs about tw^enty-five thou- 

 sand dollars to thirty-five thousand 

 dollars and baths can be given to from 

 two thousand to three thousand men a 

 day at a monthly expense of about five 

 thousand dollars. 



The tent has the advantage over the 

 train that it can be set up at the actual 



the disinfecting chamber and enter the 

 hair-cutting section where one man's 

 hair is cut per minute, and then go into 

 the steam chamber. The temperature 

 here is one hundred and twenty to 

 one hundred and fifty degrees ; there 

 are hot and cold water cocks, pails for 

 the men to use, and benches — not tubs. 

 After half an hour the men enter the 

 second dressing room and receive their 

 disinfected clothing at the window. Be- 

 sides the heat supplied by the various 

 appliances, four stoves warm the exte- 

 rior corridor. 



While the expense of maintaining this 

 institution may seem high, it is more 



front. It can be raised and struck than offset by the advantages derived in 

 easily, the equipment can be separated the way of sanitation. 



