558 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL VI. No. 1197 



the government, and spent the summer at Fort 

 Benjamin Harrison in the Medical Officers' Train- 

 ing Corps. Quite recently he was detailed to take 

 charge of a large military hospital at Camp 

 Wheeler, Macon, Ga., and here in the performance 

 of strenuous military service he fell a victim to 

 pneumonia. During his brief but brUliant career 

 he attained eminence as a devoted laboratory 

 worker, a skilful experimenter, a broadly trained 

 clinician, and a forceful writer, while his untimely 

 death places his name among the first on his coun- 

 try's honor roll in the great war. 



MEDICAL INSPECTION OF CAMP WHEELER 



Major-General "William C. Gorgas, surgeon 

 general of the army, has returned from an in- 

 spection trip to Camp Wheeler, Macon, Ga. 

 His report to the chief of staff is in full as 

 follows : 



Ib my recent inspection of Camp Wheeler at 

 Macon, Ga., I found conditions as had been indi- 

 cated by reports. There had been a sharp epi- 

 demic of measles, some 3,000 cases, and, as always 

 occurs with measles, a certain number of cases of 

 pneumonia. At the time of my visit, there were 

 some 300 cases of pneumonia in the hospital. 

 While the hospital was crowded, the right of way 

 was given the pneumonia cases, and they were 

 being well cared for. 



In the past month there have been about 60 

 deaths from pneumonia. The height of the 

 measles epidemic was passed some 10 days ago, 

 and at the time of my visit the epidemic was 

 markedly on the decline, but the pneumonia does 

 not develop until a week or 10 days after the inci- 

 dence of the measles. 



We can therefore expect a considerable number 

 of deaths from pneumonia. 



The camp is well situated and was in generally 

 good condition. I think the reason for the measles 

 affecting so severely this particiilar camp is the 

 fact that the men came from the surrounding 

 southern states which are sparsely settled and 

 therefore the inhabitants do not, as a rule, have 

 measles in childhood. 



A large proportion of the cases of pneumonia 

 were evidently contact cases, and I am anxious on 

 this score, fearing that we may be beginning here 

 an epidemic and septic pneumonia. We have had 

 a few cases of meningitis, a few cases of scarlet 

 fever and some cases of mumps. 



Whatever the original cause of the epidemic and 

 the present conditions, all these evils are accentu- 



ated by the crowded condition of the camp. The 

 tendency to pneumonia has no doubt been increased 

 by the fact that the men have generally been ex- 

 posed to the cold weather of the past month with 

 no other protection than their simimer clothing. 

 Clothing is now rapidly coming into camp, and 

 about two thirds of the men are supplied with 

 woolen garments. 



I recommend that it be insisted upon that all 

 men in the camp have 50 feet of floor space each 

 and, to accomplish this, that such additional 

 shelter be supplied as may be necessary; that no 

 fresh men be brought into the camp until the 

 epidemic has subsided; that an observation camp 

 be established; and that aU new men be kept 

 under observation until the main camp is free from 

 infection. 



Accompanying General Gorgas were Colonel 

 Dean C. Howard, of the Regular Army, re- 

 cently health officer at the Canal Zone, where 

 he was in charge of civil sanitation; Major 

 Victor C. Vaughan, Marine Officers' Eeserve 

 Corps, professor of hygiene at the University 

 of Michigan, dean of its medical faculty and 

 president of the Michigan State board of 

 health ; Major William H. Welch, Marine Offi- 

 cers' Reserve Corps, professor of pathology at 

 John Hopkins University and dean of its 

 school of hygiene; and Major Theodore C. 

 Janeway, Marine Officers' Reserve Corps, pro- 

 fessor of medicine at Johns Hopkins. 



Steps have already been taken to separate 

 the men to a greater degree. By the use of 

 tents which were held for new men due to be 

 called to the camp and with 1,000 additional 

 tents immediately shipped, the number of men 

 per tent can be reduced from nine to five. As 

 new men come other tents will be provided for 

 them. All the new arrivals will be kept away 

 from men who have been some time in camp 

 to minimize the danger of contagion. This 

 carries out Gen. Gorgas's recommendation that 

 an observation camp be established for new 

 men. 



The supplying of sufficient clothing has been 

 delayed by the necessity of equipping first 

 those divisions in northern latitudes and those 

 which have been sent abroad. The men at 

 Camp Wheeler now have a good supply of 

 warm underwear and heavy outside clothing 



