988 VETEEINAEY HYGIENE 



on the graveyard area by rain, and cause it to percolate 

 through the soil rather than run over the surface. Later 

 on, as labour becomes available, the carcases may be 

 buried, or, in hot countries if they have shrunk up and 

 dried, they may then be easily burned, the tissues supplying 

 their own fuel once the water is lost by drying.* 



The collection of the dead may, under certain circum- 

 stances, have to be undertaken. If recently dead they 

 can, with considerable labour, be hauled away, for no 

 other form of transport is likely to be available. If 

 decomposed, the tissues will not stand being dragged on, 

 but the carcase may be placed on a raw hide to which the 

 traces are attached, and so taken to some specially selected 

 collecting area. 



It is useless a Stationary Hospital being established 

 away from a source of water-supply, for the time occupied 

 in watering some hundreds of cases prevents the ordinary 

 work of the hospital being conducted. If a river is used 

 for watering, the part selected is below that from which 

 the water for the troops is drawn. If the banks of the 

 river are steep and deep, the debility cases will not have 

 strength to pull themselves up, so an easy road down must 

 be made. If water can be pumped up from the river to 

 troughs on its bank it is an immense advantage, and, 

 under any circumstances, whether the supply be from river 

 or pond, watering should take place on the bank and not 

 in the water, which, otherwise is kept in a constant 

 condition of muddiness through being churned up by the 

 horses' feet. The watering can be carried out by means of 

 nose-bags if there is no pump or trough. 



The proximity of water is also essential for the washing 

 of wounds and of skin cases — in fact, unless an ample 

 supply exists the place is unsuitable for a hospital. 



The splashing of mud during washing wounds of the 



* I am indebted to Colonel Plintoff, D.S.O., late A.V.D., for this sug- 

 gestion, imported from South America, where dried portions of animal 

 remains are in certain places used as fuel. During the war in South 

 Africa, he burned in this way the dried remains of hundreds of horses. 



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