Observations on the 



Russo-Japanese War 8i 



a few medical cases, and of these scarcely 

 a baker's dozen came under the heading 

 of " Diseases of the digestive system." 

 Therein lies one of the greatest secrets 

 of the Japanese success. Napoleon never 

 made a more truthful statement than 

 when he said : "An army fights on its 

 belly." The Japanese have that belly, 

 and they take good care to keep it in 

 fighting order, not by insulting it three 

 times a day by cramming it with mate- 

 rial totally unsuited to the soldier's ne- 

 cessities, thereby exciting irritations and 

 disease, but by supplying it with a plain, 

 palatable, easily prepared and easily di- 

 gested ration that can be thoroughly 

 metabolized and converted into the 

 health and energy that make its owner 

 the ideal fighting machine of the world 

 today. 



The organization of the medical de- 

 partment of the Japanese army and navy 

 is modeled after that of the Germans, 

 with many added improvements. Too 

 much praise cannot be bestowed upon 

 the medical department of the army and 

 navy for their splendid preparatory work 

 in this war. The Japanese are the first 

 to recognize the true value of an army 

 medical corps. The medical officer is 

 omnipresent. You will find him in 

 countless places where in an American 

 or British army he has no place. He is 

 as much at the front as in the rear. He 

 is with the first screen of scouts with his 

 microscope and chemicals, testing and 

 labeling wells so the army to follow shall 

 drink no contaminated water. When 

 the scouts reach a town he immediately 

 institutes a thorough examination of its 

 sanitary condition, and if contagion or 

 infection is found he quarantines and 

 places a guard around the dangerous 

 district. Notices are posted, so the ap- 

 proaching column is warned, and no 

 soldiers are billeted where danger exists. 

 Microscopic blood tests are made in all 

 fever cases and bacteriological experts, 

 fully equipped, form part of the staff of 

 every divisional headquarters. 



The medical officer is also found in 

 camp, lecturing the men on sanitation 

 and the hundred and one details of per- 

 sonal hygiene — how to cook, to eat, and 

 when not to drink, to bathe, and even 

 to the direction of the paring and cleans- 

 ing of the finger nails to prevent danger 

 from bacteria. Up to August i, 9,682 

 cases had been received at the reserve 

 hospital at Hiroshima, of whom 6,636 

 were wounded. Of the entire number 

 up to that time only 34. had died. 



It is the rule of the Japanese surgeons 

 at the front to do little or no operating 

 except in cases of extreme emergency or 

 where hemorrhage threatens immediate 

 death. All cases are treated by the ap- 

 plication of the first aid dressing and 

 then sent to the rear as quickly as pos- 

 sible, thence by hospital boat or trans- 

 port to the base hospitals in Japan. 



If the testimony of those conversant 

 with the facts can be accepted, supple- 

 mented from my own limited observa- 

 tions, the loss from preventable diseases 

 in the first six months of this terrible 

 conflict will be but a fraction of 1 per 

 cent. This, too, in a country notori- 

 ously insanitary. Compare this with 

 the fearful losses of the British from 

 preventable diseases in South Africa, 

 or, worse, with our own losses in the 

 Spanish- American war — where, in a 

 campaign the actual hostilities of which 

 lasted six weeks, the mortality from 

 bullets and wounds was 268, while that 

 from disease reached the appalling num- 

 ber of 3,862, or about 14 to 1, or 70 per 

 cent — 1 per cent against 70 per cent. 



Naturally one asks, Were these re- 

 sults anticipated ? As an answer, the 

 statement of a distinguished Japanese 

 officer, when discussing with me the 

 subject of Russia's overwhelming num- 

 bers, is pertinent. "Yes," he said, 

 ' ' we are prepared for that. Russia may 

 be able to place 2,000,000 men in the 

 field. We can furnish 500,000. You 

 know in every war four men die of dis- 

 ease for every one who falls from bul- 



