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headquarters second separate brigade. 
OFFICE OP the CHIEF SURGEON, 
San Fernando, Pampanga, P.I., June BO, 1902 
To the : 
. Chief surgeon. 
Department North Philippines, 
Manila, P.I. 
Sir 
l s - 
I 
In compliance with your letter of February 3, 1902, I have 
the honor to submit the following report of the Medical Da nraent, 
01 the Second Separate Rrigade, for the yea-* ending June so. 190? 
consolidated from reports of station surgeons and information 
gathered at inspections:— 
1. -AMBULANCES are all in bad condition as the climate is rapid¬ 
ly destructive, and the life of any vehicle is probably one fourth 
or one fifth of what it is at home. They are generally housed and 
have been and are o? great use. It has been necessary to use them 
,.or other passengers than the sick, and this practice is not ob¬ 
jectionable as they are always available. Animals and harness are 
m possession of the Quartermaster’s Department at all small stations. 
t 
2. —bakeries arc generally of the field type recently supplied, 
a few brick oven of simple construction have been built and are 
itislactory. Native troops do not know how to use an oven and 
do not use the bakery, though they like bread and should have it. 
It was recommended to the adjutant' General of the Brigade that a 
baker be sent to each Native company to teach them how to make bread. 
3. -ROOKS, and files of papers arc very few and have no protection 
.from dampness or Insects and will not last long. The metric system 
is a blunder and a failure as it is dangerous and impractical. It 
has to be followed in compliance with orders, but it is not under¬ 
stood by a majority of privates to whom we are compelled to ^ive 
nursing directions in plain English measures. Men arrive in the 
Islands who have never heard of a metre, gramme or litre, and on 
ten times the amount of 
736,110 /- ne ordered, as he was not an expert o.r> decimals. Medical 
Of-icers have to oe constantly on the!-** guard to protect the sick 
froiii this danger and pratically have to think in two systems al¬ 
ways. It will never be universal, as it is unnatural to divide by 
tenths, the natural way is >y 1/2, 1/4, and 1/8. It is proper and 
indispensable for science but unwholly unsuited for unscientific 
and common people who invariably, when they have forced on them, 
devise new measures, like demi—litre, more convenient. 
The whole of our country is divided into square sections of 
a mile, and these in quarters by halving the sides, and the number 
^ ,"? rR l lr : * Kile 640 > because it can be easily divided by 2, 
lr,o ,16,38,64, etc. i The quarter section is 190 acres and when again 
a ^ aln subdivided each square is a furlong on the side and is 
a ten—acre lot. Tni^- will never be changed, the roads and houses 
are on section lines and as long as there is an American in the west . 
ne will always say the roads are one-mile apart and he owns a 
quarter section of 160 acres. He win never use fractions of a 
t ._iioi etoe. Hence the chance of having the metric system intro¬ 
duced is nothing and we ought to go back to Anglo-Saxon, grains 
yards and pounds in the Medical Department, so we can agree with 
Americans, and be understood. Nearly all English Medical literature 
is in English measures and it is a waste of time to /a.lway s/6^ trans— 
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