(4) 
10.—COMMISSARY STORE ROOMS are mostly in 'basements on the ground 
floor, damp in wet weather and wholly unsuitable. Some inspected 
were in bad condition of order and cleanliness 
11 & 12.-There are no data on file as to deaths of officers and 
soldiers. 
13. -The only desertions were d few in the 25th infantry. Causes 
unknown, all were recaptured. ' 
14. -SPECIAL /DIET in hospitals is generalb/purchased from the 40^ 
allowance and in a few cases from the hospital fund. Articles are most 
ly canned stuffs in the commissary and local purchases of eggs and 
chickens. No complaints have been made. A full report on this sub¬ 
ject was forwarded from this office on March 24, 1902. 
15. —DISCHARGES for disability amounts to about 20 in the 25th 
Infantry. 
16. -DISCIPLINE in the Hospital Corps has been generally good. 
The more work the men have to do the better off they are in this re¬ 
gard. It has always been a question how far we should go in discip¬ 
linary training of the Hospital Corps privates. Their responsible 
duties cannot be properly done if we exact the same discipline needed 
in the ranks, yet the results of )>«£Lng undisciplined men in such 
positions are serious. A short period in the ranks is desired for 
this preliminary training, and the sending of ignorant raw recruits 
from home for duties,which are never trusted to a civilian until at 
least two years of study in a training school, is a bad system. Some 
of the men are too slouchy to be permitted in the Army. 
17. —DISINFECTION has to be limited to boiling articles whenever 
possible, or washing in 5carbolic acid or 1—1000 corrosive sublimate. 
Articles of little value are always burned. Gaseous disinfection 
(formaldehyde and sulphurous acid) are impracticable as there are no 
closed rooms in the tropics, and there is no quicklime, except in 
hermetically sealed cans, as the air moi&sture slakes it. Old slaked 
lime (Hydrate and carbonate) seem to preserve cadavers in the ground 
not b® germicidal action, but apparently cementing them. 
^ Chloride of lime is not practicable as it is liable to lose 
its chlorine as soon as opened. In small quantities as for disinfect¬ 
ing cholera and typhoid dejecta it is excellent. 
18. —NATURAL DRAINAGE in most of this. Brigade is bad as the land is 
a flat valley between the two coast ranges. In severe rains the 
country is all under water. At the stations in the foothills there 
is less trouble. 
i * _ . 
19. -ARTIFICIAL DRAINAGE is confined exclusively to shallow ditches 
and gutters around houses and leading to natural watercourses. Houses 
are never built far from streams, but usually over the edge of banks. 
20. -DRILL has to be limited as the Corps is in very small detach¬ 
ments usually not enough for the litter drill. A half an hour a week 
is all that is necessary and is merely to keep the men from forget¬ 
ting. In active work out here, it is as useless as target practice 
in time of battle. 
21. -DRUNKENNESS is not so. prevalent and is usually a symptom 
of nervous exhaustion from climatic causes, fatigue, nervous strain 
and coarse food. Most of the cases are in men of rather unstable 
nervous system,-the very ones to break down first. It seems that ef¬ 
forts to cure here are futile as the men cannot control themselves 
and humanity demands that they be sent home as soon as the disease 
JL 
Y 
