The Press. — London, England, 1857-11-14 00:00:00

THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 14, 1857. that could be given as a token of affection, and we have no doubt that it will be in ex tensive demand. It is something far better than a drawing-room table book, and we are glad to see that some of the loftiest verses from the " Lyra Innocentium " are in its pages. The poets of Scotland and Ireland have also been selected from, and the " affections" of the United Kingdom in every form of nation ality have not been forgotten by the accom plished editor. England and France before Sebastopol, looked at .from a Medical Point of View. By Charles Bryce, M.D. London : Churchill. THE hygienic history of the Crimean war has yet to be written. We have had every other description of history, from the graphic to the culinary, Put one which would be as inte resting as the most graphic and more practical than the culinary is the history of the health of the allied troops during that eventful period. We want the " medical facts " of the war, and we apprehend they would be found to cover a vast field of observation The subject, we should imagine, would prove not only most interesting, but most valuable as a guide for future occasions. The fact that it is not the bullet hut the fever which more frequently destroys the army and loses the cam paign is becoming recognised. The terrible gaps inflicted in one week by disease upon the ranks of any army, wherever they may be, are frequently more exhaustive than a dozen general actions ; and it is time that we should no longer admit the fact without endeavouring to remedy the evil. The question is, what gives rise to the presence of disease? If we examine the case of the British army in the Crimea, we shall find an excellent illus tration in point. In January, 1855, that army, unequal to the work it had to perform, underfed, badly clothed, and exposed to the bitter climate of the Crimea, out of some 23,000 men, had more than half in hospital. In January, 1856, with an army of 50.000 men, warmly hutted, well clad, and well fed, the health of the troops was as good as if encamped on the heaths of Eng land, and the mortality below that of the home garrisons, or even of urban populations. The inference to be drawn from these facts is too obvious to need comment. So long as the physical machine is ill-treated, it will wear out rapidly or break up altogether, almost with out warning. On the other hand, like Meg's pocket-pistol at Dover— Serve me well and keep me clean, And I'll carry a ball to Calais green ! if served " well" it will work well, and " carry its ball" to any distance required. But, apart from physical considerations, the moral feel ings exercise a great influence over men in masses. Easily depressed when suffering from exposure and hardships, in the first winter, Dr. Bryce tells us, every man who could invalided home. In the winter of 1853.6 every man who could by any possibility escape invaliding and rejoin the army did so, frequently at the expense of truth, if not of his life. Such are tile varied elements to bear weight in the considerations of the general. But to come at once to Dr. Bryce and his little volume, which may be accepted as an avant courier of a more elaborate history of the sani tary condition of the British army, which we are glad to hear is now being prepared, under the supervision of the army medical depart ment. Dr. Bryce does not confine himself solely to an observation of the sanitary condi tion of the British army and the state of the British hospitals ; his remarks include a com parison between the sanitary states of the French and English, made with the view " to fix" the manner and proportion in which the condition of the French army contributed to bring about the peace. "By instituting a full " comparison," observes Dr Bryce, "of the " sanitary state of the English and French " armies at the close of the war, we can best " measure the amount and estimate the causes " of any differences which pre-existed in their respective warlike capabilities" : T liu materials for this analysis and comparision are, for the w impart, the produce of personal observations and We miss that farewell laugh of hers, With its light joyous sound, And the kiss between the balusters, When good-night time comes round. And empty is her little bed, And on her pillow there Must never rest that cherub head With its soft silken hair. The verses are too many to quote at length, but they apply religion as a soother to the grieving parents. The universally admired " draves of a Household," by Mrs. Hemens, finds its appropriate place in this volume, along with other pieces of a similar strain. There are some verses by Caroline Bowles extracted that would do honour to the lyre of Tennyson. Amongst them are the " Address of a Dying Mother to her Infant" : Thou'lt have thy father's eyes, my child—oh ! once how kind they were ! Ills long black lashes, his own smile, and just such raven hair: But here's a mark—poor innocent—he'll love thee for't the less, Like that upon thy mother's cheek his lips were wont to preas. And yet, perhaps, I do him forgot • when ell's But our young loves, in memory's mind—he'll kiss this very spot; Oh, then, my dearest! clasp thine arms about his neck full fast, And whisper that I bless'd him now, and loved him to the last. • • • • And then to place the marriage crown upon that bright young brow; Oh no! not that—'tis full of thorns : alas ! Urn wandering now : This weak, weak head ! this foolish heart ! they'll cheat me to the last— I've been a dreamer all my life, and now that life is past. And bast thou not one look fur me? those little restless eyes • - • - •• Are Wandering, wandering everywhere, the while thy mother dies : And yet, perhaps, thou'rt seeking me—expecting me, mine own I Come, Death, and make me to my child at least in spirit known The volume is specially calculated to please "the female heart." Mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters. will all find some charming passages in which their most sacred feelings have been uttered by minds of genius. Amongst the names of the writers from whom Doctor Mackay has culled his flowers are Caroline Bowles, Lisle Bowles, the Brown ings, W. C. Bryant, Burns, Lord Byron, Campbell, Grace Greenwood, S. T. Coleridge, Eliza Cook (one song, "The Old Arm Chair"), Barry Cornwall, Allan Cunningham, Thomas Davis (two choice pieces), Charles Dibdin, Lady Dufferin, Julian Fane, T. K. and Mrs. T. K. Hervey, Thomas Hood, Longfellow (only one piece, " The Two Angels "), Bulw•er Lytton, Charles Mackay (five pieces), Gerald Massey (five pieces), and Alaric A. Watts, with a whole catalogue of other names too tedious to rehearse. The literature of the volume is beyond doubt of a character far superior to what is usually given iu books of this de scription. The illustrations are engraved by the Dalziels from designs by Alfred Elmore, R.A., Harrison Weir, John Gilbert, Birket Foster, F R. Pickersgill, R.A., John Absolon, .T. E. Millais, J. M. Carrick, and many others. One of the best drawings in the book is 0. Thomas's capital illustration of Charles Dibdin's " Sailor's Journal." It represents a number of sailors drinking their grog, while Nancy's lover is sadly ruminating in the corner of the mess room. It is intended for the illustration of the. lines And now arrived that jovial night When every true-bred tar carouses ; When, o'er the grog, all hands delight To toasts their sweethearts and their spouses. Round went the can, the jest, the glee, While tender wishes fill'd each fancy; And when, in turn, it came to me, I heaved a sigh, and toasted Nancy ! Mr. Millais illustrates " There is nae luck about the house" and " The Border Widow," but his peculiar mode of dealing with light and shade does not toll well in book engravings. Mr. Birket Foster's sea pieces are full of spirit; and, on the whole. though there is inequality in some of the engravings, the illustrations are fertile in thought and happy in execution. The volume altogether is one of the handsomest annuals 1115 extracts from my official reports. In asking leave to make use of these materials in their present shape, I do so in the belief that the publication might still interest the profession, and would, at all events, reveal facts and figures which bear on political questions hitherto discussed with very imperfect information. It is, moreover, a duty and a privilege to vindicate the medical department of the English army from the wrong done it throughout the war by popular comparisons with French military surgeons and hospital management, drawn always to the dispraise of the former. Dr. Bryce, in his opening pages, protests against the censure heaped upon the British and the extreme praise lavished on the French authorities at the commencement of the campaign, and apparently with good reason : The sufferings of the British army and the deat'is from sickness during the first five months of the war w-re, on the instant, proclaimed with an ambitious fulness of de• tails and severity of language that filled England with mingled grief and indignation. France, on the contrary, in camp and country alike, enforced silence of speech and disuse of pens, other than official, concerning the real state of her army. Hence her comparative exemption, at the commencement of the campaign, from many of the evils and hardshina endured by the English troops was through - out Europe placed to the credit of her superior nrlitary system. Few persons reflected that the present expedition was, to the majority of the French troops, metely a change of territory tram Algeria to the Crimes, whither they transported their customary fighting weapons, habits, and provisions, for the conduct of the war; and fewer critics calculated the relation which service bore to ferength, work to numbers, in the respective hosts. The French medical organisation was especially recommended for our install" adoption, on the assumption of its superiority, because fewer deaths were reported in their ranks. And yet the reasonableness of this assumption and the fallacy of the inference are not less doubtful than was the advan tage conferred on the French army and the Emperor by concealment of th.. fact that the sanitary state of Lis troops soon became the very reverse of what was then represented of it. It may, possibly, be still a moot question with some whether the clamorous out-speaking of the English press, or the imposed taciturnity of the French journals, better promoted the general well-being of the two armies in the earlier and later stages of the war. But I venture to think that, after reading the disclosures about to be made, no one will seek to aggravate our imputed medical executive faults and administrative defects on the supposi tion that a frightful mortaliey from diseases was exclusively the lot of the British army. It is not my province. nor do I presume to be the apologist of the undeniable difficulties experienced by the English regimental surgeon in the winter of 1834, from defective supplies of drugs and sick comforts, the consequence of stores missent or improperly stowed on board ship. There is no doubt of the fact that the medical department shared in the general unprepared• ness and miscalculations that depended upon hurried action following unripe deliberations, confused plans, and divergent aims. But tolthe failure to make thistdepart ment the scapegoat for all the sins of all the chiefs and councils at home and abroad, has succeeded the convic tion that no branch of the service, military or civil, die played higher intelligence and heroism, or answered calls of duty more satisfactorily, than did the medical staff of the British army, from the director-general to the acting assistant-surgeon. How urgent these calls, how self sactificing was medical devotion to duty, are proveil by the fact that a larger• proportion of surgeons lost their lives during the war than of any other officers throughout the army. In order to understand the position sought to he taken by Dr. Bryce, it must be remembered that when the allied army landed •in the Crimea, it consisted of 25,000 British and 23,000 French soldiers. Passing over the first winter, and arriving at the termination of the campaign by the capture of Sebastopol in '56, we find the following as the number of British troops despatched to the seat of war, the number killed, &c., and the effective strength of the army at the close of the war : The total strength of th• British force of soldiers, exclusive of officers, origin ally embarked for the East, and added during progress of the war, up to date of evacuation of Crimes .. Reduced by deaths, killed in action, 93,959 and died of wounds Ditt', from disease Ditto, by invaliding Remaining effective strength of Crimean army, non-combatants exclusive, at close of war For the same period, and under almost similar circumstances, and offering almost correlative data, the ..Ifoniteur of October, '56, published a report front the Minister of War containing a similar return : MOUVEMENT DES TROUPES. DEPART. 33,647 Nombre des homilies embargoes en Fr mee 257,3'24 Nombre des homilies embargoes en Algerie 47.9•+4 Nombre des iIOMME embargoes en Corse 1,998 Nombre des hommes embargoes en Italie (divi sion d'occupation) 1,963 Tctal des envois dttroures....