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" :
Tliu materials for this analysis and comparision are, for
thew impart, the produce of personal observations and