The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-28 00:00:00

seam+, lie c'e ',ea has considerably increased, and as
many as 18 (leases, and 52 cases under treatment, have
been reported within the last twenty-four hours.
The 4th, including the Buffs and 71st, the 2,1 and the
Light Divisions, with B G and P batteries of Artillery
suffered most ; but as yet the disease can hardly be said
to exist in the cavalry, Ist and 3d Divisions, nor in the
siege train. This exemption, however, there is reason
to apprehend, will not be of any very ing duration.
Hitherto the disease has chiefly attacked new corners,
and many of the cases have occurred when the men were
either actually in the trenches, or immediately after their
return from duty in them. This may have been owing
to the combined causes of fatigue and local miasma, but
to neither in particular ; for we find the men of the
B G and P batteries, who never go into the trenches
at all, and who are not overworked, have suffered
nearly as much as any others. All the men attacked in
them, with I believe one exception, had recently arrived
in the Crimea. In the P battery two of the men at-
tacked bad only just landed; one I think had been about
24 and the other 36 hours on shore when they were
attacked, and in both the disease followedintensperance.
The weather, which for some days previous to the 10th
had been extremely warm, was followed on that day by
heavy rain which continued, alternating with periods of
dense fog during the whole of the 11th and 12th, but it
has now cleared up again, and the temperature has been
considerably reduced.
The Buffs and 71st, which had only just marched up
to their new encamping-ground before the rain set in,
were ill prepared for such an occurrence ; and their
tents, which had not been properly trenched, were
speedily flooded.*
The 48th Regiment, in the 4th Division, and the 2d
battalion of the Royals, in the 2d Division, both newly
arrived regiments, had been a few days longer in camp
and were somewhat better prepared, but the sites of their
camps are not good, nor are those of the Buffs or 71st
either. The 48th are on a level piece of ground, where
the 63d hospital establishments were in the winter ;
the soil is tenacious and the water lodges in pools,
and remains until evaporated by the sun's rays.
The Buffs and 2d battalion of the Royals are on low
ground between the 2d and 4th Divisions, with the
same disadvantages as the 48th ; the 71st occupy rather
better ground, as their tents are pitched just where the
ground begins to rise to form the bill on which the huts
of the 14th and 39th have been built ; but I think all
these regiments might be removed with great advantage
to their health to the higher and drier ground, and I
hope, from the short distance, without any very material
detriment to their military position.
The health of the Ist Division continues to improve,
and the number of fever cases in the 79th and 93d is
considerably reduced. The men are well supplied, and
the duties and fatigues comparatively light.
In the left Giese train and attack some cases of low
continued fever have occurred, arising, Mr. Elliot the
Superintending Surgeon thinks, from fatigue in the
heat of the day and exposure to the attacks at
night. Two serious accidents have occurred during the
week, one requiring amputation of the thigh, on account
of cannon shot injury of the knee; the other an injury of
the foot, occasioned by the same shot, requiring removal
of the heel and a bone adjoining it, called the astragalus.
These injuries occurred on the 7th, and are both doing well.
There is another interesting case in the hospital of the
left siege train, where the greater part of the lower jaw
on both sides was carried away by a cannon shot. This
case, under the able and indefatigable care of Staff-
Assistant-Surgeon A. H. Taylor, is rapidly proceeding
to a cure ; and, by judiciously drawing the parts toge-
ther, the deformity will by no means be so considerable
as might be imagined. The man is now walking
about, and though he as yet requires to be fed through
a tube, he is able to smoke his pipe.
The Cavalry Division is improving in health. There
are fewer fever cases ; and the man of the 13th Light
Dragoons, who last week was considered in a hopeless
state is, I am glad to say, progressing favourably.
The 10th Hussars is the only regiment in the Cavalry
Division that has anything like a heavy sick list, and
they are suffering from dysentery contracted in Egypt,
and kept up by sleeping on the ground here after the
comforts of Indian barrack life.
In the 2d Division, febrile complaints still continue to
be the most numerous class of diseases, but bowel affec-
tions are becoming more common, and spasmodic cholera
has made its appearance • eighteen cases have occurred
during the week, of which seven proved fatal.
In the 3d Division, although there is no marked
diminution in the number of sick, the decreased mor-
tality marks a mitigation in the form of fever that is
prevailing. The mortality this week is only half what it
was last week.
4th Division—Cholera has made its appearance in this
division during the week, and thirteen cases have oc-
curred, seven of which died, and four of them belonged
to the 48th Regiment.
On the night of the 11th the Russians made a sortie,
and 1 officer and 5 men of the 68th were killed, and
22 men were wounded—amongst the latter is a case of
musket bullet lodged in the brain. The man must have
been shot from above, as the ball entered the upper part
of the head and lodged. The trephine was applied and
several spiculi of bone,that had been driven down, removed,
but the ball wry so deeply embedded in the brain it could
not be discovered. He is still alive, but there is little or
no hope of his ultimate recovery.
LIGHT DIVISION.
In this division, as in all others, fever is the prevalent
disease, but only two deaths have occurred from it dur-
ing the week. Seven men have died from wounds and
two of cholera one in the 77th and the other in the 23d
Regiment. Fifty, five cases of gun-shot wounds were ad-
mitted during the week, the greater portion of them fresh
wounds. Of the seven deaths that occurred, one was a
wound of • the lung, one a wound of the abdomen, in
chic h the small intestines were wounded ; one a frac-
ture of the skuil by a musket ball, another a severe
fracture of the thigh and ankle by the bursting of a shell,
besides bullet wounds through both arms There was a
second case of injury of the head, as well as a second of
injury of the lungs. The seventh death is not detailed.
Every precaution is being taken to remove nuisances
from the camps and their neighbourhoods, and to im-
prove their sanitary condition, as well as that of the
locality, and in this the sanitary commissioners sent out
from Eugland afford their cordial assis
ALL,
tance.—l have,
es
St, J. H
Inspector-General of Hospitals.
To Field-Marshal Lord Raglan, G.C.8.,
Commandine-in-Chief.

* The camps of the Buffs, 48th, and 71st have all been
changed to the only available sites, but to a greater distance
to where their services will be required ; and it is altogether
problematical what degree of benefit may be derived.
All the ground is now dry.
Although the weather was beautiful when these regiments
encamped, the rain came on with its usual suddenness and
violence, causing the mud to be nearly a foot
that must be deep ovseen
the
whole surface of the country, in a manner
to be believed. They bad no time to intrench
lstheir tents,
although they were suppl with the proper too.
JAMES Stumm, Chief of the Staff.