The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-10-05
Rirhmonh 0ispatfb.
SATURDAY MuRNING......o OCT. ). 1855,
TERMS OF THE DISPATCH,

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L"DGiSa, F0op, AND DREss OF SOLDIERS.
There have been works enough published or
this subject in England to enlighten and direct
those whose department embraces the sani,ar,
condition of the army, the organization oi
military hospitals, and the treatment of The
siek and wounded. Some instructive facts
mentioned in a publication on this subject s.s
not without interest
Judged hy their appearance, her Maiestys
Foot Guards ought to be the beathiest men
in Great Britain. They are said to be re
crnited at the age of nineteen, from the a.ri-
cultural population, ami suh's:ted to the mos,
thorough examination by the inspecting sui
geon before they can wear The uniform. They
are quartered in the Immediate neighborhood
of the palace, we'll clothed, fed, housed, and
tended in sickness, and only in the face ot
great emergencies required to go on foreign
service. Yet the per ccntage of death in the,
ranks is greater than that of the unhealthest
trades in England, anI even of other soldiers
in the British array, who take their turn in AL
climates. This Is shown by our author in the
following table, which gives the number
per thousand who die every year among the
army i'll Great Britain and among the male
civilians of England and Wales at army
ages:
Household Cavalry ry.............ll.o
Dragon Guards and Dragons. 1873
Foot Guards. s.............-.-.......2 .2u.4
Infantry Of the line.
Population of England and Wales, at ARMY
ages
Town and country population.... 90
Country alone. -
One Of the unhealthert towns at arruv
ages:
Manchester ..-...................l2.4
According to a reliable calculation, the NOR
tality Of the Household Cavalry is A., Ora
Soons. &c, 2l-5, Line, 1910, and Guards,
liz times as great as the mortality of the
agricultural laborers who are members of
friendly societies. Well may the Comnlission-
ers, contemplating these returns, remark:
THAT in war men should die from ex-
posrre, from fatigue. from insufficient sup
plies Is intelllgibie or that the occupation
OF a town of 81, ,orh i'll ha bitauts by an army of
10000 men, without any sanitary precautlo
suddenly doubling the population of the area
and thereby halving the proportion of every
accommodation, supplies, water, drai mage
sewerage, &C., dc should engender disease
is readily undersioo but the problem sub
n fn} iS IN ffp,l .5..F
tality more than double that of civil l..
among $1,000 men, scattered. in numbers sell
dom exceeding thousand in one place,
among a population of = oon, 900, in time OF
profound peace, in a country which is
only the healthiest, hut which possesses tl.
greatest facility of communication and the
greatest abundance of supply i'll Europe
1t will be observed that the foot soldiers
though recruited from the same source and
breathing the same atmosphere. suiier a rate
of mortality much higher than The cavalry
The causes Of The difference are attributed hv
the Writer-to whom We are indebted for
these faets-so "v-r-crnwding and the want of
due exercise and employment. Ih.. principal
diseases i'll the English army are fever and
r"nsuInption The latter being the prevalent
malady aIooug the Foo; Guards s.t,d ,,itrinn..,
by sorne to the atmosphere ol pirc clng in
which they live. lsnt :,s the Horse. G,i.rds
live IN The SAME atmosphere, this cannot b..
the OIL, rr;lSon OVcr-rroWdiug is IN, rhi.t
cause Of The disparity of the death r;te be-
tween the tESo rlass.-- IF the guards TIL.
Hor.e Guards have iar more spacious nnd airy
barracks, and besides, their eXercil. j. more
varied than that of The foot. /, Is not believed
hy the British authorities that the high rate.
Of mortality among The Foot Gn4rds was ow
ing to the destructive nature of the night i,,
ties On the contrary. the tireiuen and The DO
lice of London, and Tie sailors, whose NIGHT
dnties more severe than thoso Of the Foot
Guards, enjoy IA high state of health The
close and impure air, and the oyer-crowlol
barracks, the real o;lrse of the mortality
Tie same fountain of sickness, the close and
crowded tents, pitched in open fields, with a
blazing sun, aud with no adequate u.e;ttls Of
ventilation, have prOStr;ited more men in our
own army than will ever fall by the bullets
and bayonets of the enemy.
The important elements of exercise and food
have also great influence upon the SANITARY
condition of the army. Says Col LIN DsAY,
high British authority upon this subject:
"Perhaps no living individual su iers more
than the sol der from .nnni. He has en-
ployInent save the drill and its duties; these
are Of a most moAotonons and unintcresting
description, much SO that' you cannot in
crease their amount without wearying and
disgusting him. All he has to do is under ra-
straint he is not like :. working man or au
artisan. A working man will dig. and his
IN iud is his own an artisan is interested in
the work OH which he is engaged but sol
al ipr Tn riV IA Vpu al atf hn
has nothing to show for the work done He
gets up at six; there is 10 drill before break
fast he makes up his b. d aud cleans up his
things he gets his breakfast at seven: he
turns out for drill half past seven or eight ;
his drill may laSth lfan hour lift be guard
day, there Is no drill except for defaulters.-
The men for duty are piradrd at ten o'clock ::
that fin isles his day drill altogether. There
is evening parade, which takes half an hour.
and then his time is his owu until tattoo
which Is At nine in win ter and ten in summer
That is the day Of Il soldier not on guard or
not belonging to a company which is out for
Minnie practice"
In India, it is said, a large proportion of the
men chafe and drink themselves to death,
under modes of life 80 opposed to the habits
in which they had been reared. The fault is
attributed to the rule of the English service
which precludes the soldier from making
himself useful, the best conducted troops being
the engineers, who work at th-rdifFerent trades
But with this exception, it is said the English
troops can neither cook, bake, make their
clothes nor their huts, like Tia. French, the
S,.rdinians, and tue Turks. Contractors fol
low them everywhere, and render them tn,
most dependent soldiers in Europe. Dr, j. L.
MARTIN, an eminent military surgeon ia India
who ID said to hsye done more fur the ssni
tary condition oi The soldier than any living
person, holds II Us Ii principle THAT Iu ali