New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-06-25
AN IMMINENT DANGER.

tninb as mihIary Sciencr, WHICH, oho tuo oOi'H'o
Of navigation or Of engineering is only to BIO learned
by experience ard sudy-a very essential part OF
such education, is to teach men the care OF them
selves. man who disregards all sanitary law as
soldier is no likely to do so with impunty
than if ho were q civilian. Patriotism, enthusiasm,
and courage are sublime, and in 90 war that the
world has ever seen have they been shcwn in
more marked manner, or in q purcr form, than In
that upon which this nation has just now entered.
But neither courage, enthusiasm, nor patriotism, is
a safeguard against fever or dysentery or rheuma
.i. and Ignorance in the camp is just rs certain to
do its perfect work "a ignorance any whero else.
II takes about two hundred pounds OF metal to Kill
man in actiOn but the virus of disease which turks
in the morning and evening damp, or in the
MONDAY rays Of the sun, around the tent
Of the soldier, is homeopathcally incalculable,
and is far more deadly than the bullet Of the
enemy. In the Crimean war, England lost
49, 6i3 men out Of force Of 93,959; OF that
numOer, 1858 only were killed in action. aud
I,76l died of wounds. But 1928 died of dis
ease in the camp hospitals. and 5000 were dis-
charged ncurable. many Of whom. no doubt,
subsequently ~ oVciy Ono tah"u """'"S"
TO the hospitals. twelve we're taken there sick,
and among the wounded d sease was often
the secondary condition, 80 that OF this class
those who died, fell victims more frequently to
previous disobedience 10 sanitary law than to
wounds received in battle. In the first seven
months Of tho Crimean campaign. the Engish
troops Died in a ratio of 60 per cent. q year. =.
In the French army. the statistics arc no less
appalling. la four months, there we're 1900
ca.es Of typbus in the hospitals, of which a
third were fatal. la tho twenty months OF tho
csmpaigu there werc 1893 900 cases of inyalidsn,
less than one -fourth Of which were iion
wounds, the other three ourths being cases OF
disease. About Is 900 persisted in battle or died
of wounds received there but $4,000 died of
sickness, and 65, coo discharged for llness,
large proportion Of whom probably never
recovered.
Our own experience in the Mexican War was
Of the same character Among our troops, there
persisted at tho seat Of war IL SOC, and II, 252
we're discharged because of Illness. or these
last. many died on their way home, and many
more after they reached there; 30 that It was
calculated by those who were most likely to
| come to an accurate estimate, that cur entire
loss was from II, 600 TO II, 900. But there were
| killed in battle and died Of wounds only ,5to;
the other 5000 to 1900 persisted from disease.
Like causes produce lihe eaects- We have
cent into the field an army not less already,
| probably, than 100000 mon. They are drawn
from every class Of society and every depart
Of Man NAL NJ IN hve IN,
houses; used to regular daily labor; subject TO
| the domestic and municipal sanitary laws which
custom and necessity and convenience have estab
| lished IN town aud country fed with the whole
some food prepared by wives and mothers in ac
cordunce with o regular and long-tIied system;
and clothed in garments kept clean and whole
by the careful hands Of affection and adapted to
changes of season and of temperature, but who
are now suddenly huddled together in great
massea; deprived Of all the cOniorts Of homer
thrown completely on their own reSourcosj
sleeping upon tho ground in unyeatilsted tents;
exposed to the damps Of evening, the intense
rays Of the MONDAY sum- or hours Of soaking raiG
on tho march or in campduty IN an unaccus-
toned climate; compelled TO do their OVID cook
ing from the simplest and sometimes the scan.
test materials, with the rudest utensils of which
tbey hardly know the most primitive use; sur
rounded by the decayng waste Of their own
creation, careless or ignorant of its safe and wise
disposition, and provided with acanty clothing.
which they have not yet learned to keep clean
aud whoe-how is it possible that an army so
composed should be exempt from the devastatons
Of dlsease which like causes have produced under
smla circumstances 1t is not possible. AL.
ready, the invaded men begin to strugglc home,
already, the ranks are thInned to fill the
hospitalsj already, insufficient hospitals, III
efficient medical attendance, the want OF
proper medicines, the want Of trained Burses,
tho want Of general bygienic organization, arc
sending men from the hospital to the grave, in
stead Of returning them TO the field IL is the
sure beginning of o certain end. The causes
which will produce it have, Us yet, only Ind
time 10 SOW the seeds Of the dread harvest that
must b. resped hereafter. With Summer heats,
with more active service, with forced marches,
with exposures, with the excitement and turmoil
Of battle, tho improyidence of raw troopa the
insufficient and ill-cooked food, tho privatons
from hasty attacks or hurried retreats, will be
brought into activity and combination all those
subtle influences out Of which outraged nature
produces postilence to spread through camps, and
penetrate into every tent, rs insidlously and por
vadingly aud as secretly o. an evening mist
1t 10 to meet and cOuuteract this state Of
- Q.-:ko Of Inc utvva and a.