The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-28

the BenGni OA SOAOACEs ~ NJ
May GO to Cuba-VaIue of the Ham
wock-ReaI Danger to Health Not
Great.
From the New York Sun.
Director William T. Hornaday of the
New York Geological Society has prepared
4or the use Of soldiers who may go to
Cnba some suggestions as TO the preserva-
ZION of health. He spent nearly five years
IN the tropics, travelling in the jungles of
cuba. South America, India, the Malay
Peninsula and Borneo. During all this
time in which he was exposed to all the
dangers to health possible in tropical cam
r,atgning. he suffered from nothing more
than a few slight attacks of jungle fever
in India The publication of the sugges-
lions is the result of an earnest desire on
the part of the author and Prof. Henry
+. Osborn of Columbia University to place
in the hands of American soldiers who
may go TO Cuba information which, if act
ed upon, cannot fail to be of benefit to
them.
These are his suggestions:
1t is a mistake to suppose that the eli
mate of Cuba is certain to prove particu-
Iarly unhealthfuI to our troops Even in
our own country such epidemic diseases as
smallpox and yellow fever can and do
break out and commit ravages until check
ed and controlled If properly equipped
and provisioned any man of sound consti-
tuition and temperate habits should be
able to go through a years hard cam
paigning in Cuba without any more seri-
Gus illness, barring the epidemics, than
fever and ague and diarrhea. The soldier
who is properly equipped should go conf
IDENTIFY expecting to preserve his health
The man who is constantly expecting TO
become ill., and when i'll believes that he is
going to die, is always the one most liable
to attack A determination not to become
ill is half the battle. The rest is mere de-
tail
New Conditions to Be Met-Every SOL
der and particularly every officer, who
sets foot in Cuba must continually re-
member that in that climate, particularly
in the rainy season, the conditions to be
met are totally different from those that
obtain in the United States. Yet with
proper equipment and food the soldier can
not only survive, but he certainly can
maintain his health in fighting condition.
The needs of the soldier who goes to Cuba
have already been pointed out, and there
is reason to expect and believe that the
requirements of the new conditions will
be properly met. If the government proves
a good provider the individual soldier
must do the rest.
Avoid Sleeping on the Ground-The at
tention of officers Is particularly invited to
the fact that, next to drinking stagnant
water, the easiest way to acquire fever in
a tropical jungle is by sleeping on the
ground. This is for the very simple rea-
son that the malarious exhalations from
the earth, from sIagnant water and from
decaylng vegetation, are densest and more
dangerous at the surface of the ground.
To meet this condition the writer has
never save once) gone into the tropics
without hammock, and it was by sleep
ing on the ground from the lack of a ham
mock that he acquired in India his only
case of jungle fever.
The Hummelshine, war department has
been strongly advised to provide ham
Knocks for the use of our army in Cuba,
and their priceless value in the avoid
ance of malarial fevers is now urged up
on the attention both of officers and men
Where transportation is abundant can
vas hammocks are excellent, but on the
march their weight and bulk are serious
obstacles to their use. In an active cam
paiSn 1t is to be hoped that every infantry
man will be provided with a hammock
made of linen Irvine, 81 strong that it viii
carry the largest man. so light that it
weighs less than a pound, and so compact
that When rolled up it can be carried in
the inside breast pocket of a dress coat.
The package it makes is 10 inches long
by 212 inches in diameter.
Officers should see to it that their men
are fully familiarized with the very sim
PIE Facts which, Wnen observed, make of
the hammock % a most restful and com
Portable bed, (O means of sleeping dry
al niSht IN wet weather, (S) the only means
by which it is possible for a campaigner
TO escape mosquitoes, and above all "a,
the only means by which the sleeping SOL
he Ian nh,
pors that lie like a deadly mantle upon
the earth AS bed for sick man in a
not climate there is absolutely none other
so cool and so restful as the hammock
IL also furnishes the easiest of all appi-
ances for carrying a sick or wounded man.
IN using the hammock it should not be
stretched too tightly When hung prop
cry the sleeper can lie upon his back.
III comfortable curve, and if he wishes
70 he perfectly straight upon side or
pack' ne can easily do so, lying diagonally
across the hammock, j. e.. head at the uD-
per nght corner and feet at the lower left
corner
Hammock Supports.-The only difficulty
ABOUT the use of the hammock by the army
Is IN regard to its supports. and this one
oIIHculty is not half so serious as it may
seem. win supply of hammOckS avail
able. American soldiers who have not
suihclent Sumption" 10 find or to provide
supports for them are not fit to send TO
Nuoa to make war. With an article so
Nltally important to the health of the sol
Nler as is good hammock. properly hung,
the question of supports-wnether it be
trees, light wooden tripods, or stakes of
metal pipe or Of woods one which must
ne settled for each body of troops accord
Ing to the conditions to be met In garr-
son or in permanent camp it is a simple
matter. On the march, through treeless
country, something of wood light enough
10 transport, must be provided. II is fair
10 assume that in all of the thousands of
American soldiers who will land in Cuba
tnere Will be very few so lacking in nge-
huAty and resources that they viii sleep
on the ground because they can neither
ma nor make supports for their ham
mocks
me Mosquito Shirt.-Where mosquitoes
are plentiful many persons are so easily
annoyed by them that without protection
al night their sleep is so broken and their
nerves so irritated as to start them on the
road to fever In Cuba ordinary rnoent1ito