Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1898-08-18
DISEASE In THE ARMY
A Physician Tells Soldiers How to
Preserve Good Health.
Does Not Believe n Change of CiiEaHte
Give. Rise to DiseRse-RecoEa-
meuds Cheerfulness and
Temperance.

! DR.. George q. Croft, president OF the
/ Pennsylvania board OF health, has pub
iiSbed paper on Hygiene for the Sol
| hy," IN which he says that 1854
! Spanish soldiers died in Cuba in 1897.
! In the same year $4,000 Spanish sol
diers were invalided there. His sta
tistical table states further that 1000
I soldiers were killed in the Frauco-Ger-
man war and $1,000 soldiers died in the
same war from disease. Niue hundred
soldiers died in one year in a single
| regiment in a campaign in Madagascar,
! and il is not an uncommon thing to
! have 800 men die out of one British
regiment in the West Indies. In for
mel years." he says, 1--WE years was the
/ full life of a British regiment in the
| West India service"
On the subject of tobacco and alcohol
| he says to the soldier:
These drugs are used to a great ex-
| tent ii armies, and often to excess and
10 the injury of the soldiers.
! do not smoke or chew excessively.
/ DO not use alcohol (or liquors. ex-
cept on the surgeons order. In the
| its forms, as it causes more harm there
than in cold and temperate climates.
1t is now well known from ample ex-
! perieBce, that soldiers have the best
| health who leave alcohol in all its forms
severely alene. Strong liquors In the
tropics is death to the soldier"
Under the head of Things to Avoid"
DR.. Croft says:
The soldier should strive to avoid
discomfort, dependency, laziness, dis
respect, unchastity, drunkenness and
debauchery. These are not uncommon
in armies. and they all lead to the de-
strucion of sound and vigorous health.
These things destroy armies more than
the bulleH of the enemy. DR.. Parks,
the great British authority on hygiene,
says: TO make an army perfectly
brave, it must be made temperate and
chaste'"
The soldier Is urged to cultivate
cheerfulness.
Good health is promoted by cheer
fulness. Cheerfulness Is often better
than medicine. 1t is virtue which
can be cultivated, as can also ready
obedience, hopefulness, contentedness,
patience, fortitude, end durance, temper
ance, self-confidence, self-reliance,
chastity and courageousness. These
are all virtues, and, when possessed,
they go TO maks the highest type of
soldier. They all promote good
health"
DR.. Croft is not one of those whe be-
lieyes that change TO q strange eli
mate will give rise to disease. and on
that point says:
1T is not a strange climate which
causes disease among soldiers. The
body soon adapts itself to changes of
temperature. The greater number OF
diseases are produced by germs or seeds
which exist In the earth and water at
some places, but not at others, These
1-.---sren within the tropics, but in
certain towns and cities. These germs
do not generally float in the air, and
so enter the body, but become attached
to food and drink, and so enter the
system. II one is careful always 10
drink boiled or spring water, and to eat
well-cooked fodds, or, In case OF fruits,
to remove the rind, there is little dan
ger OF live germs getting into the body,
for the reason that the heat of cooking
kills them.
Camps are situated In the most
healthy places which can be secured.
The soldier who remains with his fell
lows and eats what is provided for
him is generally safe from disease.
But when be vanders frszn camp, as
sociates with people OF unknown nab
its. drinks water and eats food of which
be knows nothing, he runs great risks
of contracting any disease which may
be prevalent.
alcohol does not prevent disease,
but rather wea1ens the body mabingit
difficult to resist disease
"The average soldier does not find
opportunity to wander from camp and
associate with people outside. Nor y
it en- easy matter for soldiers on the
march. in temporary camp or in active
field duty to procure boiled or spring
water and 'well-c6oked food All
these things may be had in stale camp,
but in the country OF the enemy they
win probably be looked for in vain
st. Louis Republic.