Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1898-07-17
TONS OF MEDICINE.
Terrible Mortality Reported Among Spanish Troops Stationed
 in Cuba.

spanish Troops Stationed
 in Cuba.
 Startling facts about disease and death among the Spanish troops in Cuba are published by the Spanish pa per Correo de Espana, in long report from Dr. De Larro Cerezo, chief phy sician of the Havana military hospitals and superintendent of tie Spanish sanitary corps in Cuba.
 The doctor says that from February, 1895, to January, this year, the home government sent to Cuba for use in the military hospitals 10000 pounds of various quinine preparations, 500 pounds of opium, 36,00o pounds of car bolic, 2,s00 pounds of sublimate (which represents 100000 quarts of the or dinary solution of sublimate), 4,740 pounds of iodine, TOO pounds of rhu- barb and 5000 pounds of ricius oil. Furthermore there were sent 16,000 meters of sticking plaster, 545,ooO meters of bandages and 66,070 pounds of lint.
 Altogether Spain sent to Cuba 1000 tons of medicine, etc, in three years. Ask your druggist what that means. And then remember the stories of Spanish hospital ships that left the island of Cuba week after week with thousands of dying soldiers before our navy established the present blockade.
 According to the Spanish doctor, Spain maintained only 13 hospitals in Cuba before the outbreak of the revolt. The largest of these were established in Havana, Santiago, Santa Clara and Puerto Principe.
 "Afterwe began to land great masses of troops in Cuba we tried to increase our hospital facilities says the doc tor, 'sbut our efforts in that respect never kept pace with the demands made upon us. From March to Decem- Der, '95, 26 new hospitals were estab- lished. In the following year we es- tablished 27 more. In 1897 the number was increased by ten. To put it more clearly, when landed in Cuba, in March, 1895, the Spanish army there had 2,5o0 hospital beds; now there are 46,6S5 beds at the disposal of our sick and wounded soldiers"
 The doctor says that from March, 1895, until June, 1897, half a million of soldiers were treated in the different hospitals. The following statement, namely, that of this half million IT, 500 victims of the battlefield died, sounds "fshy." IL is well-known fact ho4 ,ixrl 1 4 4 I4 1oc I,e the Spanish soldiery in the colonies are reported. The names of the other half are kept on the pay roll in order that the pay may fall into the hands of the unfortunates' superiors. For the same reason one feels inclined to doubt the doctors statement respect ing the total number of deaths that oc- cured in the hospitals and on the bat tlefields during the period named. Cerezo places the number of deaths at p, 500, which seems to be about onehalf of the actual number, according to re- liable Spanish newspaper reports.
 "Thirty-five thousand two hundred and fifty Spanish soldiers were treated for climatic diseases during the period named" says the doctor, and con tinues: 'Of these 1,347 died from yell low fever. The rest suffered from marsh fever, dysentery and typhus."
 That the above figures do not repre- sent the entire Spanish loss in battle and from the effects of the climate is evident from remark in another part of Cerezo's report, in which he states that a great many sick soldiers were placed in other than military hospi- tals, while a good many were taken in by patriotic Spaniards or were lodged on deserted plantations.
 The following item of the Spanish doctors report should be well needed by our own authroities:
 Spain, he says, twas ill-prepared for the enormous drain of medical ap- performances demanded of her at the beginning of the war. We therefore had to pay enormous prices for the hospital material needed; but still worse were the losses of life accustomed by the delay. The organization of flying hospital corps also took much time. These organizations are as much needed as sanitary hospitals in Cuba" "
 The doctor says Spain had 65 phy- sicians in Cuba before the beginning of the revolt. She now has 600 phy- sicians and 100 apothccaries there. She lost 50 physicians and six apothe- carries in last years yellow fever sea son.-N. Y. Press.
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