The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-27

OIL THIS army mas Deen ana IS being
sadly mismanaged. What is to be
people at home? On the contrary, much
is to be gained by making the fact
known. This army is losing more men
now by disease than it ever lost in bat
tie, and if so small a thing as a change
OF management will remedy this condi-
ton, then in Gods name let US have
the change. Colonel Lippincott, who is
the medical director, is a loVable old
gentleman. He does not mean any
harm. His intentions are all of that
KIND going to make up the pavement of
hell. At the same time he does not
seem able to grapple with the problem
confrontin~ him in a way to give men
confidence that the solution rests in
his power. Colonel Lippincott is an
army doctor, strong in the traditions
of the army. That, ossibly, is the rea-
son he overlooks men in the volunteer
service whom years of practice have
fitted to grapple with the ills that al
f1ict the men here now, and placed the
direction of his hospital for the most
part in the hands of young regular
army men, whose experience at army
posts has been of the kid glove ana
lancers kind. Anybody who knows any
thing about the regular army IN time
of peace knows how much and now III
tie the practice of a doctor at an army
post amounts to. There may be a lew
cases of cramp collie now and then'
case of delirium tremenS say once
year, an accidental shooting ana now
and again a birth in the married quar-
ter. The regular army doctor who can
select a sergeant writing good clerhy
hand and capable of keeping up his re-
ports in excellent shape is esteemed a
cracker-jack by his superlors. Of gen
eral practice he -anOWS nothing at ALL
y.sl1 ut 6
geons. who are wanted here now. we
have. as the readers of The Call know,
some of the most talented physicians or
San Francisco with the volunteers mere
The question Of rank has nothing 10 40
with it. What difference does II make
to a man suffering from typholu OF
SMALLPOX or dysentery whether the man
who prescribes for him has one bar or
an eagle on his shoulder straps?
And the way the medical suppnes
have been purchased and the way they
have been doled out Is a seaman OF
itself I do not know who inspected
these supplies. Whoever did will have
more than one murder to answer for.
Let me tell you of case within my
own knowledge: An officer, l1euten-
ant. is living i'll at this moment OF
tvphofd fever in the Red Cross hospital
He is dangerously i'll. If you know any
thing at all of typhoid fever you VIII
tract becomes inflamed and sore; that
the walls Of the intestines are so thin
there is constant danger of perforat1on
and consequent sudden death. The
slightest obstruction in the bowels may
cause death to SuperVene. For TINS
reason only liquid nourishment is given
to typhoid patients, and that in small
quantity It became necessary for the
attending physician to give quin1ne,
and a small dose was ordered. The
nurse gave the only form of quinIne
furnished to the army, in small, hard
tablets. Two of these were administer
ed, and by a miracle the patient
swallowed them without fatal re-
suits. The tablets had not been even
softened. How many typhoid patients
have died in the general hospital,
where there are hardly nurses and doc
tors enough to go around, by reason OF
the inability of the system to throw OF
the pellets will never be known. They
do not hold post mortems down here
climatic conditions are against 1t.
And then there is the case OF the
smallpox scare we are now just pass
ing through. The plague. which first
struck the Minnesota boys, coming
from a native laundry where mother
nursing at the breast a baby with the
disease was found washing the clothes
of the regiment, we were told was only
smallpox in the mildest form. In real
ity it is black smallpox, from which
there is no record of the recovery of a
white man in this climate. The disease
is most virulent. That is shown by the
fact that of thirteen cases in the pest
house eight have died and the rest have
not the least chance of recovery.
wanted to cable you this fact yesterday
and was told coolly that there had been
only six deaths and that I would not
be allowed to send the matter anyway.
T !, - toll
ports of the progress of the disease
were falsified. l do not suppose they
We're. Hospital authorities in military
hospitals are delicate of their reports
Their paper work" is their pride and
joy. But at all events [ am sure of my
facts. The disease is now under con-
troll. I hope and believe, but you Will
see that the military reports will bear
me out when Congress asks for them
and they come to be published.
Now, do not charge Colonel Lippin-
colt with being party to the pur-
chase of cheap drugs. 1 do not charge
Colonel Lippincott with anything That
is no need. But let me relate an in
cident which occurred at the pesthouse
the other day.
Il hope" said Colonel Lippincott,
speaking to one of the attendants at
the place, that you are very careful
y
sible steps to avoid contagion.'
Yes, sir" was the answer At wash
myself in alcohol and
In alcohol" interrupted the medical
director, amazed, but that is very ex-
pensive.o Can you not use something
cheaper?"
Alcohol, it would appear, is more
valuable than the life of a man-even
of man brave enough to volunteer
his services to army smallpox patients.
There is not a great deal to be said
about Colonel Lippincott after that.
Some stories, you know, tell themselves.
Before [ leave this smallpox business
| want to say just a word in common
dation of the noble self sacrifice of DR..
A. p. O'Brien of the First California
Volunteers, who has gone to live at the
pesthouse, taking charge, and who is
working almost against all hope to save
the lives Of the unfortunates there.
Also perhaps it is well to tell how
young Horace Powers, one of the First
California Regiment recruits and the
only man in his regiment to get small
pox, came to contract the disease He
had been sent to the general hospital
suffering from humps. The man in the
bed next to him the doctors were treat