The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-05-04
HEALTH HINTS ron SOLDIERS.
Some Practical suggestions offered
Concerning Tropical Fevers.
from the New York sun.

From the New York Sun.
In the coming military operations in
Cuba the enemy that our troops fear
most is the yellow fever. The full
blooded northern constitution is par
ticularly open to it's attacks, and as a
rule, succumbs to them more readily
than one seasoned to the conditions of
a tropical climate.
Yet there are certain simple precau-
tions that may be said to insure i'm
munity from this dreadful disease. The
first is to choose in the case of troops
a locality for encampment above the
fever level. This. as a rule, is about
three hundred feet above the sur
rounding country, If marshy or covered
with jungle, or if close to the coast
about the same height above the sea
level. But a hundred feet or so high
er is still better. There is, however, a
good natural indication of the fever
limit that may be studied with ad-
vantage, which is the height in any
given locality to which the night mists
rise above the country level. Those
spots that remain uncovered can be as
sumed to be safe camping grounds.
Where possible, troops should not
though there may be no yellow fever
about, there is always more or less
danger in the germs of malarial fever
that find congenial conditions in robust
northern constitutions. The hours be-
tween the dissipation of the night mists
in the morning and sunset are without
danger even in ordinary bad fever To-
calities.
Then there are personal precautions
that should not be neglected. The
principal precautions look to the avoid
ance of chills, generally the most fer
tile cause of tropical fevers. Damp or
wet underclothing should be changed
as soon as practicable, and never slept
in under any circumstances. Cotton
and wooden clothes next to the skin are
the safest. particularly the wooden:
linen should he especially avoided.
In the matter of food, heating and
stimulating articles of diet and drink
should be partaken of only at the even
ing meal, and then only moderately;
never in the daytime. When night work
has to be done, such as sentinel or pa
troll duty, the men going out or coming
in should receive a small quantity Of
tolerably strong black coffee without
sugar or with very little of it, and al
ways without milk, which in tropical
climates is apt to produce digestive de-
rangement A dash Of good rum or
other pure spirit in the coffee will do
no harm, and a soldier should always
be provided with some hard biscuits
in his haversack to munich whenever so
inclined.
Where troops are encamped on rivers
or creeks, the drinking and cooking
water should be taken invariably from
up stream, and never below or in the
immediate vicinity of the camp. The
quality of the water for drinking pur-
poses can always be determined by the
medical officers, and there is nothing
related to the hygiene of an army that
requires more careful attention. Weak
cold tea, with a squeeze of lemon or
lime juice in it and not oversweetened,
is an excellent and most refreshing
drink on the march, and should be
carried. whenever practicable, in the
soldiers water bottles. The great thing
is to see that the materials composing
the food and drink of the soldier while
engaged in operations In such a climate