The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1898-12-16
THE SOLDIERS.
DR.. Davis on Their Treatment
in Camp.
Reeds Paper Before the Medical So.
ciety Friday, Criticising Drill Masters
~ and Medical Officers.


ceptibility to and Immunity from
Disease" After reviewing various
points bearing on the susceptibility
of men and animals to disease, he
said:
There is still another point bear
ing upon this question of suscepti-
bility, namely, that anything which
tends to enfeeble the system of an in
dividual renders such a person much
more susceptible to the germs Of tue
disease than though he were in a
strong, vigorous and healthy condi-
ton; also, that a change of residence,
even from one city to another in the
same state, renders the newcomer
more susceptible to the prevailing
diseases in that locality than persons
who have long resided there, and if
the change is greater, climatically,
the susceptibility becomes proper
tionately greater.
"These last points were recently
very forcibly illustrated by the enor-
mously large number of men sick
among the volunteer troops in the
various camps in our country. There
were many factors entering into it's
causation, but time will allow US to
refer, and that briefly, to only one or
two of them.
"a large percentage of the men con-
stituting the soldiers of our volunteer
army were at the time of their enlist
ment engaged in some indoor or light
employment, hence at first poorly
equipped for the active manual labor.
Compelling all of the men to be on
duty the large number Of hours that
they were, working them so hard
early in their enlistment, when not
insured to it, in the hot, sultry mala-
rious climate, naturally tended 10
weaken rather than strengthen their
constitutions, thus rendering them
more susceptible to the germs of the
diseases prevailing in their locality.
"The commanding officers of the
regiments seem to have We'd with
each other to see which could drill
their men the hardest, doubtless
thinking that they would thereby in
crease their efficiency and get them
ready the sooner for active service.
Had the exigency of the service been
h TO hi
upon the part of the men and any
good resulting from it, have no doubt
but that the service would have been
rendered cheerfully, and that there
would then have been some eXuse for
this harsh action upon the part of
those in command.
"This drilling, have been told,
was carrid to such an extreme that
the men would fail in the ranks, be-
ing overcome with the heat and ex-
haustion. I believe that, had the
medical officers serving with the regi-
ments observed closely the effects of
this overWork upon the men, and
along other lines, and taken the
proper steps to stop or modify it,
much suffering could have been avert
ed and possibly lives saved.
"The teachings of sanitation and
preventative medicine that have for
the pest quarter of century been
brought so frequently and forcibly to
the attention Of our profession that
it hardly seemed possible that they
could be forgotten, and yet it is evil
dent that they were to greater or
less extent sighted if not neglected
in these camps.
81 fully appreciate the fact that he
who enlisted in the army will find, of
necessity, conditions very different
from what they are in civil life (hav-
ing served two years and nine months
in the field during the civil war; also,
that many Of the stories told and re-
ports written of condition in these
camps were undoubtedly very much
exaggerated.
There is still another point that is
deserving of mention, namely, the
fact of the rapid recovery of the men
wounded at Santiago, unfavorable
though the environments were, and
that we must attribute this favorable
result to the preparations made by
the surgeons. aud instructions given
by them to their men, as to how they
were to use the first dressings, also,
the application CT modern surgical
methods in the after dressings of
their wounds"
Referring again to the increased
susceptibility caused by moving from
one place to another, DR.. Davis said
that this was illustrated by the fact
that during the past six or eight
years half d. zen at least of our young
people, when attending the state uni
vers;ty, have been taken sick with
typhoid fever, while members Of fam
lilies that they were living with
escaped.
L.