Evening star., 1898-09-13
COL. SMART'S REPORT
Result Of a Recent Inspection Of
Camp W9kof.
SICK MEN IMPRUDENfLY FIJRLOUGHED
Streets Are Kept in Excellent Con-
dition.
WATER SUPPLY ANALYZED

| L
Surgeon General Sternebrg calls atten-
ton to some important features of the re-
cent report made by Lieut.. Col. Smart con-
corning the condition of Camp Wikoff. Col.
Smart is in charge of the sanitary division
Of the surgeon generals Office and is pro-
fessor Of hygiene in the Army Medical
School. He has had great experience in
| water analysis and detailed by Gen.
| Sternberg to make sanitary inspection of
| the camp and report on the water supply,
etc. The features Gen. Sternberg calls at
| tention TO are as follows:
The first subject which arrested my at
| tention on arrival at the hospital was the
| utterly prostrated condition of some of the
men furloughed at the Intervention of
| friends who desired to remove them to
| their homes. No doubt much pressure was
| brought to bear on the surgeons charged
| with the duty of fur.oughing them, but it
| appears to me that much greater care
| should have been exercised in authorizing
! the departure of certain Of these men on a
| journey which necessarily involved much
| fatigue. An hour later a telegram from
| yourself to the surgeon in command ex-
p1citiy forbldding the furloughins of men
| unable to take care of themselves appeared
| to me to be sufficient to rsmedy this evil
due not to carelessness but to excess of
sympathy with the soldier and desire to
nave him in the care of his friends and
| relatives
The site of the camp is an excellent one.
urn, compact and well-drained grassy
SOD. the soil beneath the surface being held
| well together by the intertwned roots of
| the grass and freely growing ANIMALS, ana
forming thus surface Which wears well
| under foot ana is productive of neither dust
| IN dry weather nor mud in rainy weather
| ia nd
! ravtnes the surface has been eroded down
| TO clay bed, which supports surface water
| In pools, but in view Of fresh breezes con-
| stantly blowing from the ocean | am of the
| opinion that no malarial DEVELOPMENTS need
be anticipated from these small ponds
| Some OF them in progress OF time would
| probably become nuisance by surface
| drainage into tnem and would require to be
drained and fllled up, particularly one Oh
the north side of the general hospital and
| between it and its sinks.
| The camps of some cavalry recruits and
| of the engineer battalions are on the south
| east border of Fort Pond. The 1st Division
| extends from this eastward on line skirt
| Ing the ocean, with their sinks on the sea-
| ward side OF the mems quarters and well
| removed from them. the I'd Division en- the
| rolling ground in the interior between the
| ocean and a large body of fresh water
| Great Pond
Camps Kept Well.
| THE camps are kept in excellent cond-
ton the streets and inter-regmental areas
perfectly clean, all garbage buried, except
! some Of the refuse, which is more con-
veniently disposed of by burning, and the
| sinks deep, well protected by boarding, and
SO carefully attended to as in no instance
| to constitute a nuisance The streets of
| the infantry camps are from twenty to
! twenty-five feet wide. as most of the reg
| lnents are small; in the cavalry division
they are wider, the camp areas are
/ horses
two Of the regiments. the Sd and 10th In
fantry, are in any way crowded
| 1.-THE tents of all the commands are
wedge wall tents, three men to a tent, each
| tent well spaced from its neighbors In a
| few cases board floors have been laid, and
| lumber is being delivered in some regiments
| fer this purpose, but speaking In general
| terms, the men sleep on bedsacks filed
| with straw or hay. These with their
blankets, are clean and summed and aired
| daily. Some recruits recently arrived are
| not yet provided with bedSacks.
I'm the interior of many of the tents
there Is a lack of tidiness and soloierly
the men. The 10th Cavalry was exception
ally good in this respect. every tent being
notably clean and neat.
| The kitchens of all the commands are
| under tent flies, all utensils clean and
| wastes buried No suggestion Of com
plant as to the character of the food sup
ply could be elicited in any of the regi-
ments. Ice, milk. eggs. melons, etc. ap-
peared to be abundant in every camp.
The Water Supply.
THE water supply of the camp and hos
pitfalls is taken from well about 200 yards
from the eastern margin of Fort Pond.
| free supply was found at depth of forty
feet below surface Two strata of clay,
enc near the surface, the other at a depth
| of twenty-five feet, separate the we'll
| water from surface contamination. 1t is
| distributed by about eight miles Of pipe
|
| of the regiments-the 9th and 18th Infantry
are provided with Pasteur filters in their
| company kitchens.
'"The following tabulation shows the re-
| suits of a chemical examination of the
water by myself on Thursday, September s,
| Immediately after the samples We're drawn:
| Ft.Pond Well Tap
water. water. water.
Chlorin. $40 80 80
Nitrates................. None. None. None.
| Oxygen reouired....... .3l5 .0fo .oi5
Free ammonia. OOPS .002 .002
Albumenoid ammonia. .04S .003 .003
1.-The figures represent parts per 100000
| of the water.
1.-THE Fort Pond water is unfit for use as
| a potable water. The other samples are
| organically pure.
| with this satisfactory water supply and
| the good sanitary condition prevailing in
the regtmental camps l have no hesitancy
| in saying that the troops could stay on
| their present ground in winter quarters
| without any such outbreak of typhoid
| fever as has occurred at Camp Alger and
| at Chickemauga Park.
The Hospital Well Appointed.
! "A well-appointed hospital has been es-
| tablished for each of the divisions, under
| the superintendence of Majors Wood, Kill
| bourne and Harris. Each consists of ten
| three-tent pavilions. framed and fioored.
! with cots for $50 patients. Mrs. Willard
| of Boston has provided special diet kitch-
| ems for these hospitals. The 1st Division
| hospital at the time of my visit had no
| ambulance wagon, and the cots and bed
| ding had not arrived. The I'd Division hos !
| pital had two ambulance wagons available
| for service, and about fifty patients al
| ready under care This cavalry division
| hospital was complete in it's arrangements.
| Many of the sick men whom I saw in the
| regimental camps are now under treatment
| in these division hospitals
| COaIfng Station Contract Awarded.
| SAN yrK3 ANyCToCn ~,