Arizona republican., 1898-07-30
IMPORTANT REPORTS.
Spanish Documents Fall Into Posses
 sion of the War Department

Washington, July 29.-The war de- partment has come into possession O. some interesting reports and returns from the medical officers of the Span ish army in Santiago. These docu- ments were intended for the "Excmo ST. Inspector de Sanidad Militar de las Isla de Cuba" but by the fortunes of war, they are now on file in the wa department. From these reports it 3D. pears that the general hospital at H0l- guin, the military headquarters of the province, one of considerable size having a capacity of probably 1,50l beds, for there are fifteen ward pre- scription books, twelve medical, one surgical and one for sencres officiales or commissioned officers, and some o these wards as shown by the series ct prescriptiCnshaye as many as 112 beds. The average daily occupancy of the hospital during the month of Decem
 Der, 1897, was 700 patients All the reports and papers examined were in tended to be rendered on printed forms, but it is manifestly an under stood thing in the Spanish medical service that the absence of blanks does not constitute valid excuse fo, failure to make reports, as several of the complicated forms were ruled by hand. All were written with the ut most care to insure 1egibility, with the exception of the signatures of the med ical officers, which are generally il legible, although written with care and with elaborate fourishes above, beneath or around, as an integral part of ol ~4~;4 additions to the sign manual were nc doubt intended to give dignity and in dividuality, but to the practical com mon sense of the average American they are sdhoolboyish in the extrema All are free from blots or erasures and are clean, except the ward prescrip- tion books, which bear evidences in finger markings and othec excusable soils of having been carried from bed to bed and thence to the dispensary. All the forms are printed in single sheets, those used during the month being stitched together in a printed CT hand lettered cover to constitute the report for that period. The prescrip- ton book of each ward shows the quantity of each medicine prescribed for each patient at the morning and evening visits, and the entries of each visit are closed and certified to by the signature of the chief of the clinic These entries are of interest as throw ing light on the character of the cases and the treatment adopted by the of fcers in charge of the various wards An extensive materia medica is em- ployed, over 300 different preparations having been prescribed during the month. Quinine in various forms antipyrin, jaborando and limonada vegeta1 occur with great frequency. The cost of the medicines used in all the wards during the month of Febru- ary, 1898, amounted to s2,99S35. Wine of quinine was the costliest item, 977 kilos costing s655.95. One list gave the list of official remedies compound ed in the pharmacy, and third report showed the articles purchased for the subsistence of patients, expenditures in a single month amounting to $24- S19.52. The heaviest item in the bill was for seventy-seven kilos of fresh beef at 80 cents. Reports from smaller hospitals showed much precision in matters of detail, and the army med ical officers on duty in Washington who have examined the papers were very much impressed by the system One of them said: Whatever views we have of the Spanish government and Spanish rule in Cuba, we cannot help having high opinion of the medical departmsnt of the Spanish army"