The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1899-04-29
insufficient Number IN the Late
War According to Surgeon
General Sternberg.
MANY WERE INEXPERIENCED
In Many Cases They Had 10 Learn the
First Principle Of Surgery
Rules Not FOLLOWED.

BALTIMORE, April o. Speaking at
the banquet last night IN celebration OF
the centennial anniversary of the May.
land medical and chlrurglcal faculty.
Surgeon General siernberg. 4. =. A.,
said:
"li is patent that the medical depart.
mont Of the United States army failed
under The great stress put upon IL. but
the reasons for this failure are obvious.
when ! wss made surgeon general OF
the army siS years ago. my first night
win congress was 10 keep al the sur
geons We then had. Congress wanted 10
cut down the corps The force was IN.
sufficient When the war came We had
not only this insufficient number. but
there were twelve vacancies among the
surgeons. The places had to be nlled.
and In some cases By very young men.
''The army was Increased suddenly
from zj.gD1 20 1000 men. Everything had
- be done IN the greatest hurry. II was
an emergency. The troops wanted TO be-
mustered In quickly II was the duty
Of the medical department, 70 equip them
for light marching order. We could not
overload the wagons with bottles OF tine.
lures and syruges and nuld extracts
They would have proved altogether too
cumbersome. We had 20 equlp the men
for active ne'd work. Il was an an.
tiAined army
Army officers aud men alike were
raw. For any person 10 Washington 10
absolutely control the situation a. chic.
amauga. or any other place was utterly
out Of The question. This had 10 be done
by the men on the spot-,he surgeons OF
the regiment In many cases these men
had TO learn the first principles. The en-
listed men themselves were new and apt
TO be careleHs !, h the history Of new
leyicH ~ troops everywhere.
1T has been great disappointment
TO me that things turned out a. they did
and that typhoid fever appeared. is
sued q sanitary circular showing how 10
could De avoided and giving rules OF
heath 10 be- followed BY the soldier In
the Held. No attention was paid 10 4.
You know how hard Il Is even In cities
denies Of smallpox and typaold fever.
Hut I Wish to say that. Notwithstanding
the criticisms that have been made dur
Ink the war. there has been less sick
ness than In any war that | know Of
Cnder the usr OF antiseptic dressings
for wounds there have been fewer bad
cases. and fewer capital operations. Not
only l. this true at Santiago but al
Manila. The wounds OF the men heal
quickly.
"But there Is one blot which can be
traced TO the enlarged medical depart
ment, There are three surgeons to each
regiment AZ one time | had coo acting
assistant surgeons under me. Mast OF
them were unknown to me personally.
They had TO be taken in rapidly on the
OF professional men
Some OF the best physicians and surgeons
In the country did not prove good for
taking care Of the sick men In the field.
you cannot have camp sanitation
without discipline. In nearly every one
OF our camps typhoid fever ragged. /
slill believe In sanitation as a preventive
Of the disease. and In my opinion doctors
do not pay enough attention 10 dlsin-
fcction.
Another thing that was a source OF
worry to me was that the doctors hesi-
latcd to diagnose anything as typhoid
until {, was too late and camp epidemic
had started When you diagnose case !
~ typhoid as malarial and dose 1t with |
lulnnr, YOU sow the seeds OF typhoid |
throughout the camp. know OF many |
cases OF men who were held In r'gi-
mental hospitals owing TO mlsiaku.
diagnosis. and who later came to the |
rvlsion hospital with typhoid 1t was
unfortunate. but 1t was owing to the |
he inexperlence of the surgeons and TO
the carclessness OF the officers and men |
themselves"