Evening star., 1901-10-16
ILLNESS IN The NAVY
FORCE IN PHILIPPINES NOTABLY
FREE FROM EPIDEMIC DISEASES.
Addition to Yokohama Hospital - In
sanitary Condition of the Re-
ceivinE Ship Vermont.

According to the annual report of Surgeon
General Van Reypen the naval force still
employed about the Philippines has been
notably free from epidemic diseases and,
with the exception of Cavite fever, the
diseases with which patients have been
admitted to the Cavite hospital have been
those that would have occurred in any
southern climate. The bureau proposes to
transfer the hospital to another location.
The present location has proved an un-
healthful one. as many of the patients ad-
mitted with other diseases have been af-
fected by a low grade of fever which ap- 1
pears to be local in it's origin.
The commandant of the naval force on
the station has forwarded report earn
estly recommending the transfer of the
hospital to Canacao and utilizing and i'm
proving the buildings partly erected there
by the Spanish forces for use as naval
hospital. A request for an appropti3t;)n On
of $4,000 will be submitted for the acc nm
plishment of this transfer and improve
ment.
The Yokohama Hospital.
The addition to the naval hospital at
Yokohama is nearly completed, and it will
probably be ready for occupancy by No
vember 1. The hospital will then be ready
to receive and for all the patients il
will probably be required to accommodate.
The reports from Guam indicate that
the inhabitants of the island are proceed
ing with the establishment of a civil hos
pital, showing a desire to conform them
selves to the customs of other comnuni-
ties. Typhoid fever on the island has al
most disappeared. in consequence of an
Improvement in the water supply
A dispensary has been opened at Pago
Pago, where the natives obtain such med
icineS and treatment as they require.
The sick quarters at San Juan. Porto
Rico have had very few occupants during
the past year.
Very few cases of disease have occurred
among the naval force remaining in Ha-
Vana.
Condition of the Vermont.
The bureau recently found Itself COM
PEELED to bring to the attention of the
department the insanitary condition of the
receiving ship Vermont at New York, and
to recommend that it's use as 4 receiving
ship be Immediately discontinued. The
ship is SO old and contains much satu-
rated and decayed wood that no amount
of fumigation or disinfection would have
rendered her again habitable. If the YES
sci is ever again used as receiving snip
she must be thoroughly overhauled, all
of the decayed wood removed, ana the ship
thoroughly diSinfected
The surgeon general says: The depart
ment very wisely substituted a steel vessel
loi lliS NtIlHoIit, anu lilt Hicil VIII no"
have a dwelling place that can he kept
clean and sanitary. The Columbia is not
an ideal receiving ship, and was never SO
intended, but it was the best that could
be done in emergency.
''It will not be long before the other
wooden receiving ships will be ii the same
condition the Vermont, and thc -radi-
tions of the navy for being forehanded will
not be maintained if early steps are not
taken either to prepare steel onips
ceivfng ships or, still better, II ouild bar
racks on shore that will afford better ac-
commodationS for recruits than would be
possible a ship. The present receiving
ships are merely floating houses, having
neither maStS nor sails for exercise. and
a gun platform on shore would be no more
rigid than a vessel whose bottom
rests in mud.
The hospital corps maintains its stand
ard of efficiency, and reports are CONSTANT
ly being received from medical officers in
dlcating the marked improvement i'll nurs-
ing service since the establishment Of the
corps.
THE passage by the last Congress of the
act giving assistant surgeons in the navy
the same rank as assistant Surseurts in the.
army has proved a great boon 10 the corps
A very desirable class of young medical
men are now seeking admission, and the
number of vacancies has been reduced from
seventeen at last report to four, and It is
probable that these will soon be filled"
A Gratifying Showing.
health conditions of the navy and marine
corps during the past year were not similar
to those of the previous year owing to the
disturbances in China, which caused an
increase in the number of cases of wounds
and of deaths from that cause, and placed
a considerable force under the influences
of lnSanitary surroundings. During the
year additional shore stations were occu-
pied in the tropics and the force on the
Asiatic station, af1oat and ashore, was
greatly increased. However, it appears
that the total number of cases under treat
ment, per 900 of strength, was only slight
ly greater during the year 1900 than the
average for the five preceding years and
that the death rate from disease was not
much in excess of the average for the same
period. Owing to forty deaths from gun
shot wounds and thirty from drowning the
mortality rate from injuries was greatly
increased.
Foot Rail- Training.
Regarding the Naval Academy the sur
geOn general says:
During the fall of the year about forty
cadets were in training for the game of
foot ball While some notifications of the
rules of the game have to certain extent
diminished the chance of injury it is to be
noted that the advantages of this sport are
necessarily restricted to a small percentage
of the corps. There were twenty-seven ad-
missions to the sick list during the year
but they included only two fractures and
one luXation. The majority were merely
contusions. The number of sick days was
lo4 and 120 additional days were lost from
drills, principally on account of sprains, of
which there were fifty-one cases.