The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1901-09-12
SOLDIERS HEALTH.
Report of the Chief Surgeon of the Philip
pines.

Report of the Chief Surgeon Of the Philip
pines.
Acting Surgeon General Forwood, Of
the Army. has received an interesting re-
port from Col Charles r. Greenleaf,
Chief Surgeon, Division of the Philip
pines. Of the operations Of the Medical
Department In thu Philippines for tho
period ended May 81 last. BE says thn
health Of the troops continues to be good,
and that the ratio OF non-efectiyes to
the whole strength has decreased from
S.S4 per cent. to 752 per cent. Ths
month of August gave the highest per
centage. 9.5S, and March the lowest, 6.12
Intestinal and gastric diseases including
dysentery and typhoid fever, give 34.22
per cent. OF the total sickness; malarial
fever and sequelae come next, with 1928
per cent, and venereal diseases ara third,
with 1918 per cent
Col. Greeuleaf says that the great i'm
provement in the health of the troops IL to
a certain extent due to improved santa
ton, but that the greatest factor is that
the regiments have been gradually wesded
Of their weaklings and chronic inyalids
The immature youths, the hard drinkers
and recruits OF weak constitution have
been gradually returned to the United
States. Service in the Philippines, Col.
Greenleaf says, shows on a grand scale
the operation Of the law Of the survival Of
the tttest. Typhoid fever has not existed
as an epidemic anywhere In the Philip
pines. Individual carelsssness or the part
of the men, drinking water indisCriminate-
ly and consuming native-made lemonade,
ice cream, etc, has probably caused ty-
phoid fever in greater part. There was
one case Of bubonic plague in an enlisted
Chinese cook in the 9th Inf near Manila,
adj TnVltr rNa IN Fha .sN ~
patient recovered and the extension of the
disease was prevented Smallpox has ex-
listed In much less degree than before, bat
has not yet totally disappeared.
1t is an interesting fact, says Col.
Greenleaf, that heat stroke, generally 50
much feared in the tropics, is practically
unknown in the Philippines. He says that
men often drop out on the march over
come by heat, but fatal stroke and last
heat exhaustion are rare. Wounds and in
Juries show very little variation, and the
proportion inflicted by the enemy remains
lnrge enough to indicate that the army
has engaged in about as much marching,
skirmishing and fighting as ever, until the
last two or three months. From August
l, 1900, to April 80, 1901, 265 men wsrs
Killed in action, "a died OF wounds and
366 were wounded.
Contrary to general belief in the United
States, Col. Greenleaf says, there is not
much disability from alcoholism. The hah-
its Of the enlisted men differ but little
from those in the United States, and an
exciting cause of certain proportion Of
the insanity, as well as the origin Of
large part Of the drunkenness in the
provinces, is the use Of the so-caIled
vino" Of the natives, a crudely distilled
alcohol, causing very rapid intoxication,
which is rather easily recovered from
without suffering when a moderats
amount is taken. In great excess, 10
causes wild delirium, Inconsistencies and
sometimes death, and in habituaI users
deterioration OF the mental faculties,
decisions of persecution, attempted suicide
and aphasia.
The people Of Manila evince crafty
ing willingness to accept the sanitary in.
structions of the Board of Health, and
the city is reported to be in excellent SAM.
tEry condition. Improvements most ur-
gently needed are a system of drains and
sewers, dredging and cleaning moats and
canals, and water supply pure and am
pie.