The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-11-29
sarax.s CARE OF SICK TROOPS.
Los Is Only 1 Fer Cent. Against Our
30 Per Cent


Tire Japanese soldier has been taught
how 10 treat his intestinez-and conse-
quently his ~intestines are now treating
him with equal consideration. His plain
rational diet is Observation-Disclosures
and assimilated. L is not an irritating
indiseSuioIe. fermenting mess-acting as
a local irritant and producing gassritis.
d~uodenitis. enteritas. c~oiitses. hepititis
and the long list OF inharnmatory ines
tina processes with which we were all
so familiar in the hospital wards a,
Camp Alger. Chattanooga, Tampa,
Cuba, Porto Rico. Montauk Point etc.
IN 1855.
The great hospitals are there. inferno.
contagious and infectious departments.
their conspicuously empty beds volcing
mere elo~quently than words the most
important lesson of the war. \ few
cases OF diseases of the respiratory sys-
TEN are found-colds. bronchitis. and
ar occasional pneumonia, contracted
through exposure in fording rivers, ex>
hausttve m1rches and 5ivouacking on
wet ground; a few more OF typhoid q
saw only thee in Manchuria). occa>
sionally one of dysentery-and a num-
Hlsr or cases of beri beri. that former
scourge of Oriental armies.
But of all the many thousands gath
ered in these institutions there were but
a few rnaIfaaT 80 o-l 49,
scarcely a bakers dozen came under
tnc heading of diseases of the diges-
tive system" Therein lies one of the
s:fatest secrets of the Japanese sue
cess. Napoleon neyeG made a more
truthful statement than when he. said:
AN army fights on its belly The Jap
anese have that beky, and they take
good care TO keep it in fighting order
not by insulting it three times a day
by examining it with material totally
unsuited to the soldiers necessities,
thereby exciting irritations and disease.
but by supplying it with a plain, pala-
table easily prepared and easily digest
e. ration that can be thoroughly meta
bCIiZed and converted into the health
and energy that makes its owner the
ideal lighting machine of the world to-
t1av.
The organization of tle medical de-
partment of the japanese army and
navy is modelled after that of the Ger
mans, With many added improvements
Too much praise cannot he bestowed
upon the medical departments of the
army and navy for their splendid pre-
paratory work in this war. The Japa-
nese are the first TO recognize the true
value of an army medical corps. The
medical officer IS omnipresent. You
VIII II him IN countless places, where
ir an American or British army ne has
nc place. He is as much at the front
as in the rear. He IS with the frs,
screen of scouts with his miscrocope
and chemicals, testing and labelling
wells. SO the army to follow shall drink
no contaminated water. When the
scouts reach a town, he Immediately
institutes a thorough examination of its
sanitary condition, and if c~ontagion or
infection is found, he guarantees and
places a guard around the dangerous
district. Notices are posted so the ap-
preaching column is warned, and no
soldiers are billeted to places where
danger exists. Microscopic blood tests
are made in all fever cases, and bac-
THEOLOGICAL experts, fully equipped,
form part Of the staff of every divis-
ional headquarters.
The medical officer is also found in
camp, lecturing the men on sanitation
ana the hundred and one details of per-
sonaI hygiene--how to cook, to eat and
when not to drink; to battle, and even
10 the direction of the pairing and
cleansing of the finger nails to prevent
danger from bacteria. Up to August
l. 1857 cases had been received at the
reserve hospital at Hiroshima, Of whom
6,6S6 were wounded. Of the entire num-
ber up to that time, only 81 had died.
If the testimony of those conversant
with the facts can be accepted, supple
mente6 by my Own limited observations
the loss from ~preventable disease in the
first six months of this terrible conflict
Will be but a fraction Of 1 per cent. This
too, In a country VIGOROUSLY unsanita-
ry. Compare his with the fearful losses
OF the British from preventable diseases
In South Africa, or, worse. with our
w losses in the Spanish-American
war, where, in a campaign the actual
hostilities of which lasted six weeks.
the mortality from bullets and wounds
was 26S, while that from disease reach
ed the appalling number of 1852, or
a5out II to 100-or 20 per cent per
cent. against 20 per cent.-Na+or Sen
man, of New York.
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