Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-10-22

New York, oct. 16.-Reports that cpl
lemics menace the field forces of Europe
have raised the question whether dis
easc may not become more potent than
bullets i'm finishing the war, Precedent
gives an ambiguous answer. No war
was ever admittedly ended by disease,
and In counting the causes of weakness
and defeat it would hardly be possible
to prove that disease had controlling in
fiuence Recent progress in sanitation is
equally inconclusive. for the reason that
never in history We're present conditions
parallecd
Until within ten years typhoid fever
was the most dreadful scourge Of armies
in active service. The Japanese in the
war with Russia in 190i-190j, practically
excluded IT by a strict sanitary regimen
based on inner and outer cleanliness.
Since 1908 military bodies have been sue
cessfully protected from it by a serum
discovered in that year Whether even
inocuation can ward it off from scenes
of continuous battle for three weeks. with
men in trenches flooded with cduinoctial
rains and sun-dried in the midst of hui
man and animal putrefaction and beset
with swarming flies can be told only by
results,
Assuming that the former major
scourge is under control, no immuniza-
ton has been provided against cholera.
which Is said already to have assalled
the Austrian intrenchments, and which
may easily have been carried into the
war zone by troops from Russia where
II is almost Indigenous, and into France
by recruits from India. where it has per-
manent abode. 1t acts more rapidly than
typhoid and is no less deadly.
OTHER DISEASES TO BE FEARED.
The other diseases to be feared are
those of the respiratory organs including
pneumonia, laryngitis, bronchitis and
diphtheria; goitre, rheumatism, pleurisy,
dysentery scarlet fever, malaria and
kindred miasmatic Affections. varioloid,
meningitis and the train of serious mall
aides incident to disturbed digestion, i'm
perfect nutrition, broken rest nervous
strain and enforced sanitary neglect
generally. All these are imminent perils,
apart from effects of privation and hard
chip which always manifest themselves
in invalidism after war
Havoc worked by disease in warfare
was always recognized but until within
half century medical authorities did not
try to classify it and probably could not
obtain the data for that work. When
they began to give the matter serious at
tention their reports usually dealt with
separate commands, or individual cam
paigns Abundant statistics have been
assembled covering complete losses in
men in various wars since 1890, but the
difficult task of separating field casual
ties from losses due solely to disease has
been undertaken by few investigators.
and these have usually been actuated by
a wish to enforce special pleading rather
than to cover the entire subject Trea-
tlscs of this kind have been been issued
by DR.. Stanlsaus Ritter Won Kf,rivtn-
Dzabanski, Paul Leroy Beaulieu OF the
French institute, Baron Moltke, Baron
d'Haxthausen and DR.. Chenu
HAVOC BY DISEASE IN GREAT
WARS.
these writer's agree that the losses
of the campaigns in Europe from 17t
TO 1915, including those of Napoleon
aggregated 10000 men, They had nc
data to enable them to separate those
who died in action or Of wounds from
those who died of disease. When Napo-
leon began the retreat from Moscow he
had $40. 600 men; less than half that
number reached home All who failed
to survive were Jumped as "mlssing, "
and so the record stands of collapse
in the retreat, In which starvation and
disease must have been moro fatal than
armed enemies. Dysentcry killed many
The force of the Royal Prussian army
caught typhus from following thu French
9
French commands commonly dropped off
with disease.
Baron d'IIaXthousen says that in the
Circassian wars Russia lost 10000 men.
fully half of them from exhaustion.
disease and disability" In the Crincan
war of 1G4l&J6 the French took 800 400
men into the field, They lost in killed
1920 and from wounds or disease
5,S75 The British lost 2 100 men killed
and 21s2 from disease. The Piedmontese
lost twelve killed and 2,1S2 from wounds
or disease, The Turks had 1000 killed
and lost otherwise 300 The Russians
lost In action $4,000, and 900 otherwise,
Of whom 34,00 persisted OF disease. The
totals are 53,oJ7 killed In action and 7sl,
HS4 died Of wounds or disease. OF the
French troops $4,000 were taken down
with disease, or II per cent, OF the total
force, and the losses We're about 80 per
cent. of that number. the remainder
having sufficiently recovered to get
nome. The British had 144, 400 cases OF
disease, or ~ per cent. of their entire
force, many having been stricken more
than once. Typhus fever was the worst
scourgc. There Is danger OF It's appear
ance in the present wa"
ON THIS SIDE OF THE WORLD.
Records Of the American Civil War
show on the Union side 1908 killed IN
action, 43Ol2 died Of wounds, 99,72O died
of disease and iO15i died In prisons and
by accidents. Confederate losses from
wounds and disease, partially reported
showed 1873, SCI deaths Typhoid fever was
the most destructive disease on both sides
1t caused many deaths in the prisons of
the South.
In Mexico in 1896 the French force Of
5000 lost l,lSo killed in action, 1859 died
from wounds and 1925 died from disease
Figures from the Franco Prussian war
Of 1870 give French losses at l3ss70 in
action or from wounds and 5000 from
disease, while disease killed 1929 Ger
mans out of a total loss of 59259.
Losses in action by American troops
In Cuba in 1895 We're almost negligible
but Dr. Charles Nicholas Sem. chief
surgeon OF volunteers, had 300 cases OF
yellow fever on his hands within two
weeks In the trenches before Santiago
and his book on the Spanish War re-
ports almost an epidemic of typhoid
ha nj