Evening star., 1915-03-07
AMBULANCES NOW
IN GREAT DEMAND
European War Has Caused
Situation, Says A. Jack
son Marshall.
CITES DEVELOPMENT
OF HANDLING WOUNDED
Present Methods Date From Last
Decade of Eighteenth Century.
He Declares.


great demand for better ambulances.
One outcome is Britain's prize offer
for the best model, an offer that is
drawing considerable attention to the
field of ambulance service" says A.
jackson Marshall. secretary o. the
Electric Vehicle Association Of America.
Like the Crimean and our civil wa :,
this one will mark an improvement in
hospital transportation. the chief inl-
portance of which lies not in army ann
balancing in occasional wars. but III
that steady civil hospital service that
we have always with US. As this steady
service is on the eve OF being greatly
influenced. a review of ambulance serv-
ice as il has been and as it is now is
especially apropos.
Originated i'll War.
The ambulance. which is now IA
miliar and essential feature OF muni-
cipal welfare III times of peace, orig
inated-and that not long ago-from
the ex:gencies of war. The origin of
the ambulance service now prevailing
dates from only the last decade of the
eighteenth century. Before that time.
no facilities We're provided for the re-
moval of the wounded during battle,
and aid often came Il day late. 1t seems
curious that although war is as old as
the world. systematized ambulancing is
comparatively new. In 1892 a surgeon,
Larrey. introduced system OF am
balances that was warmly supported
by Napoleon l. About the same time
trained stretcher bearers were organ
lied to carry the wounded to vehlcies
while battles were still in progress.
Only in the last twenty years has the
system been so we'll organized-a sys-
hi ink nv h.aC
attention than any other nation. The
British never reached the height of the
continental systems. In the peninsular
war this was the source of constant
complaint In the Crimeau war the
British army was without any am
bulance corps-a lack that was the
focus of much bitter criticism at the
time, and which led to the organization
of such service.
Is Recognized Feature.
Ambulance service was by this time a
recognized feature of armies, and in our
civil war this service attained a very
complete organization, especially from
March. 1864 when Congress passed an
act entitled An Act to Establish Cnl-
form System of Ambulances in the United
States, a definite and single system of
ambulance arrangement for all the armies
of the United States in field. From this
organization grew that of the present
day city emergency service, which dates
from 1859, when DR.. Edward 3 Dalton
inaugurated the work at the Bellevue
Hospital in New York city Dr. Dalton
had been in charge of the Field Ambu-
lance Corps of the Army of the Potomac
during the civil war, and when he was
requested to submit a plan of ambulance
operation for New York he was guided
largely by his battlefield experience.
The methods installed then have served
practically unchanged during the
forty-odd years since-in fact, they
have served as a pattern that has been
widely copied throughout the country.
System in England.
1t was not until ten years after this
installation in New York that the Brit
ish Ambulance Association of st. John
of Jerusalem founded a similar system
in England for the purpose Of emergency
relief in city accidents, with corps in all
the large towns and also in Canada, Aus
tralia and India. all under the central
control of the mother association. In the
United States, however. each city oper-
ates its ambulance service independently.
This is worked out in several ways; In
Boston by the police; in others-notably
New York-by the hospitals, while Chi
cago boasts admirable municipal
control.
In its early day the ambulance
corps of an army consisted of four
ers. wheeled stretchers, mule litters
and horse drawn vehicles, the models
OF which passed through many evolu-
tions. With the increased range uf
guns and the rapidity of army move
ments, the ambulance underwent