Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-08-10
ASSOCIATED Press Correspondence

>OAAoSohNAORAS, ouAC CO.-1 Hc HCdllH
OF the Turkish troops at the Gallipoh
and Dardanelles fronts is good, and
the wounded from these theatres Of
war are we'll cared for To this may
be added that the Turkish medical
staff has shown much resourcefulness
and that the occasional paucity Of
materials and medicaments is met in
spirit one would not expect to find
in an organization of which SO little
good was said during the late Balkan
war. The capacity Of the hospitals in
spected by The Associated Press cor
respondent is over 5000.
Camp hygiene is wen administered
in the Ottoman army. Trenches visit
ed were found to be scrupulously clean.
The food of the men is we'll cooked and
care is taken that none but good water
is drunk by the men. Every effort
is made to keep the clothing of the
men free from vermin and to facilitate
this retorts. in which infested clothes
may he baked or disinfected, are built
wherever they are needed. Great in
genuity has been displayed in this. AS
a rule, the retort is nothing more than
q AGA sc AIOIC Ill SOIIIe convenient NIL
side. similar to a bakeoven. It's floor
Is paved with brick or field stone, and
under this two other holes are dug
for the fire that is to heat the retort
The construction is extremely simple
and not a single piece of iron is used
in it. Even the door of the retort is
generally q large rock.
In the camps visited all latrines were
found in an excellent state. Lime was
being used as disinfectant, because
other chemicals can not be had in
Turkey at present. To combat the fly
pest messes and kitchens are placed
so that air currents can sweep through
them. This method is not as effective
as screening, but screens are hard to
get in Turkey. 1t may be said in this
connection that the experience of the
turkish troops on the Gallipoli PENN
sula with flies has been a most trying
one, but that, so far, the fly has not
proven as great an agent of disease
as has been charged in other parts of
the world. 1t is thought, however,
that this Isl largely due to the fact
that the Turkish soldier eats very
little uncooked food or cooked food
which has been exposed to contamin-
alton long. His mess Of rice, beans,
peas. and meat is generally too hot to
invite a fly.
Every battalion in the field has a
surgeon and a number of trained sani-
tary service men. Upon these rests
the task of keeping the camp clean.
Yoh
expected to be of service to the wound
ed and sick, its first duty is disease
prevention.
All men at the front have been vac
cinated against typhoid and typhus-
vaccinated men are given a certificate
The constant changing caused by
losses and reinforcements makes fire.
quent inspections of these certificates
necessary. Men who fail to produce a
| certlncate are Immediately re-vaccin-
ated. Inc same is true of men whose
certlhcate shows that the period of
Immunity resulting from a prior vac
cination is about to expire. So sue
cessful has been this method that on
June "A, when the correspondent Wis
tied lazaret for contagious cases
the entire Turkish force on the penin-
sula had but three cases of mild en-
teric feOer and none Of typhoid or ty-
plus.
Sick and wounded are never admit
ted to the same hospital, nor are they
treated in the same tent even at the
front.
One of the lazarets for the sick
visited was a model institution Of its
kind, and, odd to relate, the lack of
material and other unfavorable con-
ditions had made it so. In its former
location the lazaret had been bonn
barded by an Allied aviator, to whom
the large white tents had been a well
come target. SO the lazaret had to be
shifted. Major Jack Messim, chief
physician. then discovered that his
tentage had suffered considerably from
the aerial bombardment. The new site
of the larazet was we'll wooded, and
this led to the building of large perma-
nent booths Of pine timbers and
boughs. The boughs on the roof and
sides OF the booth do not permit the
hot sunlight to enter, while giving free
access to the breeze, and the fragrance
Of the rosin and pine needles is a good
deodorant. The old tenting has been
converted into sheets that may be
stretched over the booth in case of
rain. 1t Is doubtful whether the sick
of any other army are as we'll situated
as those in care Of Major Messin and
his staff. His losses through death
from all causes are so far less than
two per cent. Nom contagious diseases
osly are treated in his lazaret.
Similarly constructed are the build
ings" of the hospital for severe wounds
in charge Of Ismes Bey, captain-sur-
geon. The Messim and Ismes estab-
lishments lie under the same hill and
are separated by a gorge in whose
shelter the meteorological and chemical
laboratory Of the two institutions oper-
ate.
Ismes Bey cares for all the severely
wounded Of the Turkish Avi Bournou
group. His hospital is probably one
of the hest to be found anywhere. Its
booths and tents are located under tall
pine trees and are we'll kept The beds,
though noney too comfortable, perhaps,
are scrupulously clean and the we'll
being OF the patients is promoted by
having men from the working re-
serves" keep the flies from them with
xchifo clothes faStenod IN Love +h;r