File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (17972216398).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo15amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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GUARDING THE HEALTH OF ARMIES 69 cent of the British soldiers died of disease, and in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71, 14 per cent of the French soldiers perished in the same way. The German forces in the Franco- Prussian war, the English army in the Boer war and the Japanese who fought Russia in 1906 lost in each case about 2^ per cent of their men from disease, a splendid record compared to that of earlier wars, but still one that represents a fearful waste of human life. In the Boer war the English lost over 14,000 men from disease and less than 8,000 from wounds. In our own Spanish- American campaign, typhoid fever alone cost more than fourteen lives for every thousand soldiers, and bullets only two for every thousand. The chief diseases of the camp are those which, like typhoid fever, are caused by sewage pollution of water and food supplies. In the Spanish war the typhoid fever, which affected one out of every five of our volunteer soldiers, was mainly due to careless exposure of excreta and the spread of the germs to food by flies. In a modern military camp the excreta are received in a trench away from the water supply, the kitchen and food stores, and are immediately covered with earth to prevent access of flies. The water supply of the army is safe- guarded with the greatest care. When the troops are in the field all water for their use is purified either by heat, filtration or chemical disinfectants, and the most stringent regulations forbid drinking from roadside wells and streams. The Japanese use a field filter in which the water is strained and at the same time disinfected by chemicals. In the French army the water supply of the troops is sterilized by the use of ultra- violet light. The most common procedure for purifying water in the field is perhaps sterilization by heat, or distillation. The Forbes sterilizer (on this principle)
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Model of the Forbes water sterilizer used in the United States Army for the piiriflcation of the \?ater supply of troops in the field. From the military hygiene exhibit in the hall of public health

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