camp-followers, mule-drivers, cooks, officers’ servants, &c., &c., which constitute one of the most remarkable features of the Indian army organization.
Field hospitals, under the new scheme furnished by tent sections of the Field Ambulances, are each supposed to provide accommodation for 100 patients, who live on their field rations suitably cooked and supplemented by various medical comforts. The patients are not supplied with hospital clothing, nor do they have beds, but lie on straw, which Field hospitals.is spread on the ground and covered with waterproof sheets and blankets; of these latter a considerable reserve is carried. These hospitals can and must at times accommodate more than the regulation number of patients, but in the South African War their resources were at times considerably overtaxed, with consequent discomfort and hardship to the patients, the medical equipment proving insufficient for unexpectedly heavy calls upon its resources. These hospitals are supposed to move with the army, and therefore it is imperative to pass the wounded quickly back from these to the stationary hospitals on the lines of communication (which vary according to the length Hospitals on the lines of communication.of these lines) and thence to the general hospitals at the base. The size of the lines of communication hospitals varies according to circumstances, and they are as a rule “dieted,” that is to say, proper hospital diets and not field rations are issued to the patients, who also are supplied with beds and proper hospital clothing. In these hospitals also there may be nursing sisters, who of course are unsuited for the rough work and life nearer the front. Sisters are also employed on the hospital trains, which were found most useful and brought to great perfection in the South African War, being fitted with beds, kitchens, dispensaries, &c., so that patients were moved long distances in comfort.
Arrived at the base of operations the wounded are admitted to the general hospitals, of which the numbers and situation vary with circumstances, but each is supposed to have an officers’ ward. In the South African War, owing to the inability of the comparatively small Royal Army Medical Corps to meet all the requirements of the General hospitals.enormous force which was ultimately employed, many of the doctors were drawn from the civil profession, and the rank and file from the St John’s Ambulance Association and the Volunteer Medical Staff Corps, while many nursing sisters belonged to the Army Nursing Reserve, ordinarily employed in civil hospitals but liable to be drafted out during war. In the South African War the patriotism and liberality of the British public furnished several large general hospitals, perfectly equipped, and officered by some of the most eminent members of the medical profession in the United Kingdom. Among others may be Civil general hospitals.mentioned the Princess Christian, the Imperial Yeomanry (both field and general hospitals), the Langman, the Portland, the Scottish, Irish and Welsh hospitals. These were staffed entirely by civilians, except that an officer of the Royal Army Medical Corps was attached to each as administrator and organizer; and their personnel was made up of physicians, surgeons, nurses, dressers (medical students and in some cases fully qualified surgeons) and servants; the numbers, of course, varying with the size of the hospitals. In addition to the staff of these hospitals several eminent civil surgeons, including Sir William MacCormac and Sir F. Treves, went out to the seat of war as consultants; an innovation in the British service, but in accordance with the system long in vogue in Germany.
To the Army Medical organization is affiliated in war time that of the Red Cross Society and other charitable associations, which during the South African War aided the Army Medical Service greatly by gifts of clothing, money and numerous luxuries for the sick and wounded.
Lastly, the wounded man is transferred to a hospital ship, which is fitted up with comfortable swinging cots in airy wards, with refrigerators for preserving provisions and the supply of ice, punkahs for hot weather, &c. Each division of an army corps is supposed to have one such ship, with from 200 to 250 beds and the same staff of Hospital ships.doctors, nurses, &c., as a hospital of similar size on shore, when necessary.
Different regulations are made by various powers as to the work of the Red Cross societies under the Geneva flag. Whereas in Germany and France such aid is officially recognized and placed under direct military control, the English Red Cross societies have acted side by side with, but independently of, the military ambulance organization. InRed Cross societies. the South African War (1899–1902), however, the bonds of union were drawn considerably closer, and cordial co-operation was brought about to prevent overlapping and waste of money. In Germany the volunteer organization is presided over by an imperial commission or inspector-general appointed in peace time, who in time of war is attached to the headquarters staff. His functions are to control the relations of the various Red Cross societies and secure harmonious co-operation. Delegates appointed by him are attached to the various corps and transport commissions. No volunteer assistance can be utilized which is not entirely subordinate to the military control, and has not already in peace time received official recognition and been organized on a skeleton footing. Moreover, only persons of German nationality can be employed under it with the armies in the field. In case of base hospitals situated in Germany itself, the services of foreigners may be employed when specially authorized by the war office. In France, in the main, the same rules obtain in the case of volunteer hospital service.
Great attention has been paid to civil ambulance organization in England. In 1878 the British ambulance association of St John of Jerusalem was founded. Its object was to render first aid to persons injured in accidents on the road, railway, or in any of the occupations of civil life. As the result of the initiative taken by this society,St. John’s Ambulance Association. ambulance corps have been formed in most large towns of the United Kingdom; and police, railway servants and workmen have been instructed how to render first aid pending the arrival of a doctor. This samaritan work has been further developed and extended to most parts of the British empire, notably Canada, Australia and India, and there is no doubt that many lives are saved annually by the knowledge, diffused by this association, as to how to stop bleeding, resuscitate the apparently drowned, &c. Moreover, during the South African War this association provided a most valuable reserve for the Royal Army Medical Corps, and drafted out some hundreds of partially trained men whose assistance was most valuable to the Army Medical Service in dealing with the enormous numbers of sick and wounded who came upon their hands.
In America each city has its own system and organization of civil ambulance service. In some, as in Boston, the service is worked by the police; in others, notably New York, by the hospitals, while Chicago has an admirable service under municipal control. In most of the capitals of Europe similar systems prevail.Civil ambulance in America.
British ambulance wagons are built very strongly to stand rough roads, and are of several patterns; those used in the war in South Africa were reported on as heavy, uncomfortable, and so unwieldy as to be incapable very often of keeping up with the troops; but a new and more mobile vehicle, to convey four patients lying down asAmbulance wagons. well as six seated, or fourteen all seated (whereas the old pattern wagons only accommodated two lying-down cases), has been introduced. All patterns of wagons weigh from 1712 to 1812 cwt., while the Boers and the British Colonial auxiliaries used much lighter carts, which were taken at a gallop over almost any country. The Indian ambulances are small two-wheeled carts, called tongas, drawn by two bullocks or mules; very strongly made, they are capable of holding two men lying down, or four sitting up, besides the native driver.
Various other forms of transport are found, such as mule litters in mountainous districts, where wheeled carriages cannot go, camel litters in the Sudan, dhoolies in India, hammocks on the west coast of Africa, or sedan-chairs in China. In the Russo-Japanese War an ingenious form of mule litter for serious cases
