An Account of the Diseases which were most frequent in the British military hospitals in GermanyMonro, Donald
History
An Account of the Diseases which were most frequent in the British military hospitals in Germany
Monro, Donald
Medicine, Military; Military hospitals; Military hygiene; Seven Years' War, 1756-1763 -- Medical care
The Men should be obliged to keep themselves neat and clean; to comb
their Hair, and change their Linen often; and if the Camp be near the
Sea, or a large River, they ought to bathe early in the Morning as
often as the Nature of the Service will permit. However the following
Caution, mentioned by Dr. _Lind_, ought to be observed, which is, not
to go into the cold Bath when overheated with Work or Liquor, or when
the Stomach is full, or when a critical Eruption, called the prickly
Heat, appears on the Skin[133].
[133] Dr. _Lind_ says, the Use of the cold Bath, either in
Tubs under the Forecastle, or to dip in the Sea early in the
Morning, has been found extremely beneficial in warm Weather
and hot Countries; and that he can affirm, from his own
Experience in hot Climates, that many Diarrhœas and other
Complaints, the pure and sole Effect of an unusual and great
Heat (relaxing the System of the Solids, and occasioning a
Colliquation of the Animal Juices), have not only been cured
by cold Bathing; but their Return, and even the Attack of
such Diseases, effectually prevented by it. _Ibid._ p. 44,
&c.
When Men are seized with inflammatory Symptoms on entering into warm
Climates, they may be blooded freely: Afterwards they do not easily
bear such copious Evacuations, but rather require to have them made in
smaller Quantities, and very early and frequent, as Inflammations make
a rapid Progress in warm Countries. Dr. _Lind_ says, many
Practitioners disapprove of Blood-letting in the Countries lying under
the Torrid Zone, on a Supposition that the Blood is too much
dissolved; but he thinks that this Rule will admit of many Exceptions;
and that Sailors (_and consequently Soldiers_), being strong and
robust, and exposed to greater Vicissitudes of Heat and Cold, and more
Excesses, and other Accidents in general, bear freer Bleeding than any
other Set of People.
After some Time, the Diseases in these warm Climates tend to the
putrid Kind, and must be treated as such.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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