[163] In the _French_ Hospitals there are always a Number of Men who attend their Sick who belong to the Hospital, so that they have no Occasion to employ their Convalescents, as we are often obliged to do, where the Sick are attended by Nurses, who are commonly Soldiers Wives, and not so capable of doing such laborious Work as the Men. When the Military Inspector is absent, the eldest Officer on convalescent Duty ought to act in his Place. Every Officer sent on convalescent Duty ought, as soon as he arrives at the Place where the Hospital is, to wait on the Commandant, or Military Inspector; to acquaint him of his Arrival, and to receive his Commands. He ought then to go to the Purveyor or Commissary’s Office, to get a List of all the Soldiers who are in or about the Hospital, and belong to the Regiment or Brigade he is employed for, wherein those on Billet are distinguished from those in Hospitals. The next Day he ought to parade all those marked on Billet, to see if the Number of Men agrees with the List given him, and to examine in what State each Man is, and how he is employed; and then he ought to go round the Hospitals, attended by an orderly Serjeant, to see all the Men in the Hospitals, and to know if the List given him at the Purveyor’s Office was right; and afterwards he ought to send every Day a Serjeant or Corporal to see the Men in Hospitals, and to report to him when any Men are discharged or die.--And he ought to procure from the Military Inspector a Return of all the Men of his Corps, who are either admitted into, or discharged from Hospitals, on the Days when such Returns are made. He ought to make all his Men on Billet appear regularly on the Parade at Roll-calling, and to oblige them to keep themselves clean and their Arms in good Order, and to endeavour to preserve the same Regularity and Discipline as when they are with their Regiments. And whenever a Party is to be sent to join their Regiments, he ought to have all his Men particularly examined; and those Men who are found to be perfectly recovered, should be sent to their Regiments. If every Officer on convalescent Duty conform to these Directions, no Man can ever be detained without his Knowledge in or about Hospitals, as he must always know where every Man is, in what State of Health, and how he is employed; and may at any Time be able to make a Return to the Brigade or Regiment for which he is employed, of every Man who is admitted, discharged, or dies in the Hospital. FINIS. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Account of the Diseases which were most frequent in the British military, by Donald Monro