us the leading facts that the end aimed at is the establishment of a great sanitary good for the benefit of the people, to be enforced upon the careless and unwilling few by statutory obligation; that the only power to establish and maintain this measure lies dormant in the people themselves; and that the sole stimulant available for arousing this power into activity is to convince them of the value and the facility of the affair, and the necessity for its adoption.

There are two chief levers to move the people in this behalf that the Association should seize and skilfully apply; first, the general practitioners of medicine, as already herein before mentioned; and secondly, the Press.

An American gentleman of great practical good sense is reported to have said that "Newspapers are the monarchs of the age." Let us, then, enlist these monarchs in the cause we advocate. Doubtlessly, with proper effort, the whole catalogue of daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly periodicals could be interested in the good work, for it commends itself to their warmest regards, whatever their leading features may be, political, literary, scientific, or religious. The humanity of the purpose for which their aid is invoked; the unselfish design of the party seeking their assistance; and the certainty of doing good to their patrons and supporters, without the risk of doing harm or giving offence, would be sufficient to subsidize every press in the land.

A key to the importance of this appliance in maturing the work under consideration may be had by imagining the influence that would be exerted on a wide circle of readers, by an article on vaccination written by Edward Everett, and published in the New York Weekly Ledger.

For the successful application of these means there must be a perfect system and thorough organization; an active and responsible head, with intelligent and efficient subordinates. Perhaps the better plan would be for this Association to appoint one or more persons to take charge, under its direction and control, of the whole affair. For the convenience of a name let us call this head the Central Committee. Then there should be a committee appointed in each State to supervise the affair in the State, which may be called the State Committee. These State committees should be subordinate, auxiliary, and advisory to the Central Committee, and should perform their work in a uniform method to be dictated by the Central Committee.

It is unnecessary to give further details of such a plan in this connection, as the foregoing will suffice for action on the part of the Association, to determine whether the proposition meets its approbation.

All of which is respectfully submitted,

JAMES F. HIBBERD, Chairman.
WILSON JEWELL,

JOHN H. GRISCOM.

REPORT

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON MILITARY HYGIENE.

BY

E. ANDREWS, M. D.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON MILITARY
HYGIENE.

YOUR Committee find that the present war has furnished such a vast mass of facts for consideration upon the topic of military hygiene, that no human industry will suffice to digest it into a complete report, in the space of a single year. We have therefore determined to confine our attention to only one subdivision of the subject, viz:

THE EFFECTS OF THE AIR OF OVERCROWDED HOSPITALS.

There are four principal sources of contamination affecting the air in hospital wards.

1st. The respiration.

2d. The perspiration.

3d. The effluvia and suppuration of wounds.

4th. The various discharges and excretions of the body.

From all these sources the air of a ward filled with wounded men is rendered unfit for use with astonishing rapidity.

If we take the combined results of physiological experiment, and of our own observation, we shall find the rate of contamination in a ward of fifty wounded men to be about as follows.

Men respire about 350 cubic feet of air each in 24 hours, consequently 50 men consume 17,500 cubic feet. The air thus breathed is unfit for any further use. It is deprived of a part of its oxygen, is loaded with carbonic acid, and, what is worse than either, the moisture exhaled with the breath is loaded with organic matter, in such a state as to favor rapid putrefaction where the air is at all confined. Strictly speaking none of this air should enter the lungs. a second time, but as it is difficult to prevent this absolutely, we may assume that it should be mixed with at least ten times its VOL. XV.-12