ARMY 
MEDICAL 
REGULATIONS. 
DUBLIN: 
Printed by George Grierson, His Majesty's Printer.  



A BRIEF 
DIGEST of REGULATIONS, 
To be observed by 
Regimental Surgeons and Mates on the Irish 
Establishment. 
The MEDICAL BOARD established in Dublin, in 
June 1795, consists of 
Doctor C.W. Quin,
Doctor Wm. Harvey, Joint Physicians General.
George Stewart, Esq; Surgeon-General. 
George Renny, Esq; Director-General of Hospitals. 
This board has been formed upon the model of that in England, 
for the purpose of controling the medical and surgical departments 
of the army in this kingdom; the members thereof, feeling themselves 
responsible for the active and faithful discharge of so important a trust, 
have digested the following brief system of regulations for the guidance 
and direction of regimental surgeons and mates, so long as they shall 
continue to serve upon the military establishment of Ireland. 

These should be capacious, and if possible placed in an elevated healthy 
situation: the wards ought to be large, and kept at all times perfectly  Regimental Hospitals             
sweet and clean; the walls if plaistered to be white-washed every three 
months; if wainscoted, to be frequently washed with soap and water. 
The beds and blankets well shaken and exposed to the air upon every 
fine day, and fresh straw supplied once a week at least. 

Separate wards to be allotted for the accommodation of fever 
patients, and every possible care taken by thorough ventilation and strict
cleanliness to prevent the origin, and to check the progress of infectious 
diseases.
A It


(2)
 It is much to be wished, That regimental infirmaries construsted upon 
the most approved plan were built adjoining to each barrack in the 
kingdom, and proportioned to its general extent. 

King's Mi- 
litary Infir- 
mary.		   
 Whenever a regiment or detachment shall be quartered in Dublin, 
surgeons and mates are strictly to comply with the regulations already 
made public for their conduct, with respect to the King’s infirmary 
there. 
Dietary of  	      
the Sick.
 The diet of the sick should be suited to the nature of the ailment,      
acute diseases, inflammatory, intermittent, remittent and continued
fevers, with the majority of venereal cases, should be put upon a low 
regimen, consisting of a due portion of bread, barley, rice, milk, 
whey, oatmeal-gruel, butter-milk, flummery, &c.—-Convalescents who 
have been much reduced from preceding diseases, should have a 
suitable daily allowance of meat and of fresh broth, and in some parti- 
cular instances it may be essential to prescribe a moderate quantity of 
wine, especially to those who labour under, or may be recovering from 
nervous and putrid fevers, which so generally run out to a long period, 
and are always accompanied with considerable debility. 

 The subsistence received to answer these purposes, may be fixed at 5d. 
or 5 1/2d. per day for each man, according to the market-rate of provi- 
sions.* (* See the Appendix.) 

Medical
Practice.
Each regimental surgeon, or in his absence his mate, shall visit the 
hospital at least twice in the twenty-four hours, and keep a medical 
journal of his practice, in which the name, age, general constitution, 
disease and treatment of every patient, shall be regularly entered and 
fully detailed, together with the day of his admission and discharge: 
Which journal, the director-general of hospitals will call for and inspect, 
whenever he makes his circuit through any of the districts. 

 When a regiment is cantoned, and much separated, the surgeon is to 
employ the best medical assistance he can procure, in the several towns 
and villages where they may be stationed; with all of the persons so em- 
ployed. he is to establish such an intercourse, as may enable him to 
frame his monthly report to the medical board with sufficient accuracy. 
Change of
Quarters.     
 When a regiment upon changing quarters is regularly relieved by 
another, the sick that are unavoidably left behind, are to be taken charge        
of by the surgeon or mate of the regiment succeeding, who will be res- 
ponsible for their medical treatment until they are able to join, and 
without making any charge for medicines or attendance, this being con- 
sidered as a point of mutual accommodation; except in Dublin, where 
the sick unable to march or to be carried, will be received into the 
King’s military infirmary.
The

(3)
The surgeon, or in his absence the surgeon’s mate, to report weekly, 	  
or oftener if ordered, to the officer commanding, and to make up a full    
and complete report of the state of the sick of the whole regiment, to    
be sent by post on the 20th of every month, directed to Charles Berkeley  
Kippax, Esq; secretary to the medical board, and put under cover to       
Sackville Hamilton, Esq; Dublin Castle. 
Reports to the
Commanding
Officer, and
to the Medi-
cal Board.
This report will enumerate the different detachments of the regi- 
ment, the probable number of the sick with their diseases at each de- 
tachment, the exact number at head-quarters, in hospital, barracks, or 
billet, with the name, age, and disease of each patient, particularly- 
specified and arranged in separate columns, marking the precise period 
of attack, and length of duration of each ailment, together with the 
total number taken sick, cured, or dead, since the preceding report: 
 When it appears upon the face of the report, That regiments are 
unusually sickly in a particular place. The medical board expect that 
the surgeon shall specify by letter his opinion as to the nature of the 
prevailing disease; if contagious, how introduced; if epidemic, whe- 
ther common in the neighbourhood, or more immediately produced 
among the soldiery from severe duty, long exposure to cold and fatigue, 
imperfect clothing, scanty or unwholesome food, bad water, foul or 
noxious air in unventilated and dirty barracks, &c. together with a full 
detail of the medical treatment, in order that from a timely knowledge 
of the cause and nature of the malady, the board may be enabled to 
propose a suitable and vigorous remedy. 
 This regulation being of the first importance, is to be strictly observed 
by every cavalry, infantry, fencible, and militia surgeon and mate in the 
kingdom, at all times, except for the period during which they may be 
encamped, when the sick report will be made by the staff-physician and 
surgeon attached to each encampment, once a week to the general officer 
commanding, and once a fortnight to the medical board in Dublin, or 
oftener to either, or to both, if so ordered. 
Infectious Fe-
vers, Dysen-
tery, &c.
 When these take place, in addition to the strict execution of the 	 
foregoing rules; The barracks, or wherever such diseases may have first  
appeared, must be particularly examined, and undergo a thorough         
cleansing, ventilation and fumigation: The infected men must instantly 
be separated from the healthy, and previous to any patient so diseased 
being received into the regimental infirmary, he must be washed and 
made perfectly clean with warm water and soap, have his hair combed, 
and be supplied with a well-aired linen shirt. 
 In the progress of the treatment, the patients are to be kept as much 
as possible separated from one another, and in addition to the thorough 
ventilation and sweetness of the several infirmary wards, they must be 
sprinkled daily with vinegar, or fumigated with its steams, or those 
arising from boiling tar or pitch: When the fever is on the decline, the 
whole of the hospital beds and bedding, with the garments of the sick
A2 Must

(4)
must be stoved in an oven, or steeped in cold water, (if running water 
the better) for forty-eight hours at least, previous to their being tho- 
roughly washed. 
Convalescents from such fevers being exceedingly apt to relapse, must 
not be too speedily returned as fit for duty.	     
Itch.
As the itch has lately been very prevalent amongst the troops, 
(especially in those corps lately raised) it is particularly recommended 
to regimental surgeons and mates, for their own credit, and the sol- 
diers comfort, to pursue the most effectual and vigorous measures in the 
cure, as well as in the prevention of a disease, which never can make 
any considerable progress in a regiment, where cleanliness and proper 
discipline are observed. 
When the disorder appears, the source of infection must if possible 
be ascertained and obviated; and commanding officers will do well 
whenever they suspect it to prevail, to order a monthly inspection of 
the regiment by the surgeon, who is upon each inspection, to report 
the number infected, in order that they may be separated from the rest 
of the regiment until cured: As a remedy less filthy, and less injurious 
to the linen and bedding than the ointment, it is recommended to sur- 
geons to provide themselves with a quantity of liver of sulphur, with a 
solution of which, in warm water, the infected men may be frequently 
washed, and their shirts and sheets may likewise be steeped in it, and 
well dried before they are used: Recruits, recruiting parties, or men 
absent upon leave, upon joining, should never be allowed to sleep in the 
same barrack-room, with the other soldiers, until they shall have been 
examined, and reported by the surgeon to be perfectly clean. 
Corporal Punishments.
Surgeons and mates have need of much discretion and experience to 
conduct themselves properly in the discharge of this unpleasant part of 
their duty. 
They are never to permit corporal punishment to be inflicted with 
such severity as to endanger life. 
Deserters who have been previously confined in a gaol or provost, 
have generally a sallow and sickly complexion, and although most de- 
serving of severe punishment, are least able to undergo it, as low fever, 
and extensive mortification often succeed in such cases. 
Punished men are to be confined in a separate ward of the infirmary, 
and great care must be taken to prevent the discharge from the sores 
from infecting the beds and bedding, which always produces an offen- 
sive smell, and often generates putrid and highly infectious fevers.
The

(5)
The medical board expect, That regimental surgeons and mates will 
in future be particularly attentive in the discharge of this duty, as	      		
abuses have of late prevailed in this department of the service, highly      
disreputable to those concerned, and which as entailing the worst effects, 
cannot be too publickly reprobated, nor too speedily and effectually 
checked. 
Examination
of Recruits.
Every recruit previous to being examined must be stript, and care 
taken that he is free from the following diseases, viz. Herniae of all 
kinds, enlargements of the testis and spermatic process; he must enjoy 
the perfect use of every limb, which must be well formed without 
any muscular contraction, and not wasted: Enlargements of the bones 
or of the joints, whether from a scrophulous or venereal taint, ulcers 
on the skin of an inveterate kind, and even a very trifling sore upon the 
leg, (especially on the shin) will constitute a sufficient cause for rejection: 
His general look must be healthy, neither consumptive nor asthmatic, 
and without any appearance of internal disease, or of being worn out: 
He must not be subject to fits of any kind, his judgment, fight, and 
hearing, must be perfect, or where there may be a partial defect in the 
first, or in either of the last, it is to be specially reported to the inspect- 
ing officer, and left for his decision, to which the surgeon must inva- 
riably appeal in all cases of ailment not amounting to absolute incapa- 
city for service. 
Such men as have not had the small-pox, are to be specially reported 
to the officer commanding, that with his approbation, the surgeon may 
at the must convenient season put them under a proper preparation for 
being inoculated. 
As the medical order contained in the printed rules issued by the 
board of governors of the Royal Hospital to the regiments upon the 
Irish establishment, has hitherto been much neglected by surgeons and            
mates.—The medical board expect, that they will in future pay the 	      	
strictest attention to the following order, viz. "That when diseased or       
"disabled men are recommended to Kilmaiaham pension, the surgeon               
“ shall particularly describe the origin, name, and state of the complaint,   
" and why he looks upon the person recommended to be unfit for fur-          
“ ther service, and when disabled by any wound or accident, to dis- 
“ tinguish, how, when, and where such accident happened, and whe- 
" ther the man was at that time actually upon duty, or otherwise.”  
Recommen-
dation of Sol-
diers to the
Pension of
Kilmainham
Hospital.
Of these, the military surgeon should possess a full assortment, as the 
relief afforded by surgery in mansy cafes of disease, very much depends       
upon the fitness of the instruments employed.                                 
Surgical
Instruments.
B The

(6)
The medical board expect, that each regimental surgeon should be 
provided with the following instruments, all in good order, and of the 
must approved construction, which may be purchased at a moderate ex- 
pence, and conveniently packed up in a portable box, to be occasionally 
straped on the back of an orderly man, viz. 
A complete set of amputating, trepan and pocket instruments. 
Forceps and trocars of different sizes and shapes. 
Silver and flexible catheters and bougies. 
A sufficient number of tourniquets, lancets, crooked needles, tenacu- 
lum, &c. 
Splints for simple and compound fractures of the best construction. 
Bandages and rollers of all sorts, with plenty of flannel, linen, lint, 
tow, ligatures, adhesive plaister, and every kind of dressing.
The director-general of hospitals will consider it to be an essential part 
of his duty, to fee that the above regulation is complied with. 
Pharmaco- 
paeia.  	  
It is the intention of the board to furnish a Pharmacopaeia for the use 
of the army surgeons and mates on the Irish establishment, to which it 
is expected they will conform as strictly as the nature-of the caces under 
their care may admit. 
Regiments
Encamped, 
Those regiments-who take the field, will be put under the immediate 
superintendance of a camp hospital physician, surgeon,apothecary and mate, 
who will immediately fix on some fit place contiguous to the camp for the 
estabishment of a general hospital on the smallest scale that the number of 
men encamped will admit of, it being intended for the reception only of 
patients afflicted with fevers, dysenteries, and other contagious diseases: 
This hospital will be under the direction of the medical staff appointed for 
the service of the camp, who will likewise visit daily the several regi- 
mental hospitas, fee that the orders for the conducting thereof be 
strictly carried into execution, and take care that such as may be deem-  
ed proper patients for the general hospital be sent, thither without de- 
lay: The medical prescriptions and directions of the camp physician 
and surgeon are to be implicitly obeyed by regimental surgeons and 
mates, as they will be vested with discretionary powers from the me- 
dical board to control every medical and surgical camp arrangement; 
they being responsible only to them, and to the director-general of 
hospitals, when he shall visit any of the districts. 
Permanent
Stations of 	    	  
Staff Hospital
Physician 
and Surgeons.
Whenever the medical board shall think fit to station a staff-physician 
or surgeon permanently in any particular place, he will be commanded- 
by the board to take a certain extent of country, and a certain number 
of troops under his general medical care, and he will be invested with 
full

(7)
full authority to call for frequent sick reports from the several surgeons 
and mates quartered in the district, and specially to interfere with his 
advice and directions, whenever he shall consider it to be his duty so 
to do; when any such appointment takes place, it will be notified to 
the particular district in general orders. 
APPENDIX. 
Dietary of the KING’s MILITARY      
INFIRMARY in Dublin, at 5-d. per Day 
Subsistence for each Patient.
per day
General diet. 
One pound of bread. 
Half a pound of boiled beef. 
One quart of gruel. 
One quart of broth. 
One quart of milk. 
Convalescent (or milk) diet.
One pound of bread. 				
One quart of broth. 
Two quarts and one pint of milk. 
One quart of gruel. 
per day.
Fever  diet.
Three quarts and one pint of Milk. 
Two quarts of barley water. 
One quart of gruel. 
Butter-milk sufficient for whey. 
FINIS.