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SANITARY  CONDITION
TROOPS IN  THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF  BOSTON,
ADDRESSED TO
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS,
S.  G. HOWE, M. D.
MEMBER OF THE UNITED STATES SANITARY COMMISSION.
'"Mlrf
"HINTED BY REQUEST OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
   WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
       1861. 
• 
HIS EXCELLENCY  GOVERNOR ANDREW.
                                         Boston, July 25, 1861.
   Dear Sir : Some time ago I made, at your request, a hasty inspec-
 tion of the sanitary and  general condition of our troops  which were
 first sent to Washington, and reported to you that it was, upon the
 whole, satisfactory, considering the ordinary condition of armies in
 the field, and  considering  that the march of our men was not only
 their first march, but a forced one.
   In that sudden and dire emergency, it was meet that Massachusetts
 and her troops should accept the sufferings and hardships of  war
 without a murmur.  It was not a moment for close criticism.   But
 we are getting into a  state of persistent war, and it behooves us to
 see how it  can be vigorously prosecuted with the least suffering and
 hardship to our soldiers that is consistent with honor.
   Being prevented from aiding the national sanitary commission, as
 much as I desired to do, at Washington, I have tried to do something
 indirectly here by visiting  our encampments, and I address  to  you
 some reflections suggested thereby.
   From the moment a man enlists in the army his bodily and men-
 tal powers belong to the country.  He is called upon by honor, duty,
 and patriotism, to devote his time, strength, and life even, if need be,
 to her  service.   These obligations are kept  continually before his
 eyes, and those of the world, in prayer, prose, and verse, to  say
 nothing of army regulations ; but there are  others which are apt to
 be forgotten.
   Obligations between parties are reciprocal, and the country is bound
 by as strong ties of honor and duty to the soldier as he is to it.  The
 soldier's health is his capital—his stock in trade.  It yields a certain
 daily income in the shape of bodily strength and activity.  All of this
 the country has  a right to; but it has no right to touch the capital
 unnecessarily, or in any way to diminish it.   Nay !  it is  bound by
 moral considerations, if not by army regulations, to increase it, if pos-
sible, so that the soldier may be richer  when he is mustered out than
he was when mustered into  service.  Any unnecessary fatigue or ex-
 posure, therefore, any needless  lack of wholesome food and clothing, 
                                4

any avoidable violation of sanitary laws, by which the soldier's health
is broken, is a fraud upon him.
  These  remarks may seem trite and superfluous, but  experience
shows  that  governments do  not  practically  admit their responsi-
bility to  the  soldier for the care and preservation of his health—his
stock in trade. That our government ought to admit this responsibility,
in part at least, is clear, because it undertakes to provide food, clothing,
and lodging.  These, especially the latter, are often unnecessarily bad
and  unwholesome;  worse, certainly, than our volunteers  from New
England are accustomed  to at  home.
  Government ought to take as much  care of the soldier's health as
it does for  its personal estate, its  implements of war, or  its horses,
but it does not.  For instance, it is well known that the use of straw
between the ground and  the. soldier's blanket is very important in a
sanitary point of view ; it is useful, too, for horses.  Now the United
States  army regulations allow 100 pounds  a  month for each cavalry
horse, but only 12 pounds a month for each soldier. '  These straws
show which way the wind blows.  The  government owns both  the
capital and the income of the horse's vital force, and economizes both ;
but it owns only the income  of the soldier's vital force, and neglects
the capital.   True,  a  horse needs  more straw than  a  man, but not
eight times as much.  The point is, that  he is provided, whenever it
is possible,  with all that  is  needful for his well-being, but the man
is not.
  But if  this instance is  not well  chosen, hundreds of others might
be given to show what, indeed, the vital  statistics of all modern armies
show beyond  question, that most governments do (unwittingly, per-
haps) act towards soldiers as slaveholders are apt to do  towards their
slaves when negroes are very cheap—they use them up  by hard work
and poor fare in eight years, rather than make them last sixteen or
twenty years by careful usage.   Slaveholders have found out that this
is poor policy when the prime cost is very high ;  but government has
not found out that, to the country, the costliest things are healthy and
vigorous men.
  Let us glance at the imperfect statistics of mortality in our armies.
In the Mexican war, 1,549 of our men were killed in battle or died of
wounds,  while 10,986  died of disease ;  that is to say, for every man
whom  the Mexicans slew, disease  slew seven.  This, however, does
not tell the whole story.   A man slain in  battle is  one man less in
our army; but for every man sick enough to be in the hospital there are 
•5
 several others ailing, and only half fit for duty, while every patient
 requires the care and attention of ethers ;  so that 1,000 men on our
 sick list diminishes our force at least 2,000.
   Again : To the slain man there is a sad end.   If he, does not benefit,
 he does not cumber the world ;  but of your sick men, many are in-
 valided for life.  In the Mexican war, 9,749 were discharged as unable
 to do iurther military duty.   These were young men, and most of
 them broken down by exposure and fatigue, and many forever ruined
 in health.
   The statistics of the war of 1812-'14 are imperfect, but full of sad,
 though useful lessons.  Some of the regiments had one-third of the
 whole number sick in the hospitals at one time.   Dr. Mann says, that
 from estimation of the number sick in general and regimental hospi-
 tals, he believes that about one-half of the whole army of Fort George
 was unfit for duty during the summer months.
   It is useless, however, to  dwell on this matter, because our people
 begin to understand  that the frightful mortality in armies is caused
 by disease far more than by wounds ; but they do not so well know that
 most army  diseases  are  preventable, and that  sickness and death
 among soldiers need not be more common  than among men at home.
 Government reduces  the mortality in good State prisons below the
 average in civil life, and they might so reduce it in the army if  they
 would  increase the expense.   Why not?   The soldier  lives  in the
 open air.  His diet, and his lodging, and his habits may all be wisely
 regulated.  Nay !  the thing has  been  proved.  In consequence of
 the frightful  mortality by disease the British  government sent out a
 sanitary commission to the Crimea; and Miss Nightingale sent her-
 self.  The soldiers had been dying like rotten sheep.   Late in 1854
 they  died at the  rate of 33 per cent, a year.  The rate afterwards
 increased so fearfully, and rose so high, that if it had continued, and
 if recruits had not been continually poured in to fill the dead men's
 places, the whole army would have perished in less than a year.
   In  consequence of active, wise, and resolute efforts the number of
 deaths immediately began to lessen, and continued to lessen until, in
 the first quarter of 1856, the rate of mortality was as low as it is
 usually among men of the army ages  in the most healthy rural
 districts of England.
   Let us now look at the condition of the recruits in our encampments.
They are said to be in good health.  Of course they are, for they are
fresh from their various wholesome callings.  As time is necessary to 
6
 form an army, so it is to breed an epidemic ; and the processes for both
 are in active operation.
   The main object of these encampments should be two-fold—to train
 men by drill  and manoeuvres, and to raise their physical powers to a
 maximum.  The first is the  duty of  the officer, the second of the
 sanitaiian; an actual though lamentable distinction, for a really good
 officer will be also a good sanitarian.   The first duty is everywhere
 looked after ; the second is almost everywhere overlooked.   It ought
 not so to be.   In training men for the  ring we  not  only teach them
 to hit skilfully, but we at once put them on such diet  and regimen
 as will increase their vital force and make them hit hard.  In training
 soldiers, however, we submit them to such diet and regimen as must
 decrease their vital force.  Who would think of training boxers on
 salt junk and lodging them in close rooms with foul air ?  Yet this is
 what we are doing  while training soldiers ; and it  will tell  in the
 coming campaign.
   There  should  be a  very  small  percentage  of  kid  glove  in  an
 army,  We  want muscular men  who  can march fast and  far ; who
 can  carry weight, and wheel guns, and use spades, and endure fatigue.
 In the southern army they have not merely ten but fifty  per cent, of
 kid  glove.  But  most of all  we want  men  of abundant vital force,
 who can resist destructive agencies of all kinds ; among  these are
 climatic influences ;  and it will be found that strong,  temperate, well-
 trained northern men will stand tropical heats better than southern
 men not so trained.
   In our encampments there are several things which tend to lower
 the vital force of recruits.
   The space allotted is too small, especially at night.
   A crowd is always unwholesome.  Men  want  room.   Packino- hu-
 man bodies closely together tends to breed disease.   Hence comes the
 well known fact that epidemic army diseases resemble those engendered
 in closely packed quarters of large cities.   But in  no city, and  no
 quarter of a city, perhaps, are people so closely packed as  our soldiers
 are,  or  have  recently  been,  at  one of our camps,  where accurate
 measurements show that the population was at the rate of  over
 million to a square mile.  A thousand men were encamped on  20 460
 square feet of ground.
  As a general thing, not only at the islands, but in the camps on the
mainland, the men are too much crowded.
  This is especially true of their quarters by night.   The able report
of the British commissioners on  the sanitary condition of the army 
7
recommends that each soldier be allowed in his barracks a space contain-
ing at least 600 cubic feet of air.  A room to contain this should be 10
feet square by 6 feet high.  If the ceiling is higher, of course the
superficial dimensions may be less  ; but it will not do to carry this
too far, for we run against a law which seems to require  that every
human being shall have lateral room and verge enough in order to be
healthy.   If you raise the ceiling to 10 feet, you may reduce the floor
space to 10 feet by 6, but you cannot  by raising it 20 feet reduce the
floor space to 10 feet by 3 without detriment  to  the  health  of the
sleepers ; and if they are forced to lie in close contact, no height what-
ever, though it be of the whole heaven, will prevent contamination
of the atmosphere,  and injury by other means besides.
  With these principles in view, let us look at the lodgings provided
for our volunteers.   At Forts Warren and  Independence some of the
men lodge in casemates, some in tents. The casemates are, of course,
damp in most weathers, and fires have  to be kept up, even in summer,
to make  them  less unwholesome.  The following table shows the
measurement of these rooms, at  Fort Independence, with the number
of men occupying them in the latter part of June.
No. of	Length of room.	Width.	Height.	Floor surface.		Cubic	space.
lodgers.				Total.	To each man.	Total.	To each man.
	Feet.	Feet.	Feet.	Feet.	Feet.	Feet.	Feet.
16	25	13*	10*	344*	12*	3,614	226
16	18 1-6	14	11	254f	16	2,897	181
12	14f	14*	11	212|	17f	2,339	195
12	14|	14*	11	212|	17$	2,339	195
11	14f	14*	11	212f	19*	2,339	212
14	14!	14*	11	212f	15 1-6	2,339	167
21	23	17	13	391	18f	5,083	242
17	23	17	13	391	23	5,083	299
18	23	17	13	391	21*	5,083	2S2
18	22	18	13	414	23	5,382	299
14	18	H*	13	204	14 4-7	2,652	189 3-7
16	18	1H	13	204	12*	2,652	185$
22	18	16f	11	300	13 7-11 15 51-59 40*	3,300 45,102 31,538	150
236				3,744*			190
	88	27.6	13				
60				2,426			525f
  Here the maximum cubic space of air to each man is less than one-
half the minimum recommended by the British Sanitary Commission.
  The floor space was still more cramped, being less than 16 feet upon
an average, and in one room less than 13 feet to a man.  This allows 
8
only about two feet lateral space upon the floor, so that the men slept
in actual bodily contact, packed almost like herring.   It could not be
otherwise.  One company, more fortunate, were lodged  in a  sort of
barn, had over 40 feet of floor space, and 500 feet cubic space per man.
  The following table gives the measurement of the rooms at Fort
Warren:
Xo. of	Length.	Width.	Height.	Floor surface.		Cubic space.	
lodgers.				Total.	To each man.	Total.	To each man.
	Feet.	Feet.	Feet.	Feet.	Feet.	Feet.	Feet.
12	15	131-6	7 1-6	197.5	19	1,4-23	119
11	16*	11	7 1-6	181.5	17.6	1,267	115
12	16*	10*	7 1-6	176	14.8	1,261	113
60	45	15	16	675	11.25	10,800	180
12	16*	11	7 1-6	181.5	15	1,283	106.6
12	16*	10!	7 1-6	176	14.8	1,261	105
11	16*	10!	7 1-6	176	16	1,261	113
  Here, again, the average floor space was less than 15 feet to each
man, and the average and cubic space less than 145 feet.
  I omit from the calculation one room, in which on one night 75 men
are said to have  slept, with a floor space of only nine feet to a man ;
which is hardly credible even by western travellers, who have to sleep
three in a bed, or on the floor.
  It is useless to say that the air in such rooms must be unwholesome
even with the  port holes  and doors open in warm breezy weather ;
but when closed in cold nights, or whether closed or open  in still
nights,  the air must become fetid  and unwholesome.  Breathing it
must, of course,  continually, and little by little, lessen the stock of
vital force.   As for those lodged in tents, they fare worse.
  In the first place, the tents are badly pitched.  In  some  no atten-
tion is paid to drainage ; and in none that I have seen is the drainage
systematic and thorough.  In some, as at Eeadville, a slight ditch is
dug around the tent, and the  sods and  dirt left in a  heap or carried
away  at leisure.   A far  better way is, supposing the tent to be circu-
lar, first, to mark a space equal to its circumference at the bottom, and
take off all the sods from  the inside of this circle, then dig a trench
all  around the outer edge and throw the dirt within  the  circle, then
take the sods and put them back again and beat them down firmly.
You have then  an elevated floor; and if you drive the pegs at  the
bottom of the trench, and strap  down, you can easily keep the tent
dry without closing it at the bottom.  If the wind blows, throw in  a 
9
 little light straw,  hay, or brush, and break the  draught without
 closing the opening.  If the ground is well chosen, it is easy to drain
 all the trenches into one common drain.
   I was told  by many officers when  I suggested these  precautions
 that they were not necessary ; that there was not  much rain, and the
 ground being sandy readily absorbed it.  But our  camping grounds
 ought to be schools ; and the soldiers  ought to be  taught to take such
 measures to secure  dry sleeping places as will  be necessary in the
 worst weather.  As  it is now, a three days'  heavy storm, such as we
 have at some seasons, would make most of our tents very uncomfort-
 able and unwholesome,  if not uninhabitable.
   In the next place, the tents are too much  crowded together.   For
 instance, at Long Island, a regiment was encamped on 20,460 square
 feet, which gave less than 23  square feet of surface  for each man.
 Moreover,  the tents, instead  of being  in  separate rows with  wide
 space between each, were in double rows, with the back ends in con-
 tact.
   This may not occur again;  but the same error, though  in a less de-
 gree,  prevails in many camps,  and ought to be corrected. Military
 considerations, of course, often require a sacrifice  of sanitary precau-
 tions, but they do not in this matter.
   As for the floor space and the cubic space of air allowed to the men
 inside the tents, it seems hopeless,  with  the modern ideas of encamp-
 ment, to have as much as is absolutely required for health.  Of all
 the impedimenta of an army, tents  are among the  greatest; and many
 brilliant campaigns have been made without  them.  Indeed, I doubt
 whether, in the long run, men who  sleep in the open  air, without
 other covering than a  hooded capote or a poncho, suffer more than
 those  who are poisoned by the close and fetid air of tents.  In ours
 the floor surface allowed is  so small that the men must lie in contact;
 while the roof is so low that the cubic  space is no greater than that of
 the black hole of Calcutta.
   It is true that in dry weather the <anvass  is porous ; and, besides,
the flaps can be kept open ; but in wet weather the canvass becomes
 almost air tight, and the doors must be kept closed.
   As for the self-ventilating tents, so called, they afford relief to some
extent, and in  ordinary weather ; but, like all other modes of venti-
lation which depend upon atmospheric pressure, they fail in those con-
ditions of the atmosphere when ventilation is most needed.
   Think of putting twelve  men to  lodge in a room twelve feet square 
10
by six feet high, though never so well ventilated !  We would not so
treat our children ;  we  should be ashamed so to treat our servants ;
but we do so treat our soldiers.
  Another  matter  not sufficiently attended to is the frequent change
in the location of the tent.   The effluvia and imperceptible  emana-
tions from the human body will affect even the ground on which men
sleep ;  and although they may use straw, or have board floors, still it
is desirable that the tents should be frequently struck and re-pitched,
even if only ten feet from the old place.

                            BARRACKS.
  Whatever  necessity there may be for crowding the  men. in tents,
it cannot exist in regard to wooden buildings erected expressly for the
troops, because there is  ground space enough, and there are boards
enough in Massachusetts; also, carpenters  enough  to  put them  to-
gether.   The  buildiugs, however, at Camp Cameron, in North Cam-
bridge, are not large enough, or not numerous enough for the pur-
pose intended.
   Buildings erected for soldiers' barracks should be spacious, dry, and
airy.   They should have  single bunks, and should be so constructed
that the men can observe decency with regard to personal  exposure.
In  the model barracks  in  England, each man  is screened from  his
neighbor by a bulkhead of thin corrugated iron, not reaching to  the
floor, nor the ceiling, lest it interrupt ventilation.
   The barracks should be provided with shelves, with pegs  to hang
clothing, and with tables for reading ; but not  for sleeping, for sol-
diers should  not be  allowed to take their meals in  the  room where
they sleep.
   Now the barracks at Camp  Cameron are rough, unsightly, untidy,
 and cheerless.  They are  about 100 feet long by 20 wide ;  upright
joists, 10 feet; roof, 10 feet.  They are built of rough boards,  roughly
put together, and  not battened.  They are intended for 125 soldiers,
 non-commissioned officers, and musicians.
   On one  side  are three  rows of bunks, made of rough boards,  one
 row above the other.   These are each seven  feet long and six wide,
 and intended  for  three men! !  On the other  side are two  rows of
 single bunks, one above the other, for non-commissioned officers  and
 musicians. 
11
  Such buildings may do upon sudden emergency, but they are utterly
unfit for New England men to live in.   They are unfit for barracks
for soldiers who are being trained for the army.
  It is no great matter, in summer, that the wind draws through the
cracks in the sides  and in the floor ; but it is a very serious matter in
a sanitary and social point of view, that  men are forced to pig in to-
gether, and sleep by threes in coarse wooden bunks.
  There  ought to  be scrupulous cleanliness, and perfect order, and
some little appliances for the comfort of the men, such as smooth deal
tables and  benches, and the means of some ornamentation.   But in-
stead there is, almost necessarily, dirt, and confusion, and indecency.
  But  what touches nearest the point I am considering is the lack of
sufficient space in which the men can live and breathe and have their
being.   In  all well regulated  poor-houses it is thought that every
pauper should have his  own bed ; that  the  beds should be separated
from each other by at least two or three feet of floor space, and that the
rows of beds should be separated by ten or  twelve feet of floor space.  It
is held essential also that each pauper should have at least 50 square
feet of floor space, and at least 500 or 600 cubic feet of air, while it
is desirable that he should have 1,000  feet, or more if it can be had.
The barracks,  however, at Camp  Cameron  are so constructed  as to
allow our soldiers less than 14 feet  floor space, and less than 245 cubic
feet of air.  Admitting that the  buildings are not full, and that upon
an  average the inmates do not exceed  100, still we give them only
twenty feet of floor space, and 300 cubic  feet of air ;  a  stinted allow-
ance, which, if made to paupers, ought to cause the almshouse to be
indicted as a nuisance.  The same  may be said of the Park  Barracks
in New York and many others.
  Again, among  the  causes which affect  the purity  of the air in
camps is the condition of the
                    LATRINES, SINKS, OR PRIVIES.

  More systematic  and strict regulations are needed in our encamp-
ments  to  prevent  the contamination of the air by the removal and
burial  of all offal.  The  daily  accumulation of dirt and filth—the
refuse of kitchens,  and other matter—is necessarily great  wherever
human beings closely congregate, but especially where women do not
come.  In camps  the refuse animal and vegetable matter is great,
and unless  regularly and systematically disposed of, it putrifies and 
12
 contaminates  the air.  For this  reason, as well  as for others, even
 with the best police regulations, frequent change of camping ground
 is desirable.
   Around some  of our camps are found  strewn about on the grass
 bits of pork rind, potato  skins, and the like.  But  it is especially in
 the  matter of privies,  or publics, as they should rather be called,
 that more care and attention is needed.   Is it necessary because they
 are  constructed and  used in armies without regard to decency, that
 they should be so in Massachusetts ?  Is it necessary to break down
 that sense of propriety among the men which governs them at home ?
 However this may be, surely the privies should be located and regulated
 in such manner as to be the least offensive to the senses and pernicious
 to health ; but it is not so.   For instance,  at Fort Warren, the vast
 trench dug for  the common privy could have been constructed so that
 the tide  would  cleanse it; or, if this was not desirable, it might have
 been placed on any side of the fort.  But there was one side on which
 it ought not  to  be placed,  because  from that  come  the prevailing
 wind.   But it is placed  exactly there, in  the very eye of the east
 wind, which sweeps the odor into the  interior of the fort. The trench
 itself, too, when I saw  it, was in a veiy bad state, it did not seem to
 have been filled over for a long time.
   In the camps upon shore I saw but one  where the privy was con-
 structed  with a view to decency, the one at Quiucy, but even that was
 in a most neglected and filthy condition.
   The location of the camp privy is important; it should not be too
 far from the tents, else the men will shirk going to it in the night; on
 the other hand, it should not be so near as to be offensive.
   But what is most needed is strict police regulation for its manage-
 ment.   The trench should  be at  least eight feet deep, and where a
 foot  of refuse has accumulated a foot of fresh  earth,  mingled, if possi-
 ble,  with some disinfecting substance, should be thrown in.   Finally,
 when within two feet of the surface, the whole should be filled up,
 and a new trench  dug.
  All the refuse of the kitchens and of the tables should be carefully
 collected and thrown into the trench daily.
  I have dwelt upon  this matter of a supply of space and  fresh air,
because it seems of the greatest moment.  Perhaps there is  no one of
the numerous  agencies acting upon the human system which is more
important than air, food itself hardly excepted.  Let a man live out
of doors  and  breathe  perfectly pure air, by  night as well as by day, 
13
 and disease  will  seldom touch him.   Statistics, so far as they have
 been carefully taken, go to confirm the belief that breathing foul air
 in  barracks  and  in tents is a fertile cause of the great  mortality
 among soldiers.   In the British army, of the entire number of deaths
 from all causes, it appears that of the cavalry, 53 9 per cent., of  the
 infantry, 57.277 per cent., and of the guards, 67.683 per  cent.,  are
 from diseases  of  the respiratory  organs.  In other words—while in
 civil life, deaths among men of the army age are 6.3 per 1,000; they
 amount in the cavalry, (the healthiest men of the service,) to 7.3; in
 the infantry of the line, to 10.2; and  in the guards, to 13.8 per 1,000.
   It is in view of  these remarkable statistics  that the British sanitary
 commissioners forcibly remark that " in civil life, insufficient cloth-
 ing, insufficient and unwholesome food,  sedentary and unwholesome
 occupations,  and the vitiated atmosphere of unhealthy dwellings, all
 contribute to the  propagation of this class of diseases.  But, in  the
 army, it cannot be alleged that the clothing, the food, or the nature
 of the occupation itself, are of a character  which would justify the im-
 putation that they are among the  predisposing causes of the excessive
 mortality of the soldier by pulmonary disease."
   If, therefore, it  can be shown that the soldier in his barracks breathes
 a  vitiated and polluted atmosphere, it follows,  that of the four pre-
 disposing causes above enumerated, the last is the one " to which the
 excessive liability  of the soldier to this class of disease may be chiefly
 attributed."
   If the  subject  is pursued more closely, it appears that excluding
 inflammation of the lungs, acute catarrh, and other diseases having
 no obvious connexion with the purity or impurity of the atmosphere—
 the statistics still show a great prevalence  among soldiers of disorders
 plainly connected  with the state of the air.

                          POOD—RATIONS.

  Abundant experience shows that men of the army age require daily
 at least 28 ounces  of nutritious food, of which one  quarter should be
 nitrogenous  or  reparative.  The  vital force cannot be kept up with
 less.   The quality should be good.   You cannot make good muscle
 out of hard, tough food.  It should be easily digestible ; because if you
 you waste  the vital force of a-man on digesting tough food, you can-
 not have it for effective service.
  So far as I have been able  to observe the  food served  out  in  our
encampment, it is sufficient  in  quantity.  As compared with army 
14
rations generally, it is good  in quality, but it is not  so good as we
should furnish to men if, without regard to cost, we were  trying to
raise their physical power to its maximum.
  The United States  rations are  sufficient in quantity, and generally
as good as can be expected in quality,  though it  is very desirable
that the meat should oftener  be fresh.   The  very process by which
meat is  made to resist putrefaction makes it resist the digestive power
longer.
  By economy and careful management, however, the United States
rations may be made to suffice for the reasonable want of the soldier,
all the complaints of the grumblers to the contrary notwithstanding.
  But when we come to the matter of cooking, it  is quite  another
thing.  As tolerably good bread is furnished in our encampment
ready made, no other comments are  needed, save that it seems served
too fresh, and that it would be well to teach  the men to make and
bake  bread.  If  some  such method as that proposed by Professor
Horsford can be  brought into successful use among the troops, it
would be an immense advantage.   This is a very important  matter,
however, and should be gravely considered and carefully tested before
any change is made.
  The most important culinary matter, as it  regards our  troops, is
the cooking of meat.   The object of this is not only to render it more
palatable than raw meat, but to make it shorter—that is, to have the
fibre more easily separable, and also to extract part of the oil  without
changing that which remains into an empyreumatic state.
   The best and wholesomest mode of cooking (as all trainers for the
ring know) is broiling; for the piece is  thin ;  the  fibre is  cut across,
and the oil exudes easily.
   Next is roasting, especially with the old  fashioned spit, (a ramrod
will do,) and with motion.
   Next is baking, not so good as the two first, but far better than the
next, which is boiling.  This  extracts the oil, but it  is wasteful by
dissipating the  juices, unless the piece is plunged into boiling water
and the albumen coagulated at once.   This,  however, makes a part
of the meat hard.  On the whole, it is more expensive and  gives less
nutrition than the other modes named.'
   Steiving is only a sort of boiling.
   As fox frying, it is too abominable to be taken into the account.  It
is positively bad, as  it changes  the oil into  an empyreumatic state 
15
and hardens the fibre.   Butter, &c, when melted by gentle  heat  is
digestible and nutritious/but when melted at a very high heat, as by
frying, it is indigestible and hurtful.
  Now, it is to be regretted that no provision is made in our encamp-
ment, nor, indeed, in the United States  army, for cooking meat by
either of the first three and most wholesome processes.
  The British commissioners in their report say: "When asoldier enters
the service, he has the prospect of dining  on boiled meat every day for
twenty-one years, if he is enabled to serve so long;  and we have it
stated  in evidence that men frequently leave  part  of their meat,
which, when cooked and free from bone,  does not much exceed a half
a pound, their stomachs loathing the constant repetition of the same
food in the same form."
  British soldiers, when quartered  in town, frequently  send their
meat to the bakers at their  own  expense, rather than have it boiled
free of cost to them.
  The French sent out a hundred and fifty ovens to the Crimea for
baking not only bread,  but meat.
  It is highly desirable that some mode be introduced into our en-
campments and into the United States  army for broiling, roasting,
and baking meat.
  The cooking apparatus in our encampment is entirely  insufficient
for the purpose of furnishing that variety in the mode of cooking food
which is necessary, not only to make it persistently palatable, but
even wholesome.   Men require variety, not only in the substance,
but in the form of their food.
  I am reluctant to touch upon the matter of the actual health of our
troops, for it is in the hands of able medical men; and I shall  do so no
further than is necessary to illustrate one point of my communication.
  The general health is said to be good ;  that there are very few on the
sick list, and fewer in hospital.   But this is an imperfect test of the
sanitary condition of the troops.   I found many complaining that they
were rather unwell;  and slight diarrhoeas are almost epidemic.  These
are attributed by most doctors to '' change in the mode of life.''   Now,
this is  the very matter in discussion.   The change  of mode of life
ought not to be such as to lower the vital force of the men at  the out-
let.
  It seems to me that the diarrhoeas are mainly caused  by the fre- 
16
quent checks of the insensible perspiration to which the men are sub-
ject in the night.  The  bedding is insufficient.  Many of those who
sleep  in tents must be exposed to draught, for  the flaps must be kept
open, in order to prevent suffocation.   This is one of the practical ill-
eflfects of crowding men in tents and barracks.  We shall hear more
of these diarrhoeas when they intensify into dysenteries.
  We shall learn, too, the necessity,  perhaps, of rigidly excluding
from the encampments all venders and donors of food, drink, fruit, &c,
and confining the men to plain, wholesome  food at regular intervals.
  I found that lice had begun to infest several  of the camps ; but the
medical men are on  their guard, and our  troops may escape  better
than did the army of the revolutionary war, which was never free
from vermin and the itch.
  I wish I  could see the sanitary condition of our encampments in
such rose-colored a light as it presented itself to the learned and emi-
nent body of doctors who made the tour of the camps some time ago;
but I cannot.  I have great faith, however, in the skill and ingenuity
of the regimental surgeons.  They are getting  the " hang" of camp
life ; and I trust that, by and by, our troops will be models of per-
sonal cleanliness, health, and morals, if only  good general  sanitary
regulations for the army are adopted  at headquarters, and rigorously
enforced by the regimental officers.  God forbid that the narrow and
impious policy of breaking  down all  but the  animal nature of the
men, and of converting them into mere  fighting machines, should
prevent wise measures for raising the moral and  sanitary condition
of our soldiers above the common and low standard of armies.
  There are other  important matters  affecting  the sanitary condition
of our troops  upon which  I  would gladly touch,  such as clothing,
exercise, amusements, &c, but I have made this communication too
long already.
  I will close by observing that  I have urged the importance of atten-
tion to the  health and vital force of our troops,  mainly upon economi-
cal grounds, trusting that others will  urge  the moral and religious
duty  of the government and the people to do everything  possible
for the well-being  of those on  whom the country is to rely for all
which makes a country worth living in.
                 Respectfully,
  _.  ^                                        S. G.  HOWE.
  His Excellency J. A.  Andrew.
©