I '•   :
 HEADQUARTERS, MILITARY DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI,
       Office of tub Medical Ixspectok and Chief Medical Officer,
                                  New Orleans,  July 21th, 1864.
 CIRCULAR   1
     No. 1.     )

   I.  It is hereby announced, for the information of Medical Officers in
 the Military Division of West Mississippi,  that the Chief Medical Offi-
 cers of Departments,  Armies,  and Army Corp?, alone, can hereafter
 be styled Medical Directors,  Officers having the control of the medical
 affairs of any  command less than an Army Corps, of a Division of an
 Army, or a Military District, will be styled Surgeon in charge.
   The Senior Surgeon of  a Military  Post mil  be styled Post Surgeon.
 The military  designations  should  always  be  inscribed above  these
 titles.
   II.  The Medical Directors of the Departments of the Gulf and Ai kan-
 sas, will  transmit  their papers through this  office, except  those  that
 may  be required to go direct to the Surgeon  General's Office.
   III.   The Medical Directors of all of the Departments in the Military
 Division of  West Mississippi, and the Surgeons in charge of the Military
 Districts of West Tennessee, Vicksburg and Natchez,  will  furnish for
 the use of this office, copies of the Monthly Return of Medical Officers,
 accompanied with a statement  of the Regiments in which  vacancies
 exist, with a list of Hospital Stewards, and where serving.
   IV.  Surgeons in charge of Hospitals in  the  Military Division of
 West Mississippi will furnish this office with a copy of their AYeekly
 Report, with brief remarks upon the prevailing diseases, and  the treat-
 ment adopted; epidemic  and contagious diseases;  and  vaccinations.
 The number of laundresses, laborers and contrabands should be given.
  Medical Directors of Departments, Surgeons in charge of Military
Districts, and Post Surgeons in the Military Division of West Mississippi,
will furnish a semi-monthly consolidation of their  Weekly Report,  the
designations and the details for the various headings of the  Report to
be mentioned,  for each Regiment and Battery. 
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   When the  commands are  large  enough,  this consolidation will be
 made by Divisions.

  V.  Hospital Registers  very  often  show  merely the diseases with
 which patients enter the Hospital, and omit altogether the subsequent
 diseases they may have had while there.  Such omissions render the
 Reports of  Sick and Wounded false, as likewise all  calculations and
 statistics based upon them. Hereafter the diagnosis upon the bed cards
 and the Register will be changed, so as to account  for every disease
 each  patient suffers, while in Hospital.  If a patient have intermittent
 fever, gonorrhoea and diarrhoea during any one month, they should  all be
 set down against his name, and entered en the Register, as so  many
 cases  of disease.
  VI.  In order to ensure the thorough application of, and obedience
 to the various orders, regulations and instructions, that have been pro-
 mulgated to  enforce the proper administration and  working  of the
 Medical Department;  and as a means of keeping Medical Directors
 frequently  informed, as  to the  efficiency and  sufficiency of Medical
 Officers; the condition of  supplies; the  sick  and death rates;  and the
 sanitary condition of the troops ; the prevailing diseases,  their causes,
 and the means to be adopted  for their prevention and relief;  and all
 other  matters, the knowledge of which may tend to elevate the standard
 of health, and increa=e the power of the troops, Medical Directors will
 cause careful inspections to be  made of the  troops, posts, camps  and
 Hospitals under  their control.   This duty will  be performed by all
 Medical Officers, who will be detailed  in turn for this,  in addition to
 their  other duties, in the  same  way that line  officers  are detailed as
 officers of the day.   Medical Officers belonging to a Division, or smaller
 command, should rotate with each other in their inspections ; and those
in charge of Hospitals,  when they  are situated  in groups, should do
likewise.  Reports of these inspections will  be made semi-monthly ;
and will only cover as much ground   as  can  be  conveniently and
easily inspected within the above period.  Haste in this duty should be
avoided.  After the Medical Directors  of Departments have  received 
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_ these reports,  through the usual channels,  and endorsed their action
   upon them, the most critical and instructive of them will be forwarded
   to this office.
     It is not intended by this arrangement  to  impose more  labor upon
   Medical Officers than they can conveniently  perform ;  and it is  con-
   fidently believed,  that  by thus varying their  duties, enlarging their
   sphere of observation, and affording opportunities for a free interchange
   of experience, they will become mutually instructed ; and by necessity,
   become more familiar with orders, circulars and the usages of service.
   This order will be sufficient authority for the performance  of the above
   duties.
      VII.   Medical Directors will endeavor, as much as possible, to eco-
   nomise  Medical Officers, by breaking  up all  unnecessary,  so-called
   Medical Directorships and Superintendencies of Hospitals",  which quite
   often are of no service,  and simply  duplicate  the labor  of  the next
   office above them, and occasion a  waste of time,  clerical labor and
   stationery.

     By order of Major General E. R. S.  Canbt:

                                              EDW. P. VOLLUM,
                          Lieut. Colonel, and Medical Inspector U. S. Army,
                                                 Chief Medical Officer.