and sometimes severe, produces often a ready obedience and a submission of character, and, when not carried too far, greatly improves him. At the same time, independence is preserved by the knowledge which the soldier has of his rights and privileges, and the result is a manly, conscientious, and fine character. But occasionally, a too sensitive nature on the part of the recruit, or a discipline too harsh or capricious on the part of his officers, produces very different results, and the soldier becomes cunning, artful, and false, or morose and malicious. The two characters are often seen well marked in old soldiers, and no contrast can be greater than between the two. A heavy responsibility rests, then, with the officers of the army who have power thus to influence, for good or evil, natures like their

own.

The influence of companionship is also brought to bear on the recruit, and is fraught with both good and evil. The latter probably predominates, though there are many excellent, high-minded, and religious men in the army. Indeed, in some regiments the proportion of steady religious men is perhaps beyond the number in the analogous class in civil life. But if the influences be for bad, the recruit soon learns some questionable habits and some vices.

Thus he almost invariably learns to smoke, if he has not acquired this habit before. It is indeed remarkable what a habit smoking tobacco is in every army of Europe; it seems to have become a necessity with the men, and arises probably from the amount of spare time the soldier has, which he does not know what to do with. A recruit, on joining, finds all his comrades smoking, and is driven into the habit.

The discussion on the effects of tobacco does not seem to have led to any clear conclusions. The immoderate use brings many evils, to digestion and circulation especially. But no great evils appear to result from the moderate use, though no good can be traced to it. In moderation it has not been proved to lessen appetite, to encourage drinking, or to destroy procreative power. But, on the other hand, it probably lessens bodily, and perhaps even mental activity. It is certainly remarkable how uniformly the best trainers prohibit its use, and men of the highest physical vigor are seldom great, and often are not even moderate smokers. As it is of no use, and indeed injurious, by bringing men under the thraldom of a habit, it seems very desirable to discourage it. But in the army it seems useless to fight against this custom, nor is it indeed one which is sufficiently injurious to be seriously combated, except for one reason. In time of war, the soldier often cannot obtain tobacco, and he then suffers seriously from the deprivation. The soldier should have no habits which he may be compelled to lay aside, and which it would pain him to omit.

A much more serious matter is the vice of drinking, which many recruits are almost forced into, in spite of themselves. The discipline of the army represses much open drunkenness, though there is enough of this, but it cannot prevent, it even aids, covert drinking up to the very edge of the law. Formerly, a most lamentable canteen custom made almost every man a drunkard, and a young boy just enlisted soon learned to take his morning dram, a habit, which, in civil life, would mark only the matured drunkard. Now, happily, spirits are not sold in the canteens, and no regulation thrusts raw spirits down a man's throat. Drinking is, however, still the worst vice in the army, and that which strikes most of all at the efficiency of the soldier. Great efforts have been, however, made by the military authorities to check this vice, and there is little doubt that the army is gradually becoming more temperate.

Another vice is almost as certainly contracted as smoking by the recruit. Probably, before enlistment, he has led no very pure life, but when he enters the army, he is almost sure to find his moral tone higher than that of some of his new associates. A regiment, in fact, is composed of young men with few scruples and small restraints. Prevented from marriage, and often tempted by low prostitutes, it is no wonder if, to the extent of his means, the soldier indulges in promiscuous sexual intercourse. He does this, in fact, to excess, and the young recruit is led at once into similar habits. That many recruits are most seriously injured by this habit, even if they neither contract syphilis nor gonorrhoea, is certain.

It has also been supposed that solitary vice is particularly rife in armies. There does not seem to be any evidence on this point.

6. The Amount of Sickness and Mortality suffered by the Recruit during the First Six Months and Year of Service.-This is an extremely important matter, but at present we are not able to answer the question for the English army.

In the French army,' the amount of sickness among soldiers under one year of service is more than one-third greater than among the army generally; this is partly caused by slight injuries, though not solely, for the admissions to hospital are nearly one-fourth more among them than in the army at large.

1 Statistique Médicale de l'Armée.

CHAPTER II.

THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THE SOLDIER IS

PLACED.

THESE Conditions are extremely various, as the soldier serves in so many stations, but the chief points common to all can be passed in review.

The water and air supplies have been already sufficiently noticed, and the conditions now to be noticed under which the soldier is placed are barracks, huts, tents, and encampments; the food, clothing, and work.

SECTION I.

BARRACKS.

Barracks have been in our army, and in many armies of Europe still are, a fertile source of illness and loss of service. At all times the greatest care is necessary to counteract the injurious effects of compressing a number of persons into a restricted space. In the case of soldiers, the compression has been extreme; but the counteracting care has been wanting. It is not more than sixty years since, in the West Indies, the men slept in hammocks touching each other, only 23 inches of lateral space being allowed for each man. At the same time, in England, the men slept in beds with two tiers, like the berths in a ship; and not unfrequently, each bed held four men. When it is added, that neither in the West Indies, nor in the home service, was such a thing as an opening for ventilation ever thought of, the state of the air can be imagined.

The means of removal of excreta were, even in our own days, of the rudest description, both at home and in many colonies; and from this cause alone there is no doubt that the great military nations have suffered a loss of men which, if expressed in money, would have been sufficient to rebuild and purify every barrack they possess.'

1 It is a most remarkable circumstance, that the two diseases which, in the French, Prussian, Hanoverian, and Belgian armies, and probably in the Austrian, and, till lately, in our own army, caused the largest share of mortality, were a destructive lung disease, termed phthisis in the returns, and typhoid fever.

The production of disorganizing lung disease (though occurring in several other ways is intimately connected with the constant breathing of an atmosphere vitiated by respiration; and typhoid fever is as closely related with bad drainage. Both diseases are therefore diseases of habitations, and show, in the case of the soldier (who is not subjected to other causes of phthisis, such as inaction, constrained position, and inhalation of dust, etc.), that the air of his dwelling is foul. In hot climates the same rule holds good. Is it not a remarkable fact, that in the West Indies, those islands of paradise, where no cold inclement wind ever vexes the tender lungs, there was, forty or fifty years ago, an extraordinary mortality from consumption, and from a continued fever, which in all probability was typhoid? Yet who can wonder, when we find, in the

SUB-SECTION I.—BARRACKS ON HOME SERVICE.'

The imperfection of the English barracks was owing to two causesfirst, a great disregard or ignorance of the laws of health; and, secondly, an indisposition on the part of Parliament to vote sums of money for a standing army. At the close of the last, and at the commencement of the present century, the Whig party especially opposed every grant which Mr. Pitt brought forward for this purpose. After the great war, the exhaustion of the nation prevented anything being done, and in spite of the representations of many military men, comparatively little change occurred till the Crimean war. In 1855, a committee,' of which Lord Monck was chairman, was appointed by the War Office to consider this subject, and presented a most excellent Report on Barracks, the suggestions of which have been since gradually carried out. Immediately after this, a Barrack Improvement Commission was organized, and in 1861 this Commission published a Blue Book, which not only contained plans and descriptions of the existing barracks and hospitals, but laid down rules for their construction, ventilation, and sewerage, for future guidance. It is difficult to speak too strongly of the excellence of this Report, and if its rules are attended to, there can be no doubt the British army will, as far as habitations are concerned, be lodged in healthier dwellings than almost any class of the community. Reference must be made to this report for a fuller account of the older barracks and hospitals than can be given here."

5

4

Windward and Leeward command, the very best barrack, in 1827, gave only this amount of accommodation: the men slept in hammocks touching each other; the average space allowed to each man measured only 23 inches in breadth; and the total cubic space per head, in this, the best barrack in a tropical climate, was only 250 cubic feet. The air was, of course, putrid in the highest degree.

So also in India, the best writer on the means of preserving the health of troops in India (Dr. Chevers) did not hesitate to assert that faulty barracks were, though not the only, yet a great cause of a mortality which, in a term of years, had been at least fourfold more than at home. Phthisis and typhoid fever hold a subordinate place (though it is not unlikely that their frequency was underrated); but other diseases appear, which are in part connected with faulty barrack arrangements, such as dysentery and cholera.

In India, as in England, no expense has of late years been spared; but yet the fact remains, that the very habitations erected for their shelter and comfort proved in many cases to the soldiers a source of suffering and death.

1 Army medical officers are referred to an admirable paper by Surgeon-General Dr. Massy, C.B., on the Construction and Ventilation of Barracks and Hospitals (Army Med. Dep. Report, vol. vi., p. 229).

? On looking through the Annual Register, it will be found that Fox, as well as his followers, spoke strongly against the grant of sums of money for improving barracks. Their motives were good, and their jealousy of a standing army justified by what had gone before, but the result has been most unfortunate for the soldier.

Report of the Official Committee on Barrack Accommodation for the Army, Blue Book, 1855.

Mr. Sydney Herbert, Drs. Sutherland and Burrell, and Captain Galton, were the first Barrack and Hospital Improvement Commissioners. Lord Herbert did not sign the first Report, as he became Minister of War. Dr. Burrell retired. The remaining Commissioners (Dr. Sutherland and Captain Galton) subsequently published the Report on the Mediterranean and other Barracks.

5 General Report of the Commission appointed for Improving the Sanitary Condition of Barracks and Hospitals, 1861.

For the duties of medical officers with respect to barracks, see Queen's Regulations, 1881, Section 15; and the Army Medical Regulations, 1878.

Infantry Barracks.

Block Plan.-Formerly a number of men, even a whole regiment, were aggregated in one large house, and this was often built in the form of a square (a plan originated by Vauban), the quarters for the officers forming one side, on account of the ease of surveillance. Many officers still prefer this form. But it is always objectionable to have an inclosed mass of air, and if it is adopted the angles should be left open, as recommended by Robert Jackson. The Barrack Improvement Commissioners have very justly recommended that there shall be division of the men among numerous detached buildings; and instead of the square, that the separate buildings shall be arranged in lines, each building being so placed as to impede as little as possible the movement of air on the other buildings, and the incidence of the sun's rays.

In arranging the lines, the axis of the buildings should be if possible north and south, so as to allow the sun's rays to fall on both sides. One building should in no case obstruct air and light from another, and each building must be at a sufficient distance from the adjoining house, and this distance should not be less than its own height, and if possible more.

4.

Parts of a Barrack.-1. The barrack room, with non-commissioned officers' rooms screened off. 2. Quarters of the married privates-seven to each company. (With the short service system this will probably be modified.) 3. Quarters of the staff-sergeants and sergeants' mess. Quarters of the officers. 5. Kitchens. 6. Ablution rooms. 7. Latrines and urinals. 8. Orderly-room; guard-room. 9. Cells. 10. Tailors' shop and armory; commissariat stores; canteen. 11. Reading-room (in many barracks); schools; magazine.

It is unnecessary to describe all these buildings.

The old barracks are of all conceivable forms and kinds of construction, for details of which see the Commissioners' Report.

When new barracks are built, the plans of the Commission will be followed.

(a) Barrack Rooms.-The size and shape of the barrack room will decide the kind of buildings. The Barrack Committee of 1855 recommended that each room should accommodate twelve men, or one squad, as this is most comfortable for the men; but small rooms of this size are more difficult to arrange, and it is now considered best to put twenty-four, or one section, in each room.

The Barrack Improvement Commissioners' recommendations may be condensed as follows:

The rooms are directed to be narrow, with only two rows of beds, and with opposite windows-one window to every two beds. As each man is allowed 600 cubic feet of space, and as it is strongly recommended that no room shall be lower than 12 feet, the size of a room for 24 men will be— length 60 feet, breadth 20 feet, height 12 feet. This size of room will give 14,400 cubic feet, or (600 × 24) enough for 24 men; but as the men's bodies and furniture take up space, an additional 2 feet has been allowed to the length in some of the new barracks. Assuming the length to be 62 feet, the superficial area for each man will be nearly 52 feet, a little more than 5 feet in the length and 10 in the width of the room. At one end of the room is the door, and a room for the sergeant of the section, which is about 14 feet long, 10 wide, and 12 high. At the other end is a narrow passage leading to an ablution room, one basin being provided for 4 men, and a urinal.