We have repeatedly stated our belief that the French army
in Tunis is suffering extremely from sickness, and the Medical Weekly of Marseilles now confirms that statement. The doctors write from the spot to that journal affirming that typhoid of a ,disabling, though not mortal, character is very prevalent ; that there is an extreme insufficiency of medicine in the hospitals, more especially of febrifuges ; and that in the absence of ambulance services, sick soldiers are killed by transport on mules. The Medical Director-General in Paris has issued a reply, which, justly or unjustly, is totally die- -
credited, the steady practice in the French Army—as witness the Crimea—being to suppress all medical truths, until at least the campaign is over. This is not done wholly from bad motives. The officials contend that the soldiers, hearing of heavy sickness, become dispirited and specially liable both to fever and dysentery, an observation which, as regards French recruits, is certainly true. The result of the practice, how. ever, is that certain essential precautions as regards water- courses are, for fear of revealing too much, carefully neglected. and that when the truth does ooze out, there is an outburst of panic. We shall hear a great deal more of this subject, which may have important political effects.
Previous page
