The Times of Monday published an important article by Sir
Almroth Wright on typhoid fever, dysentery, and septic infection among the troops. The mortality from those diseases is frequently greater than from wounds. In the Boer War there were thirty-one thousand cases of typhoid. In the Spanish-American War one man out of every six contracted the disease. Yet the preventive for such a state of things is perfectly well known. It is inoculation. Take the figures for typhoid alone. In India in 1912 the inoculated men bad eighty per cent. fewer cases and ninety-five per cent. fewer deaths than the uninoculated men. But at present inoculation is not compulsory. The men are paraded, addressed on the virtues of inoculation, and then allowed to decide for them- selves. We heartily agree with Sir Almroth Wright that inoculation ought to be compulsory. A soldier enters the Army to obey orders. Let him obey orders in this. It is absurd that the objections of a few cranks should prevail. A man should be protected from the artillery of disease as much as he is compelled to protect himself against shells. He is not given the choice whether he will or will not dig trenches. He must take shelter from " bugs" just as he does from bullets.
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