Southern Medical and Surgical Journal - Georgia Regents University

452 Doughty on the Medical Statistics of the [MarchMarch, 1863), when its highest mortality occurred, wehave better knowledge of the circumstances connectedwith its mortality, and have the pleasure of giving to theprofession the firstevidence of the facts stated.sanitary report of that institution, asSurely, they will agree withus in the exclamation that " under such circumstances itis not astonishing that many died—nay, itso that more had not died."SANITARY REPORT,is rather moreAccompanying the Report for the quarter ending June 30, 1862.Reports of this kind are expected to reflect all the circumstancesthat may have influenced the mortality at this post, or modified thetype of its prevailing diseases.In the present instance, a brief noticeof the circumstances that led to the establishment of the Generalhospital at Macon, Ga., should be given, since it will bring toview thefirst of a series of influences highly prejudicial to those who were tobe benefitted by it, viz. : the improper transportation of the sick.After the fall of Fort Pulaski (April 11th) the military authorities,apprehending an attack upon the city of which it was a defensive outpost,ordered the immediate removal of the sick at and in its vicinityto the interior. Unfortunately, this removal was attempted and executedwithout discrimination as to the condition of the sick or theirability to stand it ; the necessity of the case outweighed the questionof propriety, and all alike, the convalescent and the critically ill, werehurried off to a place of safety.The greater part, perhaps 220, of those sent here were from CampDavis, on the Central railroad, where they had rendezvoused aboutthe middle of March. The remainder (60) were from the Savannahhospitals. The former, particularly, were raw and undisciplined; werechiefly from rural districts, and characteristically careless of all thoseimportant hygienic rules which, whenever and wherever violated, aresure to inflict misery and suffering. While at the camp of instructionthe weather was exceedingly inclement, being both damp and chillyfrom the heavy rainsthat fell during the early spring and its changeablewinds.Rubeola, parotitis, pneumonia, etc., the scourges of our camps, soonappeared and spread rapidly among the troops, laying the foundationfor those diseases commonly recognized as their sequelae- At thisjuncture it was attempted to transport them to this city, a distance of160 miles, in box cars, without a single comfort other than a scantysupply of straw. During their transit it continued raining and damp,