Observations in the military hospitals of Dresden / by Alexander Bruce.

  • Bruce, Alexander, 1842?-1869.
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations in the military hospitals of Dresden / by Alexander Bruce. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    for in consequence of the frequent and heavy rain, the tenting became so damp and impervious to the wind, that the air was actually worse in the tent than in the ordinary wards. These stations were subsequently built of wooden boards, loosely jointed, and roofed with tarpauling. These would, doubtless, act better than the others. A fatal mistake was, however, made in the use for which these tent stations were reserved. Only the severe cases of pyaemia and erysipelas were lodged there ; so that removal to the tent station became almost synonymous with death. It is undoubtedly very desirable to separate those patients who/ have already got pyaemia from the neighbourhood of others who are still free from it; but as this was never effected with anything like completeness, it seems to me that it would have been far better to have conveyed all the cases newly operated npon directly to an un- crowded tent, apart from all chances of contami- nation, and thus have not only given them a better chance, but also have relieved the main hospital from a number of large suppurating wounds. The town and hospitals were remarkably free from other epidemics. A few cases of cholera occurred, but these were chiefly imported from the North German towns by the soldiers ; fortu- nately it took no hold in Dresden, thanks to its naturally healthy situation and to the rapid stream of the Elbe, which carries off the sewage in a most complete manner. No cases of typhus, and but few of typhoid fever occurred. As far as I am aware there was but one case of hospital gangrene during my stay in Dresden.