A Manual of Military Surgery (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1861 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER IV. MEDICAL EQUIPMENTS, STORES AND HOSPITALS. Every regiment, or body of military men, should be amply provided, in time of war, with the means of conveying the wounded and disabled from the field of battle. For this purpose suitable carriages and litters should constantly be in readiness. The carriages should be built in the form of light wagons, drawn each by two horses; with low wheels, easy springs, and a large, wide body, furnished with a soft mattress and pillows, and capable of accommodating not less than eight or ten persons, while arrangements might be made at the side for seating a number more, as in the French voiture. As a means of protection against the sun and the rain, it should have a light cover of oil-cloth or canvas. A great number of litters, or bearers, will be found described in treatises on military surgery; but I am not acquainted with any which combine so much simplicity and cheapness, with lightness and convenience, as one which, after a good deal of reflection, I have just devised, and of which the accompanying sketch affords a good illustration. It consists of two equal parts, connected at the ends by stout hinges, the arrangement being such as to permit of their being folded for more easy transportation on the field of battle. Each part has a side piece of wood, three feet four inches long, by two inches in depth, and an inch and a half in thickness, the free extremity terminating in a slightly curved handle. The side pieces are united by four traverses, and the entire frame is covered with ducking, twenty-four inches in width. Thus constructed, the apparatus is not only very light, so that any one may easily carry it, or, indeed, even three or four at a time, but remarkably convenient both for the...