A camp site requiring extensive drainage operations to make it habitable should not be adopted, as even when drained it will remain damp for a long time. Occasionally, however, sites are found which are otherwise favorable, hut upon which water may be inclined to stand after a heavy rain. A simple system of ditches constructed by the troops themselves will usu ally remedy this defect. The camp should never be sited upon the lowest ground a neighborhood, even if perfectly dry, as drainage during and after rains will then be very diffi cult.
The interior drainage of the camp is taken care of by gutters along the company's streets and by crowning the tatter to avoid puddles and mudholes. Ditches are dug around the tents, directly under the canvas walls, with the earth banked up inside the tent. These ditches con nect with the street gutters. The ground under picket lines is crowned and gutters dug, leading to lower ground; otherwise, the ground would become very muddy in wet weather.
Animal wastes are the most dangerous to the health of the camp, and naturally the great est precautions must be taken to see that these are finally disposed of in a manner which will effectually prevent their ever becoming a source of infection or nuisance.
Where a system of water carriage can be in stalled, this method is of course the most de sirable. Its layout and operation will differ little from ordinary municipal practice. Such a system will be quite a tax upon the water supply of the camp, as well as a considerable additiontal expense, and may require treatment works if the discharge is into an inland river. In tidal estuaries or waters not used for public supplies these works would not be necessary. Where the cost would be prohibitive, or where the water supply is insufficient for water car riage, other systems must be adopted. Various systems of dry sewerage, as the pail system, have been advocated and used to a considerable extent, but are open to many objections, the principal one of which is the hauling or carry ing of this matter through the camp. The ground about the pails becomes much polluted, accidents happen in removing them, causing pollution of the ground within the camp, and the final disposal is always a matter of much difficulty. Burial, dumping into water and in cineration have all been tried and none found entirely satisfactory. The pollution of water supplies and the creation of a breeding place for flies are the main objections. Incineration usually creates an odor, which, while probably not a menace to health, is distinctly disagree able. when carried to camp. The most satis factory method has been dumping into large pits, the deposits being covered with crude oil. This prevents odor and keeps the flies out. The problem of cartage through the camp, how ever, and of cleaning the pails, has not been satisfactorily solved, and leads naturally to an inquiry as to the possibility of making the place of deposit the place of final disposal.
Kitchen wastes and kitchen water must be carefully regarded and removed. Kitchen crem atories and incinerators of the most ap proved types should be freely used The com pany incinerator largely used in the United States army which is economical of fuel and efficient in the consumption of liquids and solids is constructed as follows: Dig a pit five feet long, three and one-half feet wide and one foot deep. Fill the ground level with rock. Build a rim wall one foot thick and one foot high on two sides and one end. Bank earth on the outside against the rim walls to the top of same leaving open the end with no rim wall. If clay is available make a mortar of same and plaster it over the earth, banked against the two sides and one end. When hard this clay covering may be whitewashed. A man should be specially detailed to care for the incinerator and keep it clean and neat at all time& The style of incinerator shown in the drawing employs an extra flue to an induced draft.
Vermin may be killed with gasoline, or by hot ironing or scorching underclothing. It is comparatively simple, by attention to personal cleanliness, to destroy full-grown lice, but the eggs are killed with difficulty, for they are de posited, in the seams of underclothing, trou sers, etc. Brush thoroughly, apply heat or rub in the special grease (vernujelli), which smothers the young on emerging from the eggs. Dust also with vermin powder.
In general, the functions of the sanitary service are as follows: (a) The institution of all practicable sanitary measures, to the end that the fighting forces suffer no depletion in strength due to avoidable causes. (b) The temporary care and professional treatment of the sick and wounded and their transportation to accessible points where they are transferred with as little delay as possible to the line of communications. (c) The supply of the neces sary' sanitary equipment. In addition, the sani tary service is charged with the preparation and preservation of individual records of sick ness and injury in order that claims may be adjudicated with justice to the government and the individual.
The personnel of the sanitary service in the zone of the advance may be classified into two general groups, as follows: First, that attached to organizations smaller than a brigade, which functions under the imme diate orders of the organization commander and accompanies its unit into combat; second, that attached to the sanitary train which functions under the orders of the divi sion surgeon in accordance with such general or specific instructions as he may receive from the division commander. When necessary the sanitary personnel attached to organizations may he temporarily detached, in whole or part, and directed to operate with the sanitary train.