instead of left, as laid down, the change is simply one of hands-the motions proceed as directed, substituting right for left and vice versa.

d. By two bearers.-Besides the methods (already described) for carrying patient to litter. By the extremities:

The bearers take position at patient, one man between the patient's legs and one at his head, both facing toward his feet. (Pl. 22, T. R. 112–5.)

The rear bearer having raised the patient to a sitting posture, clasps him from behind around the body under the arms, while the front bearer standing between the legs, passes his hands from the outside under the flexed knees, both rise together.

This method requires no effort on the part of the patient, but is not applicable to severe injuries of the extremities.

e. To place a patient on horseback.-The help required to mount a disabled man will depend upon the site and nature of his injury; in many cases he is able to help himself materially. The horse, blindfolded if necessary, is to be held by an attendant.

(1) To load from the near side. (Pl. 23, T. R. 112-5.)

The patient having been lifted, is carried to the horse, patient's body parallel to that of the horse and close to its side, his head toward the horse's tail. He is then carefully raised and carried over the horse until his seat reaches the saddle, when he is lifted into position. One man goes to the offside and puts the patient's right foot into the stirrup. One man puts the left foot in the stirrup. (Pl. 24, T. R. 112-5.)

(2) To unload, the patient's feet are disengaged from the stirrups and his right leg swung over the pommel, one man going to the offside for the purpose and then resuming his post at the left side. The patient is brought to a horizontal position, gently lifted over the saddle, and carried backward until free of the horse, when the squad halts and lowers patient.

(3) The patient once mounted should be made as safe and comfortable as possible. A comrade may be mounted behind him and guide the horse; otherwise a lean-back may be provided, made of a blanket roll, a pillow, or a bag filled with leaves or grass. If the patient be very weak, the lean-back may be made of a sapling, bent into an arch over the cantle of the saddle, its ends securely fastened, or some other framework, to which the patient is bound.

f. The travois.-The travois is a vehicle intended for transporting the sick or wounded when the use of wheeled vehicles 39854°-27-6

or other means of transportation is impracticable. It consists of two long poles, one end of each pole being attached like shafts to the side of a horse, the free end dragging on the ground. Behind the horse, crossbars extend between these poles, holding them parallel and affording support for a patient.

A travois may be improvised by cutting poles about 16 feet long and 2 inches in diameter at the small end. These poles are laid parallel to each other, large ends to the front, and 21⁄2 feet apart; the small ends about 3 feet apart, and one of them projecting about 8 or 10 inches beyond the other. The poles are connected by a crossbar about 6 feet from the front ends and another about 6 feet back of the first, each notched at its ends and securely lashed at the notches to the poles. Between the crosspieces the litter bed, 6 feet long, is filled in with canvas, blanket, etc., securely fastened to the poles and crossbars, or with rope, lariat, rawhide strips, etc., stretching obliquely from pole to pole in many turns, crossing each other to form the basis for a light mattress or an improvised bed; or a litter may be made fast between the poles to answer the same purpose. The front ends of the poles are then securely fastened to the saddle of the animal. A breast strap and traces should, if possible, be improvised and fitted to the horse. On the march the bearers should be ready to lift the rear end of the travois when passing over obstacles, crossing streams, or going uphill.

PRINCIPLES OF PERSONAL HYGIENE

(T. R. 113-5)

160. Introductory remarks.-Hygiene means, in plain terms, the art of keeping in good health. When we speak of personal hygiene we refer to those precautions which every man can take in his own efforts to prevent disease and thus keep himself at all times in the best possible physical condition. Attention to hygiene is especially important to the soldier in view of the fact that the Government, before allowing you to enlist, has given you a thorough physical examination to determine that you have no disease, and it then becomes your duty toward yourself and toward your country to aid in every way in keeping well and ready for any service. In the following pages you will be told many facts which should be of interest and value to you; if the advice given is strictly followed, you will be the gainer in every respect; any failure on your part to follow the rules here given may not only harm you, but may also bring disease to large numbers of your comrades. In most of the wars of the past more men have died from illness than have been killed in battle. Many of these deaths from disease can be prevented if every man does his part toward following the principles of hygiene. Therefore you must not only observe these rules yourself, but must also insist that each of your comrades does the same. Sanitary regulations may be published and orders on this subject issued, but unless each and every one, from the highest to the lowest in rank, complies with the rules, satisfactory results can not be obtained. Your officers can caution and advise you, but there are many details which only you yourself can look after and carry out; hence it is "up to" each individual to help in every way.

161. Importance of early medical treatment.—If at any time you do not feel perfectly well or believe that you have any disease, report at once to the first sergeant, who will send you to a medical officer for examination. Do not try selftreatment, since by so doing you may not only harm yourself, but may also be a source of danger to all those around you.

The danger of transmitting disease to another man is generally greatest when the illness is just starting and often before you feel really sick. To protect your comrades you must go to a medical officer and be examined as soon as you first begin to feel badly in any way-for instance, when having a cold, a headache, diarrhea, sore eyes, a rash on your body, or a feverish spell. Many "catching "diseases begin with these symptoms, so you must not wait until you have exposed others to the disease before seeing a medical officer. Those who take good care of their health and who have not become weakened by bad habits, exposure, or fatigue are not only less liable to catch diseases, but also are more apt to have the disease in a milder form if they are taken sick. You will usually have a less serious illness if you report for treatment early than if you wait until the disease has run on for a time.

162. Causes of diseases.-Practically all acute diseases and many chronic ones are caused by harmful bacteria or other minute organisms, commonly called germs, gaining entrance to the human body. These germs are living objects and are very small-so small, in fact, that they can only be seen with a powerful microscope. Each teaspoonful of water we drink or each cubic inch of air we breathe may contain millions of them under certain unhygienic conditions. The following are the most common ways in which disease-producing germs get into the body and cause illness:

a. Through the mouth, by eating food or drinking water or other liquids which contain the germs; also by putting into the mouth your fingers or any other object which is soiled with material containing the disease germ. Diseases which are thus acquired include typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever, cholera, dysentery, and diarrhea. When a person is sick with one of these diseases the germs are constantly being discharged from his body in his stools and sometimes in the urine. If proper care is not exercised the germs may be carried from stools and urine to food and drinking water. Certain worms which live in the intestines (such as tapeworms) may be introduced with food and drink containing the immature or young forms of the worm. The eggs of these worms pass out of the body in the stools and from the stools may be passed on to others. These worms are not germs, but, nevertheless, they may in certain instances cause disease.

b. Through the lungs, by breathing in certain germs which float in the air and which have usually been given off by patients suffering from the diseases which the particular germs

H

cause. Pneumonia, consumption, influenza, diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, mumps, tonsillitis, and meningitis are in this class of maladies. When a person suffering from one of these diseases talks, coughs, or sneezes, he throws out from his nose or mouth a fine spray containing these bacteria and thereby infects the air and those near him.

c. Through the skin, the germs having been injected into the body by the bites of insects such as mosquitoes, lice, fleas, and bedbugs. The germs of these diseases grow in the blood. Malaria and yellow fever are spread by mosquitoes which first bite a person sick with one of these diseases and suck up the blood containing the germ. The germ lives and develops in the body of the mosquito and is injected into a well person while the insect is biting him. Typhus fever and trench fever are carried by the bites of lice and bubonic plague by the flea.

d. By merely getting the germs on the skin when touching some sick person who has them on him, or by touching some object which has been in contact with such a person. Among the maladies spread in this manner are the venereal diseases, smallpox, chicken pox, and ringworms; body lice, crabs, headlice, and itch are similarly spread, though they are not germs. The diseases referred to above in paragraphs a and b may also be conveyed in this way, the sick person soiling his hands, bedding, or clothing with discharges from his nose and mouth, or from his bowels, and these discharges then being rubbed off on your hands and introduced by you into your nose or mouth. This shows the importance of frequent and careful washing of the hands, particularly before meals.

e. In a few diseases the organism causing the disease enters the system directly through the skin without the aid of a biting insect. Hookworm disease is the most common example. The eggs of the hookworm are discharged from the human intestine in the stools and hatch out in the soil. The tiny worms penetrate the skin of a man working in such soil, especially if it is damp and muddy, and ultimately pass into his intestine, where they grow up and live for years, sucking his blood and causing a serious disease common in our Southern States and in the Tropics. While passing through the skin the young worms cause a rash known as ground itch." If all stools were properly disposed of, hookworm disease would cease to exist.

66

163. Prevention of disease. The germs, when they get on any object, after having been discharged from a sick person, may live for some time and spread the disease to others. It is