Believe me, very sincerely yours,
Stratford de Redcliffe.
Monsieur A. Soyer.
Prior to my departure, to my great satisfaction, the Medical Staff Corps were well established in the Barrack and General Hospitals, these being the only ones remaining. All the responsibility of the culinary department in those establishments was thus taken off my hands, as the Medical Staff were well acquainted with my system, which was followed to the last.
The following letters which I wrote to the Government and General Storks will prove the necessity that exists for the establishment of such a corps for military hospitals; and it ought to be established by every nation.
To General Storks, Commanding Officer.
Barrack Hospital, Scutari, March 11th, 1856.
Mons. le General,—My field-stoves for the army, so long expected, having just arrived; in a few days I shall proceed to the Crimea to distribute them to the different regiments, as per special orders from the War-office.
Prior to my departure hence, I am happy to inform you that the Medical Staff Corps is now instructed by Victor, the civilian cook, in the management of the kitchen department of the hospital under the new system introduced by me and approved of by the medical authorities, which up to this time (a period of twelve months) has perfectly succeeded.
As I shall require Victor with me in the Crimea, I shall leave the future management in the hands of the said corps: I would recommend its introduction in all the military hospitals, it being of the utmost importance for the regularity of the diet for the sick, that the employés, when once initiated, should not be removed, as was the case with the soldier cooks, and which removal was much commented upon by myself and Dr. Cumming on my arrival at Scutari, and induced me to introduce civilian cooks. The introduction of the new corps will also tend to the regularity and economy of the extra-diet system, which is a matter of great importance in so large an establishment, and has till now been attended with difficulty, as the civilian cooks could not be subjected to the rigid discipline of the new corps.
I feel myself in duty bound to say that Mr. Robertson, the purveyor-in-chief, has assisted me in every way to bring the system to the state of perfection in which it now is; which system I am confident will, by the introduction of my printed receipts, be adopted at home in the civil as well as military hospitals—it having been submitted to both military and civilian medical officers, who have approved the same, and also assisted me with their valuable knowledge and suggestions in its formation.