A small Quantity of Medicines, some Wine, Rice, portable Soop, &c. and Utensils for a small Hospital, and two, three, or four hundred Sets of Bedding, should be carried about with the Army, in Case of an Action, for the Use of the Wounded, till they have Time to receive Assistance from the Flying Hospital. Some of the Bedding ought to be carried on Horseback, so as to be at Hand when any of the Surgeons are sent with Detachments that are going upon an Attack.
To prevent crowding the General Hospitals in Winter Quarters, every Regiment ought to take Care of their own Sick, and to have proper Hospitals fitted up for them.
Dr. Pringle has laid down some very good Directions with regard to the Choice of Places fit for Hospitals, and the Method of preventing infectious Disorders in them; and we find many excellent Hints of this Kind in Dr. Lind and Mons. du Hamel’s Treatises on the Means of Preserving the Health of Seamen, and some likewise in Dr. Brocklesby’s late Treatise on military Disorders.
In the Time of Service the Commander in Chief generally orders the Hospitals to be established in Towns or Villages that least interfere with the military Operations, to which the Sick and Wounded can most easily be conveyed; and which he can best protect from the Insults of the Enemy[155].
In Towns, the Places fittest for Hospitals are public Buildings, which have large dry airy Apartments, situated on a high Ground, where there is a free Draught of Air, and a Command of Water.
In Winter, those Houses, which have open Fire Places in the Rooms, are always preferable to such as have close Stoves, or no Fire Place at all; for an open Fire Place serves to keep up a free Circulation of Air in a Room, as well as to keep it warm. And for the same Reason, where nothing but Stoves can be got to warm the Wards, the Wynd Stoves, which open into the Room or Ward, are vastly preferable to the close ones.
Where there are no public Buildings, private Houses answering nearest to the above Description are most proper for Hospitals. In general, Houses with small Rooms make but bad Hospitals; and very Damp and close Places ought by all Means to be avoided.
In Summer, when the Moveable or Flying Hospital is ordered into Villages, large Barns, and the largest airy Houses, are the best.
Churches, situated on a dry high Ground, make good Summer Hospitals; and in Winter, when Necessity obliged us sometimes to use them in Germany for this Purpose, they were found to answer very well, when we had Bedsteads or Cradles for the Men to lie upon, and the Wynd Stoves to keep them of a moderate Heat.