Commanding Officers ought always to endeavour to proportion the Time the Men are to be upon Duty to the Weather and the Nature of the Climate. The Time of standing Centinel in very hard Frost, and in cold wet Weather, or in the Heat of the Day in Summer, when the Weather is very warm, and in hot Climates, ought to be shorter than when the Weather is dry and more temperate.
The Marches of Troops ought, if possible, during the Time of very hot Weather, to be made either very early in the Morning, in the Evening, or at Night; and Officers, during the Course of an active Campaign, ought to spare their Men as much as possible.
And when they are in Quarters, and have nothing to do, they should narrowly inspect into their Manner of living; and have them out daily, when the Weather will permit, and exercise them, or march them two or three English Miles a-Day, in order to prevent their falling sick for want of Exercise; for Soldiers left to themselves are very subject to Diseases when they come into Quarters after an active Campaign, by leading too indolent a Life, if Officers do not take Care to prevent it. However, at such Times, the Exercise ought to be moderate, and the Men should not be brought out in wet Weather.
FOOTNOTES:
[116] In the Year 1760, the Men, who remained in the fixed Camp about Warbourg, were very unhealthy; while the Regiments who were detached to the Lower Rhine, under the Command of the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick, enjoyed a much better State of Health; and notwithstanding their great Fatigues, and the Loss they sustained at the Affair of Kampen, were much stronger when they rejoined the Army to go upon the Winter Expedition into the Country of Hesse, than those Regiments which had remained in the fixed Camp.
[117] This Dr. Pringle takes Notice of; and Mr. Naesmith says, he observed it in Voyages to the East Indies, which afford the fairest Trials of this Kind. See Dr. Lind’s Essay on the Means of Preserving the Health of Seamen, 2d edit. note to page 5.
[118] Dr. Joh. Valint. Willius, Army Physician to the King of Denmark, in his Treatise on Camp Diseases, says, you scarce find a Camp in these northern Countries in which the true Scurvy, attended with stinking Breath and eroded Gums, is not to be observed. Cap. iii. sect. iii.
[119] A Flannel Waistcoat, worsted Gloves, and woollen Stock, or a Neckcloth, may be purchased for about Half a Crown per Man, and would contribute to preserve the Lives of many; the recruiting of others, to supply whose Places, if they die, will cost the Government a great deal more than the Price of the Articles mentioned; which for a Regiment of nine hundred Men, at the Rate of two Shillings and Six-Pence per Man, comes only to 112l. 10s. per Ann. Every Recruit sent from England to the Army in Germany, cost the Government at least twenty Guineas before he joined his Regiment; and every sick Man sent to the general Hospital, cost the Government at least sixteen Pence per Day, which is ten Pence above his Pay; so that, if we suppose the extraordinary Cloathing here mentioned would preserve only the Lives of nine Men to each Regiment yearly, and keep forty in Health who would otherwise be sick, we see what great Gainers the Government will be in Point of Money at the Year’s End; besides preserving the Lives and Health of so many Men.
[120] Dr. Pringle has very justly observed, that upper Stories are preferable to Ground Floors; and that all uninhabited large damp Houses ought to be rejected. Observat. on Diseases of the Army, part ii. chap. iii. sect. 2.
If Necessity obliges Officers to put up with such Places for their Men, Care ought to be taken to clean them well, and to air and dry them by Means of Fires, before the Soldiers go into them; and to supply well the Men who are to lodge in them with Straw and Blankets, and with Wood or Turf.