| Description | Flyleaf: list of hospital stations and medical officers in charge including those attached to Cavalry Division.
Page 3: hospitals established at Truxillo and from Badajoz to Madrid.
Page 6: 26 August: the Adjutant General agrees to his proposition that all the convalescents and recovered men from hospital were to be attached to the 3rd Division of the army.
Page 9: Santarem: Dr. Buchan reports that the cases treated during the month have been greatly debilitated by obstinate intermittents, 'attended with diseased viscera'; he has also had a great many wounded, as the hospitals in front and in the Alentejo have been broken up; sloughing has been frequent and is attributed to the season: 'it happened often in wounds which were nearly healed, some died from [sphacelation], some from excessive discharge'.
Abrantes: Mr. Bell reports that they admitted 778 cases during the month, mainly from the hospitals at the front: chiefly wounds, chronic dysenteries and obstinate intermittents; 'The season was unusually sickly at this station, many died and most medical officers'.
Alto da Chao: Mr. McMullen reports that continued and intermittent fever prevailed and that he admitted 30 cases of dysentery; 9 men died from continued fever, 10 from typhus and 3 from dysentery; in total 866 men were admitted during the month, of whom 967 were discharged and 99 died.
Page 11: Niza; Castello Branco: continued and intermittent fever prevailed according to Mr. Wood; inhabitants healthier than previous month.
Coimbra: admissions were all cases of intermittent fever with a few cases of typhus and dysentery from Celerico and a few relapses of intermittent and slight continued fever from the depot and convalescent hospital; notes treatment administered and refers to reports from St. Franciscan [convent] and the College of Arts.
Page 13: Dr. Tice reports that intermittent fever prevailed at this station [noted as Celerico but crossed out], accompanied by extreme debility and often a simultaneous effusion of water; refers to incessant stages and Cinchona and lists other tonics which were useful:
'In the hot stage, cold affusion, opium.
In chronic cases, solution of Arsenic and Mercury.
Relapses very frequent in Continued Fever.
Dysentery, _ often combined with [_ swellings?] and the extremes of debility'.
[There follows details of the report by Dr. Mosely, also apparently sent from Celerico]
Page 17: Ciudad Rodrigo: Dr. Neal notes that the heat remained over 90 degrees for many days; McGrigor then provides a 'description of the state of the army and its movements, which had so great an effect on the after result of the war, as well as on the character of disease subsequently to be described'; comments on unsuitable location of Ciudad Rodrigo.
Page 19: [continued from page 17]; during the month [of August] there were admitted 1606 men; of this total, there were received 1013 men from other hospitals, particularly Salamanca; 330 of this total comprised surgical cases…
Page 21: lists symptoms associated with fever; notes that blood letting from the arm and temporal artery, if carried out early, seemed the most successful practice in alleviating the irritability of the stomach; discusses other possible remedies; notes that those men most recently arrived from England were most susceptible to a 'fatal attack of fever', particularly if they are of a plethoric habit; refers to causes of relapse from exposure to the rays of the sun and excess of diet and notes his order for establishment of depots for the cured and convalescents.
Page 23: [continues from page 21]; refers to unhealthy location of Ciudad Rodrigo.
Page 25: [continued from page 23]; notes effects of fever on inhabitants; provides figures from returns of various hospitals including that of surgical hospital which received from Salamanca 261 wounded cases, 10 ulcers, 5 venereal cases and 2 ophthalmic cases.
Page 27: [continues from page 25, noting number transferred to Celerico and number who died from wounds 'chiefly from sinking under discharge'].
Page 29: Salamanca: refers to two reports; Mr. Guthrie provides information on 4 cases of tetanus, all from wounds and all fatal, the remedies tried were opium and mercury.
Page 31: provides details of statement by Mr. McIntosh regarding the 2nd Division: 340 cases of continued fever were admitted, 222 cases of remittent fever, 266 cases of intermittent fever and 112 cases of ophthalmia; discusses cases of fever; treatment with bark [and use of calomel?], antimonials and cold applications to the head proved successful, few requiring general bleeding; discusses symptoms of fever, noting effect of hot weather...
Page 33: [continues from page 31]
The remainder of the journal is blank apart from some unfinished entries and a reference on page 44 to surgeons in charge of hospital stations at the start of September and a note of Dr. Emery's preparation of Valladolid as a hospital station for 3000 sick and wounded on page 57. |