Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/398

 370

��Popular Science Monthly

��Train and Tent Baths in Use by the Russian Army

FILTH, vermin and disease are among the most deadly foes to which an army is subjected. This is proved by the wars of the last century in all of which far more soldiers died from epidemics than from wounds. The combatants of the present day are more fortunate in these respects than those of the past, for owing to the great advance in sanitary science much better hygienic regulations are en- forced. Many problems, though, are not yet solved, one being that of the personal cleanliness of the men. Among the various methods brought forward to meet this difficulty two of the most ingenious have been devised by the Russians, namely, train and

��into parts not weighing over six hun- dred pounds, which can be transported on two-wheeled carts; the interior is protected from cold, and one hundred men per hour can bathe, have their hair cut and their clothes disinfected. There are two concentric tents sup- ported by the same center-pole. The inner tent forms the steam-chamber, where fifty men at a time can have a steam bath. The circular corridor be- tween the two tents is divided into five compartments, two dressing rooms, a mechanical hair-cutting sec- tion, a laundry for towels, etc., and a disinfecting chamber with four disin- fecting appliances. The men enter the first dressing room, pass their tagged clothing into

���The Russians have devised as many sanitary short cuts and mechanical engines of war as

any of the rattling nations. Here is a picture of one of the big tents which help to make

cleanliness possible to soldiers who come from the muddy trenches

��tent baths. The bath train consists of a series of cars, one for dressing, one for disinfecting the clothing with formalin at a temperature of two hun- dred and twelve degrees, another for the baths, still another for putting on clean underwear and the disinfected uniforms, and a final one for rest and refreshment. The equipment of such a train costs about tw^enty-five thou- sand dollars to thirty-five thousand dollars and baths can be given to from two thousand to three thousand men a day at a monthly expense of about five thousand dollars.

The tent has the advantage over the train that it can be set up at the actual

��the disinfecting chamber and enter the hair-cutting section where one man's hair is cut per minute, and then go into the steam chamber. The temperature here is one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty degrees ; there are hot and cold water cocks, pails for the men to use, and benches — not tubs. After half an hour the men enter the second dressing room and receive their disinfected clothing at the window. Be- sides the heat supplied by the various appliances, four stoves warm the exte- rior corridor.

While the expense of maintaining this institution may seem high, it is more

��front. It can be raised and struck than offset by the advantages derived in easily, the equipment can be separated the way of sanitation.

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