It has been stated that the mortality was caused by epidemics; by
dysentery or camp distempers; but the testimony of nature, as revealed by
the scalpel of the dissector, does not admit of such statement. There was
neither epidemic nor pestilence. There was starvation instead.
That a vast amount of this mortality was caused by the unfavorable, the
needless, the cruel circumstances in which the prisoners were placed, no
one acquainted with the phenomena of life and death will deny.
But as to how much more than the normal rate, no man has sufficient
generosity and impartiality to determine.
This we know, however, that it is an axiom with all hygienists and
military men, that the health of the soldier is always in direct ratio of
the care taken of him. To give a just estimate of the normal degree of the
mortality that was caused by diarrhoea, will indeed form a complex
problem, since it is not only the last stage of starvation, but it is
often produced by the decomposition of the blood by the dyscrasia peculiar
to camp life. We observe it in all armies during the summer months, and
that it seems to result from manifold causes. Although the predisposing
cause is the dyscrasiac condition of the soldier, the determining cause is
most always the quality of the food consumed, and the purity of the water
used for potable purposes. Surface water mixed with confervoids and
decomposed vegetable matter, and the deeper currents of water which pass
through the rotten limestones, are, during the summer, the fruitful
sources of intestinal disorders.
Those who have observed the influence of atmospheric changes upon disease,
will comprehend why the diarrhoea curve followed the line of high
temperature, and how it progressed in consequence of heat, even when
unassisted by inanition.