properly done, it is of great service. It undeniably promotes cleanliness, and when people find it agree with them it is a great pleasure to bathe; but sea-bathing only should be allowed. No man should stay more than five minutes in the water, nor bathe oftener than three times a week; neither should any one who is not perfectly well bathe the best time is of a morning. Under these limitations bathing is serviceable.

"It was the universal opinion at the close of a late campaign, that the soldiers stood much indebted to the use of flannel, for the health they had till then preserved. The men had been uniformly exposed to the heat of the sun, and to the chill of the night, frequently drenched in the hardest rain, and obliged to remain under arms without char g ing clothes. To prevent the bad effects of ́these extremes is the benefit proposed by using flannel. Another is, to preserve the body from the sudden checks of perspiration, to which people who are careless of themselves, and therefore in particular soldiers, are very liable. Any exertion in this climate, imme diately throws a man into a violent sweat: if in this situation he mounts a hill, or stands

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in a strong current of air, it is very probable he will cool too fast; it is pleasing to the sensation, but very dangerous to health. A fever is the sure consequence of the pores being closed. Experience will have taught every one, that linen next to the skin, under the circumstances we have been speaking of, feels cold, and increases the effect of the air, as we put linen bags over bottles, and place them in a current of air, to cool what they contain. Flannel preserves a warmth on the skin; it is therefore beneficial to men exposed to the changes of weather, to the extremes of day and night; but it does not therefore follow, that it is so when they are quiet in quarters. Probably in this last case it is not, except for night duty. But all the benefits to be derived from the proper use of flannel, will be counterbalanced by greater evils, if the flannel is not kept constantly washed and clean. If worn too long, it tends to putrescence, and will certainly bring on putrid disorders. On no account should flannel which has been worn by a man who has died from disease of any kind, be permitted to be used by another; it should be burnt always, without exception. It is very dangerous to put on flannel which is not dry, or indeed any other clothes.

"The barracks ought not to be crowded with women, nor separations be suffered to be made by hanging up blankets, &c. All obstructions of this kind have ever been found to have bad effects.

"There is no part of the world where so much and so regular attention is required, from the commanding officer down to the ensign. Standing orders (and the neglect of them regularly punished) should be delivered on these subjects, in each corps, to the noncommissioned officers."

5. OF EXERCISE.

1. I SHALL endeavour, in the next place, to point out some of those benefits, which may be derived to health, from habits of daily exercise*. This is an object of the

*The observations which immediately follow are by Dr. JACKSON, who has written an excellent treatise on the fevers of Jamaica, and here speaks from personal experience.

greatest importance, but unfortunately it is an object very seldom attended to in the British army. It appears, indeed, to be little regarded in most of the armies of modern Europe. I should incur a charge of presumption, perhaps of ignorance, did. I attempt to point out the exercises which are the most proper for the forming of soldiers. Those only which contribute to the preservation of health, belong to this place. I may, however, remark, that the essential part of the art of disciplining troops, consists in imparting sentiments of heroism and virtue to the minds of the men, in improving the exertions of their limbs, and in acquiring knowledge of the correspondence of their exertions when called into action.

2. If I durst take so great a liberty, I should be inclined to say, that our ordinary exercises are flat and insipid in their nature; that they occasion no exertions, and excite no emulation: they neither improve the active powers of the body, nor inure the soldier to bear fatigue and hardship. The Romans, who owed more to the discipline of their armies than any nation on earth, were ex-. tremely rigorous and persevering in their

exercises. They practised their soldiers in every species of service that might occur; so that nothing at any time happened with which they were unacquainted. Actual war was

in reality a time of relaxation and amusement 'to the soldiers of this warlike people, who appeared to have been trained for the service of the field, as horses are for hunting or the course. The Romans were not only sensible of the advantages which those habits of exercise procured them in action; but had also the penetration to discover, that they were eminently serviceable in the preservation of health.

3. The words of Vegetius are remarkable: Rei militaris periti, plus quotidiana armorum exercitia ad sanitatem militum putaverunt prodesse, quam medicos.

I made the same re

mark during the time that I attended a regiment in America, without knowing that it was supported by so great authority. I observed, when the men were in the field, sometimes even complaining of hardship and fatigue, that few were reported in the list of the sick when removed to quarters, or encamped for any length of time in one place, the hospital was observed to fill rapidly. This