'Dr Frank then went with me to Sedan. There I saw the hospital of our Anglo-American Ambulance in the caserne on the top of the hill. They have 400 beds. There we have at work for our Society as surgeonsDr MacCormac, Dr Woodham Webb, Mr Wyman, Mr Hewett; and as dressers Mr Scott, Mr Ryan, Mr Walker; while the Americans have Dr Marion Sims as chef d'ambulance, Dr Tilghman, Dr Pratt, Mr Nicholl, and Mr Hayden. I was glad to hear they had no fever, though they have gangrene and other mischief. I was unable to stay long enough to see much of the work; but the rooms seemed pretty good for a hospital, though not high enough. However, my opinion on these points is worth very little. I was indeed chiefly occupied in filling a bag with bandages for Dr Frank, and my pockets with what bottles they could spare him of chloroform and carbolic acid. Next day I supplied him from the excess at Douzy with some useful stores.

were but two sights of many. There and whose charming disposition I they lay side by side together, French had learnt in the few days we passed and Germans, enemies no longer, together. all quiet in their common suffering. Floors covered with the poor fellows, with every sort of wound. Some dying with balls through the chest, some with crushed arms or legs from shells. One Frenchman had lain for three days in a ditch, and was brought in to have his thigh amputated. He asked for a cigar the moment the amputation was over. Another Bavarian with his thigh and hip smashed to pieces by a shell; and, alas! in such a condition that I could not go near him, though his wounds are dressed with pure carbolic acid. The wounds are now in their stage of suppuration, and a cigar was necessary for men who, like myself, are not accustomed to such places. But I must pay the highest tribute to Dr Frank for the care with which his patients are tended, the cleanliness and purity of his hospitals, and the evident love with which he was regarded by his wounded. He speaks French and German perfectly. Blewitt is a thoroughly good French speaker. These are the men who do us credit-to whom not only French and Germans, but England should be heartily grateful. Dr Frank has several other houses in the village near the Mairie full of patients. In one he had utilised the bacon-hooks in the kitchen ceiling to sling a broken leg. He is a man of endless resources. But I found him badly off for chloroform, while at Douzy they had cases of it lying useless. His subcutaneous syringes for morphia were worn out. He was badly off for carbolic acid; badly off for linen; badly off for almost every. He had been badly off for thing. food, but now the Bavarians supply rations. I could write you nearly a volume about Frank's hospital alone. But let me wind up with one fact for the information of medical men. He tied a carotid artery unassisted, and by the light of a candle, and with perfect success. Frank wanted no surgical assistance, unless I could guarantee him a gentle, clever man. I sent him Mr F. Aubrey Thomas, who came to us with high surgical recommendations from Edinburgh,

VOL CLXXXV.—NO. MCXIX.

"From Sedan back to Balan, and there we took some supper with Frank and others, in the room where a French officer was lying wounded. To my great interest he belonged to the 19th Battalion of Chasseurs, of the division of Guyot de l'Esparre, which I had travelled with about the end of July from Strasburg to Hagenau-the division which covered M'Mahon's retreat from Woerth, and which took a wonderful route to regain M'Mahon at Chalons, only to suffer terribly again at Sedan.

Douzy, past Prussian patrols who "Back with Furley in the dark to questioned nothing, as our white flag with its Red Cross protected us even from inquiry. Then from Douzy, Capel, de Kantzow, and myself started from Balan, and drove all through the night, changing horses at Florenville, arriving at Arlon at 8 A.M. yesterday morning. At Florenville we found a poor curé dead beat with his exertions, having walked from Sedan, and gave him a lift for twenty miles or so.

"There have been gigantic indi

C

vidual efforts, which have nearly worn out Furley, de Kantzow, and others, but which were only isolated efforts. Had there been a central power anywhere, and a good staff, we would have made a gigantic combined effort and shown abroad what England can do here, something worthy of the great work which her people are doing at home. Even now I do not think it is too late. I am too tired to continue writing, so I must reserve for to-morrow what I have done since I came back from

Arlon, which I think will please you. I will only add now that Capel, who returned to Arlon at 8 A.M. yesterday, and who had driven with me nearly 100 miles in 36 hours, started again at 10 P.M. with a convoy of stores back to Douzy. He had only the rough country waggon to drive in, and small chance of a bed either at Florenville or Douzy. That is work. Such a man, willing to act under orders, anxious to help, a genial, cheery companion, and speaking French, is simply invaluable. Such men save life, save misery, and are a credit to the country that sends them out to help in such a glorious cause.'

A few days later I gave M. Thieblin, the correspondent of 'The Pall Mall Gazette,' of whom I have previously spoken, an introduction to Frank at Balan and MacCormac at

Sedan. He wrote thanking me, and said in his quaint English

"I have seldom seen so honest Englishmen. There is nothing but work, hard work, and not a single boast, not even a shade of vanity so natural in men performing so splendid a work. I wish you heartily to bring all your ambulances to the point which that of Balan and of the Caserne d'Asfeld had already

reached."

A curious incident happened on that drive from Sedan to Balan in the light two-wheeled trap of which I have spoken. Furley was by my side, and I

was driving. I had over my shoulder, but under my overcoat, a strap to which was attached a courier bag containing a large sum in gold that I had brought from Arlon in case it might be needed at Sedan. We had no lamps, and it was pitch dark. As we drove across the drawbridge, which was lowered for our exit, our off wheel struck a large stone at the corner of the bridge, and Furley and I were both pitched out on opposite sides. Two German soldiers were sitting smoking close to where I fell. Neither of them moved. We drove on to Balan. On arrival there, when I took off my overcoat I found my bag was gone; the strap had broken with the jolt and the weight of the bag. We hastily drove back, and there in the road, not six feet from the two soldiers still the darkness I found my bag placidly smoking, groping in with its contents safe.

For the next few days I was constantly on the road between Sedan and Arlon, always travelling at night, so as to have the days free for work. I do not know how many nights I spent sitting up in the carriage, which, with a change of horses at Florenville, was our means of accomplishing that frequent journey of about fifty miles each way. One evening there arrived at Arlon a portly gentleman, who brought me a letter from Colonel Loyd-Lindsay saying that suggestions had been made that the work of supplying the hospitals might with might with advantage be handed over to a firm of contractors, that Messrs Spiers &

wounded were being evacuated
from the hospitals on that
battlefield, it became possible
for me to turn my attention
to the Metz district. Hitherto
the strain had been so great,
that I had neither time to
examine into the wants round
Metz, nor to establish those
personal relations with the
chief authorities which it was
desirable to maintain. But Mr
Ernest Hart and Dr Berkeley
Hill, though not agents of our
Society, had rendered valuable
service by inquiring into and
reporting on the condition of
affairs; so that when I was
able to leave Arlon for Saar-
brück the way was, to some
extent, paved for our recep-
tion. By this time, also, Sir
Paul Hunter had, at my re-
quest, bought a number of
covered camions at Brussels,
with horses and harness, and
had engaged drivers, so that we
became independent of hired
transport, almost impossible to
obtain in the Metz district.

Pond had been approached, became supplied, and as the and were sending out their manager, Mr S., who would hand me this letter, and to whom he was sure I would give every opportunity of judging for himself if his firm would undertake the work. I ordered dinner for him, showed him our stores in the Palais de Justice, and the packing and despatch of a convoy, and asked him if he would like to accompany me to Sedan, whither I was going at 10 P.M. He went with me to Sedan, Bazeilles, and Balan. While I was busy consulting and arranging with the chiefs, he was shown round the hospitals, being present at a serious operation in the Caserne d'Asfeld. The following night we drove back to Arlon, whence he departed for London by the first train, after overwhelming me with thanks and compliments. The upshot of it was that he wrote a letter through his firm, in which he said the work could not, in his opinion, be better done, and that his firm could not undertake it advantageously. Messrs Spiers & Pond sent a handsome cheque to the Society, and I was given a letter by which Krankenpflege, Count_KönigsI was virtually placed on the marck and Herr von Treskow, free list of their restaurants, both of the Order of St John a privilege of which I never of Jerusalem, and under the availed myself. supreme control of Prince Pless, We had now our own hos- and with their aid I obtained a pitals at Beaumont, Douzy, plot of ground in the railway Balan, Bazeilles, and Sedan, premises adjoining a siding. all thoroughly supplied; we Here I had a large wooden had given help to the Belgian storehouse built. At first the Société de Secours, and to the Johanniter wanted to claim 5th French Ambulance, to control over the distribution of which three of our surgeons our stores, but this I was comwere attached. Now, as the pelled to resist, as both the wants of the Sedan district Johanniter and the Berlin

At Saarbrück I was fortunate in establishing friendly relations with the Prussian Royal Commissioners of the Freiwillige