field, and a short description of them is accordingly now given.

Field medical panniers. Of all the articles of equipment taken by surgeons into the field, the most generally useful hitherto have been found to be the medical panniers. They consist of wicker baskets covered with hide, and are each 2 ft. 4 in. in length, by 1 ft. 2 in. in breadth, and 1 ft. 6 in. in depth. They

are severally distinguished as No. 1 Medicine Pannier and No. 2 Material Pannier; the different names sufficiently indicating the general character of their respective contents. When about to be carried on a march, the two panniers are first fastened together by certain leathern straps which are permanently attached to them for the purpose. They are then secured to a pack-saddle upon a bat-horse or mule, in such a way that one pannier rests on

each side of the animal. The arrangements made for opening the panniers the lids being capable of being raised upwards, while the fronts can be lowered downwards-enable all the contents of the two panniers to be readily got at without removing them from the animal that carries them. The handy size of these cases, the quantities and varieties of medicines and surgical materials which they carry, their comparative lightness combined with their toughness, the impunity with which they can be exposed in all climates and to all kinds of weather, are qualities which make them as suitable for receptacles of portable field stores as any, perhaps, that can be devised.17 Wherever a soldier can go, there a mule with the field-panniers can follow, so that they need never be separated from the surgeon or from the neighbourhood of the wounded.

Their combined weight when filled is about 170 lbs., or a fair mule's load. Field-cases carried in a similar manner were used during the Peninsular war, but they only opened at the top, and chiefly consisted of unwieldy wooden chests bound with iron. They were very inferior in all respects to the field-panniers of the present time.

Improvements of late years in field-panniers.- An improvement, occasionally of great value on field service, was made in the medical panniers after the war in the Crimea. Arrangements were then made which enabled them to form a very fair substitute for an operating-table. This was accomplished by each pannier being furnished with a double lid, and with means of so joining the four lids together that a substantial support for a patient, nearly 5 ft. in length, could be formed by them. The plan for

forming the table is simple, and will be best understood by reference to the illustration (fig. 57). The advantages, as well to surgeons as to patients, of always having such means of support at hand on the field, in case of a necessity for the performance of amputations, are very considerable; for circumstances have often occurred to prevent the waggons carrying the regular operating-tables from being near the field of action when they have been wanted, and when no substitutes for them could be got. This happened after the battle of the Alma, and many amputations had to be performed while the wounded men were lying on the ground. Some minor improvements were also made at the same time, especially the introduction of a supply of medical comforts (only surgical materials and medicines having been carried in them previously); the use of patent bottles to prevent accidents from poisonous drugs; and a generally simpler and handier arrangement of all the contents. After the China war of 1860 an improvement was made in the position of the surgical instruments in the panniers. It was found that from being placed at the bottom of the pannier they were liable to become wetted in fording rivers; a fresh arrangement of the contents was therefore made by which they were placed on a fitting support at the top. After the Franco-German war of 1870-71 sundry other improvements were introduced. Among the more important of these has been the introduction of an irrigator for cleansing wounds, of hypodermic syringes and prepared solutions for use with them, metal wound-washing dishes, carbolised dressings, triangular bandages, wicker dressing-trays with the usual dressings ready for use, and a book and tallies for specification of wounds. These alterations were made without increasing either the bulk or weight of the panniers.

Contents of field-panniers.-The following is the official list of contents of the panniers of latest pattern :

oz. 16

4

124

pkt. No.

25

2

100

tin

1

No. 12

6

The illustrations (figs. 58, 59) show the manner in which the contents are arranged in the two panniers.

Tallies for specification of injuries and treatment.—The necessity for a surgeon noting any special circumstances connected with a wound after it has been attended to by him, or precautions to be taken during transport of the patient, to prevent unnecessary future interference or additional injury, has been previously referred to. The book of tallies in No. 1 Pannier has been introduced for this purpose. The book serves merely to keep the counterfoils of the tallies together. The tally consists of a piece of strong linen material, prepared for being written on, 4 in. long by 24 in. broad. It is double at one end, where it is punched and slit ready for being affixed to a button of the man's uniform. The following headings are printed upon it :

1 The basket A is constructed, and the contents arranged, to form two dressingtrays when occasion requires, so that half of the articles above specified are for each dressing-tray.