SCARCE 1873 HISTORY of AMERICAN AMBULANCE 1870-71 BOOK

RANCE and Prussia had signed the Treaty of Geneva in 1864. During the two years that followed, this treaty, for the amelioration of the condition of wounded soldiers, had been accepted by nearly all the Governments of Europe, and national relief societies had been organized in each State in accordance with its terms

The Austro-Prussian War of 1866 afforded to several of these societies the first opportunity for active work. The character and value of the services rendered to sick and wounded soldiers by voluntary associations during that war, I have myself endeavoured to show in a work entitled "Sanitary Institutions during the Austro-Prussian Conflict." The experience gained during the war of 1866 was moreover of great service to the voluntary societies. The field within which their action might be beneficial was more clearly marked out, and their position as institutions of public utility definitively established. In certain States the organization of the societies was modified and improved---in all it was invigorated and strengthened

The great war of 1870-71 was a fearful contest between the two wealthy and powerful nations which had first given in their adhesion to the Treaty of Geneva, and in which the principle of creating popular aid for the wounded in war had been most generally accepted, and the organization of the relief societies was most complete. The circumstances under which the action of these societies was then tested were not only rich in opportunities of usefulness, but seemed to offer the most favourable conditions for the practice of voluntary relief in behalf of the victims of battle-fields. During the war the popular sympathy for the wounded was intense, and the liveliest interest was taken in the movements and operations of the French and German societies. Since the close of the war the friends of charity and beneficence in every quarter of the world have been anxious to learn, to the fullest extent, the character of their services and the practical results of their labours

Conscious, therefore, of the desirableness as well as the utility of assembling the facts concerning the action of the volunteer relief societies during this war, so classified that they might be easily compared, and so presented that they might clearly teach the lessons to be derived from them, I proposed before the close of the war to prepare a full and complete history of the labours of these societies. Such a work, however, could not be written until data covering a very wide field of operations had been collected, nor before the reports of the principal associations had been made public. The difficulties in the way of obtaining from official sources the necessary information have made it impossible for me to finish this work within the time originally proposed

While, however, the relief societies founded upon the Treaty of Geneva were national in their organization, as also in their more immediate and specific purposes, they were the representatives of a common cause, and were closely affiliated in action as well as in sympathy

The Franco-German War of 1870-71, in opening out a vast and comparatively new field for organized patriotic benevolence, offered also the first great occasion for the exercise of international sympathy and assistance. The occasion was not unheeded. If armies were never before more abundantly supplied by national voluntary effort---never before in human history have belligerents received from foreign and neutral States such generous aid. The action of the French and German societies for battle-field relief was largely sustained by foreign contributions, and the sufferings incident to the war assuaged by the liberalities of aliens. Foreign charities, however, were generally distributed through local organizations, and lost their national character in the process of distribution

The American International Sanitary Committee of Paris was formed almost immediately after the declaration of war in 1870, for the purpose of being a direct agent of American charity in behalf of the victims of the war. It was, moreover, the only foreign association created for the general succour of the wounded that succeeded in preserving throughout the war, on belligerent territory, a complete independence in the direction of its operations and in the immediate distribution of its assistance. The committee began its labours by organizing an ambulance, or field hospital, at Paris

Few organizations for the relief of the wounded during the late war, acquired a more noble celebrity than the American ambulance. As an expression of international goodwill, it at the time secured for itself the gratitude of the French people. As an expression of earnest personal effort, of the courage and generous devotion of compatriots, it cannot soon be forgotten by Americans. As an expression of modern sanitary science, however, it has been chiefly valued, and probably will be longest remembered, by all.(1) Its mission was significant-its work was one of usefulness. To commemorate, therefore, the services of those who laboured in the American ambulance, or contributed to its success, and to preserve a record of its acts and methods, are duties equally imposed

This volume contains the history of that ambulance

It was my original intention to publish it together with, and as a part of, my general history of voluntary effort in behalf of the sick and wounded during the late war. The causes mentioned have held in abeyance the publication of that work. But as most of the material which appears in this volume has been a long time ready for the press, it has not seemed to me expedient to retain it any longer. I accordingly now issue the "History of the American Ambulance," complete, in a single volume, which will form also the first volume of my general history of "Sanitary Associations during the Franco-German War of 1870-1871."

I have endeavoured to present in it a clear statement of the purposes of the American International Sanitary Committee, of the difficulties they encountered, of the labours they accomplished, and of the successes which finally crowned their undertaking. The admirable reports of the gentlemen who were especially entrusted with the administrative and executive work of the Committee---treating upon those subjects which are more particularly scientific and technical---complete the history of the ambulance

The report prepared by Dr. Edward A. Crane is an exhaustive essay in which the writer has not only stated the essential facts connected with the material organization of the American ambulance, but has discussed at length the principles in accordance with which army hospitals have been, and should be, established, and the general character and qualities of temporary and portable shelter

The surgical and medical histories of the ambulance will be read, I believe, with great interest by that portion of the public to which they are now more particularly addressed. Dr. Swinburne's cases are fully and concisely stated, as are also the peculiar difficulties under which he contended while treating them. Dr. Johnson's report, if brief, is nevertheless instructive

In presenting this volume to the world I shall solicit a generous criticism not only in my own behalf, but in behalf of those who have laboured with me in its preparation. Verbal errors, and mistakes even in fact, may doubtless be found. These, as every one knows, are more or less unavoidable, especially in a work, parts of which have been edited for absent writers, and all of which has been hurried through the press in the midst of numerous personal pre-occupations. I believe, however, that while the special subject of the volume may commend it to the favour of many, the facts it presents in connection with the general history of army hospitals will render it a valuable contribution to the medico-military literature of the day