welfare of the whole.

It is tempting to describe the terrible engagements, the almost superhuman,
admirable bravery of Napoleon's soldiers, who often, after having had the
hardest task imaginable and constantly in danger of being annihilated, were
forced to pass the bitter cold nights without eating, without rest, and
although all details bear on the medical history I am obliged to confine
myself to a few sketches between the description of purely medical matters.

* * * * *

I happened to find in the surgeon-general's library a rare book: Moricheau
Beaupre, A Treatise on the Effects and Properties of Cold, with a Sketch,
Historical and Medical, of the Russian Campaign. Translated by John
Clendining, with appendix, xviii, 375 pp. 8vo., Edinburgh, Maclachnan and
Stewart, 1826.

This most valuable book is not mentioned in any of the numerous
publications on the medical history of the Russian campaign of Napoleon
which I examined, and I shall now give an extract of what Beaupre writes on
the Effects of Cold in General:

Distant expeditions, immaterial whether in cold or warm countries, with
extremes of temperature, are always disadvantageous and must cause great
sacrifice of life, not only on account of the untried influence of extreme
temperatures on individuals born in other climates, but also on account of
the fatigues inseparable from traversing long distances, of an irregular
life, of a multiplicity of events and circumstances impossible to foresee,
or which at least had not been foreseen, and which operate very
unfavorably, morally and physically, on military persons. The expedition of