SICK AND WOUNDED 93

course of 1915 did not exceed the estimate of the Ministry of War
made in August, 1914. On the other hand, the work accomplished
by the several clearing hospitals, when taken separately, was far
from what had been expected, as will be seen from the following
figures, which show the percentages of the total number of sick and
wounded distributed among the four principal evacuation centers:

Evacuation in 1915.
Estimates of Actually regis-War
 Department tered in 1915
(percentage)

Petrograd
Moscow
Kursk
Kharkov
Nther centers

22 5

18.1
57.1
7.3
10.3
~.2

- %

These figures also show the relative importance of the four principal
 clearing hospitals.
The comparative lull in the stream of casualties during the winter
 campaign of 1915-1916 brought up the question of closing some
of the zemstvo hospitals, which had been standing idle for months.
Many of the local committees had repeatedly applied to the Central
Committee for permission to close such hospitals, but invariably
received a negative reply. Having assumed the obligation of maintaining
 hospital facilities of a definite capacity, the Central Committee
 felt that it was bound to hold itself ready for any possible
emergency.*
At about the same time the Zemstvo Union was confronted with
another serious problem in connection with the evacuation of the
wounded. The military medical authorities were anxious to utilize
for the purpose of evacuation those military hospitals which had
been removed from the war zone to the interior and which afforded
a capacity of 40,000 beds. At this time it was impossible to find accommodation
 for such a vast number of hospital beds, so that the
only solution of the problem seemed to be a speedy construction of
new hospitals. But this certainly was not the moment to think of
* Izvestia (Bulletin) of the Central Committee, Nos. 85-36, pp. 46-52.