SICK AND WOUNDED 
treated at the hospitals of the front. The proportion, however, as 
between sick and wounded appears to be very different. Altogether, 
the Chief Medical Inspector has accounted for 2,650,817 sick sol- 
diers up to October, 1916, of whom 1,477,940, that is, 55.7 per 
cent, were evacuated to the interior and the remaining 44.3 per cent 
were left for treatment in the war zone. In the case of the wounded, 
however, it was otherwise. Here we find that, out of a total of 
2,967,637, there were evacuated to the interior 2,474,935, that is, 
83.3 per cent, leaving, consequently, for treatment at the front hos- 
pitals only 16.7 per cent. These ratios it is important to bear in 
mind, in comparing the number of sick and wounded cared for at 
the hospitals in the interior. 
99 
War-Time Hospitals. 
Altogether, the Zemstvo Union established 3,222 hospitals. A 
considerable number of these, namely 2,267, with a capacity of 
134,994 beds, have been described in great detail by the evacuation 
department of the Central Committee.® This makes it possible for 
as to discuss certain features of their organization. 
The greatest activity in opening new hospitals falls within the 
first months of the War. In August, 1914, one-fifth of all hospitals 
were opened, in September, one-third, and in October, again, one- 
fifth. This feverish activity of the Zemstvo Union was frequently 
due to extreme urgency. Thus, for instance, on August 20 and 21, 
Just as the local committee of the Union had started the work of 
organizing hospitals, 3,000 wounded men arrived at Kaluga, and 
this not from Moscow, as had been expected, in accordance with 
the regular evacuation schedules, but direct from the army at the 
front. From Vladimir the chairman of the local committee wired to 
Moscow: “No vacant beds in Vladimir. Everything crowded. Not 
enough doctors. I request three days to provide accommodation 
for the wounded in the district.” From Ryazan the chairman of the 
provincial zemstvo board reported: “No beds vacant.” 
The frequently unforeseen arrival of patients, and the very pos- 
sibility of such unexpected arrivals, naturally tended to stimulate 
the zemstvo to abnormal efforts. It must be said, however, that even 
without this stimulus the work was everywhere done with extraor- 
* Isvestia (Bulletin) of the Central Committee, Nos. 25-26, pp. 85-88.