SICK AND WOUNDED 97 
Union was now given permission to use these for its new hospitals. 
In the second place, permission was given at the beginning of May 
to send convalescent soldiers to their homes on short furloughs. The 
latter measure, no doubt, involved a good deal of additional trouble. 
The exact terms of these furloughs were not known on the spot, so 
that the hospitals were unable to tell precisely what class of patients 
would be entitled to them, for how long, and who should provide the 
men with transport, clothing, and money. To clear up these ques- 
tions, the Zemstvo Union negotiated with the military authorities, 
and assumed a number of obligations in connection with furloughs 
for all those whose state of health permitted of their discharge from 
hospital. In July, 1916, all formal and technical difficulties were at 
last removed. The extensive application of this measure made avail- 
able a large number of hospital beds and enabled the Zemstvo Union 
to discharge its duties in this connection successfully during the ex- 
ceedingly difficult period of the summer of 1916. 
A Statistical Illustration. 
In 1920 a “Commission for the Investigation of the Effects on 
Public Health of the War of 1914-1920” was formed at Moscow, 
composed of medical men and statisticians. This commission in 1923 
published its first report. The volume discusses the question of the 
composition and casualties of the Russian army in the World War. 
The investigation is far from complete, and the vast array of fig- 
ares that the volume contains represents merely a preliminary sum- 
mary of official data, many of which are conflicting. The work on 
the army archives and card indexes has only begun. Nevertheless, 
even these preliminary figures permit us to perceive the general 
trend of a very large number of interesting phenomena in this field ; 
we find among these figures some referring to the evacuation of the 
sick and wounded. According to reports of the general staff and 
General Headquarters up to October, 1917, that is, for the thirty- 
eight months of Russia’s participation in the War, the total number 
of evacuations to the interior of the country was 1,425,000 sick and 
2,875,000 wounded. This makes a total of 4,300,000 men, or an 
average of 113,157 per month for the entire period. This move- 
® Trudi (Report) of the Commission for the Investigation of the Effects 
on Public Health of the War of 1914-1920, Moscow, 1923.