126 THE ZEMSTVOS DURING THE WAR
spas for convalescent soldiers had been placed under the jurisdic-
tion of Prince Oldenburg, head of the Army Medical Service, who
was granted all necessary credits. In accordance with his orders, the
Unions of Zemstvos and of Towns were completely excluded from
“he use of hospital accommodations at the spas in the Caucasus and
the mud baths of southern Russia. Prince Oldenburg gave permis-
sion exclusively to the medical authorities of the army to use the al-
ready existing facilities and even such as had been organized by the
two unions. He prescribed an exceedingly complicated procedure
for the use of the spas, which was strictly followed, and the result
vas that many beds remained empty. About April, 1915, the Cau-
casus was closed to the general evacuations of soldiers and the local
organs of the two unions persisted in demanding that some use or
other should be made in the hospitals which they had organized in
those health localities. At last, in July, 1915, that is, after the sea-
son was half over, the unions succeeded in finding a way of taking
part in this important work. The sanatoriums in the Caucasus were
placed at the disposal of the committees at Moscow and Kharkov
which, as we know, had charge of tuberculosis treatment at the spas.
The results will be seen from the following table, which shows that
the sanatoriums began to fill up only after the month of July.
Ratio of Beds Occupied by Convalescent Soldiers at the Spas to the
Total Number of Such Beds in May-April, 1915.
May June June July July August August August
Resorts 15 1 15 1 15 1 15 21
Pyatigorsk 3.0 2% 1.1 9.4 229 424 748 906
Kislovodsk 100.0 87.3 100.0
Essentuky 2.5 100.0 100.0
Zheleznovodsk £59 85.9 81.8 99.4
Sakki . 29.1 5.5 100.0 100.0
Khadzhibey » 11.2 82.9 100.0 100.0
Altogether, the committee on sanatoriums and spas had at its dis-
posal by July, 1915, that is to say, when its work began, 4,902 beds
for balneological patients and 790 beds at the mud baths.
The classes of patients that were being sent to the Caucasian min-
aral water springs were (1) those suffering from chronic diseases of
