127
the internal organs not subject to cure by local means (diseases of
the stomach, intestines, liver, and kidneys); (2) cases of acute
undernourishment and anaemia resulting from infections, serious
injury, and gas poisoning; and (3) patients afflicted with trau-
matic neuroses, diseases of the spine and the peripheral nervous
system.
To the mud baths were being sent patients suffering from chronic
liseases of the joints, osteo-muscular organs, and glands.
A very large number of patients were in need of balneological and
mud bath treatment. After having been prevented from working
until the latter half of the 1915 season, the unions very soon filled
most of the sanatoriums that had until then stood idle. It was evi-
dent, however, that the available accommodation would prove inade-
quate if a proper system of selection and evacuation of patients were
in operation. Vigorous measures were then taken to adapt some of
the mineral springs and mud baths for winter treatment and to en-
large their capacity by at least five hundred beds in preparation for
the summer season of 1916.34
SICK AND WOUNDED
Relief for Disabled Soldiers.
According to certain calculations, of a somewhat rough charac-
ter, the number of disabled Russian soldiers was about 600,000.
Under the law of June 25, 1912, they were entitled to a pension
ranging from 80 rubles to 259 rubles a year, according to the de-
gree of disability.
However, neither this pension nor the bonuses allowed by the law
and ranging from ten to forty rubles could assure to the invalids
even the most modest livelihood. The Zemstvo Union, both for hu-
manitarian and practical reasons found it impossible to ignore this
problem, for the invalids continually accumulated in the zemstvo
hospitals, occupying beds that might be required for other patients.
The Central Committee laid before the conference of zemstvo dele-
gates on March 12-18, 1915, the question of relief of disabled
soldiers. The conference unanimously resolved “to recognize the de-
sirability of the constant participation of the Zemstvo Union in the
task of caring for disabled soldiers, and to instruct the Central
* Izvestia (Bulletin), Nos. 22-23, pp. 52-63.
