ibly in
cases of tired or slightly shell-shocked officers and men, to the rest
stations or convalescent hospitals, of which there are a number well
behind the firing line.

At the casualty clearing station the men are checked over, their
wounds redressed, operations performed, and all the work done
necessary to enable the men to be passed on to the base hospital by
hospital train or barge. These clearing stations, of which there are
usually three in a town, may keep certain serious cases for days until
it is deemed advisable to send them on.

While one clearing station is filling up and treating the patients,
the other will be sending all possible treated cases down the line.
From the base hospitals, which are near the sea, the men are forwarded
as soon as advisable by hospital ships for distribution among the
hospitals of England.

While a battle is in progress the men pass through this system so
rapidly that they may be wounded one morning and be in a hospital in
England the next.

The medical officer, of course, is attached to the battalion, and goes
everywhere with it, and under him are a number of stretcher bearers
who gather up the wounded. The advanced dressing station is merely an
advanced party from the field ambulance which itself is divided into
three sections, each of which may operate independently according to
the nature of the country. Each ambulance is self-contained, having
its own transport, and by using tents can work in an area which has no
houses or other shelter.

The casualty clearing station, on the other hand, having an
established capacity of nearly 600 beds, has much heavier equipment
and is not supposed to be a mobile unit, though it is capable of
moving with the aid of its two lorries by making repeated trips. Many
of the casualty clearing stations are located in huts which can be
torn down and moved forward and rebuilt by the engineers and
construction units.

There is also in each division a sanitary section composed of one
officer and 25 men, whose function it is to keep an eye on the
sanitation of the divisional area, report failure on the part of units
to observe the established sanitary regulations, see that the
incinerators are operated, have new sources of drinking water tested,
look after the bath houses on occasion, search for cases of typhoid
fever, etc., among the civilian population, and, in general, make
itself as useful as possible.

The British army regulations are