A History of the Army Medical Department

A History of the Army Medical Department was written by a career British Army surgeon, Neil Cantlie (1892-1975) who served on the front lines of various wars including both World Wars I and II. In two volumes the work examines the relationship between medicine and the British Army for the period from 1642 to 1898. The books list a series of military campaigns illustrated by medical detail in the form of a narrative history using a variety of sources. No bibliography is provided, but references at the end of each chapter provide some information on the manuscript and printed material used as sources. There is a chapter on military medical writers at the end of Volume 2 along with a partial list of printed works up to 1888. Cantlie also lists some statistics on diseases widely endured by military members (such as malaria, typhus, and dysentery) and staff/patient ratios in military medical treatment locations. The volumes also include a variety of maps as illustrations. [Abstract paraphrased from a review by K. E. Crowe published in Medical History, Volume 19, Issue 1 January 1975 pp. 98-99]