BATHING AN ARMY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11509, 4 October 1915, Page 1

BATHING AN ARMY.

RUSSIA'S UP-TO-DATE SYSTEM. A HATH TRAIN. The very I;<lt* >i in the way of comfort for the man. on the firing line comes not. from Germany or trance, but, from' Russia, ill the shape oi «!■ railway train that can not, only give a hath, daily to 3000 soldiers, but provides further tor serving refreshments, for ilres .tng, ami 'fo rtiie disinfection cf cloth ins;. Those who are famiha. l with, the Russian hath, ami who re-;,v:-,.!il>i-r that, the adjective in the naraci i, iva'ly descriptive and not pimply! urmimental. wi.l realiso that baths i<i j Itus/ia require something mo.ro than • « imllicient supply of water. Tho 3000 j .•;) ths otlered by tho batu train arc > i'e.il Russian vapour baths—the kind J iiiat oa«t s at ii'e-1 l-x\.gulatc d American estab.i .-.h- j .ncnts. Hay* a. contributor to the j " Scientific American'': r fl»e bath is a great, institution in | Russia. Peonle arc accustomed to it, j and evou the t>a:aiiest cottage lif > its : little " banja," or steam-bath house, where they' gel their weekly stearai!lo- , ! .Ouring the present war several movable " banjos,'' or bath trains, have boou constructed for the Russian army. The following short description _ gives a general idea of one of these trains: — The train consists of a locomotive i and a score of ears. The cars of the bnxh train are reconstructed passenger coaches of the third and fourth clas'? and freight cans. All tho cars are panc'led with i'e!». cork and wood, to keep them warm, and are provided with everything that is uece sary for each car according to it's destination. The ears are joined by warm vestibule bellows', that, make it possible'for the soldiers to pass freely from the undressing car to the bathroom and then to the dressing ear. The bath train h lighted with electricity from the central electric station and heated by steam. The bathrooms are provided wit-h hot water from the locomotive boiler. DISINFECTING DIRTY CLOTHES. "While the soldiers are washing, the ! attendants of t-ho train take the bags s of dirty linen, disinfect it, and pass it J over to tho .store of dirty linen, while J the bags of clothing are taken either j into a -soeeial disinfecting compartment' or into a, special department for de- ; stroying parasites. j The dressing car is arranged in the : same wav as the undressing car. Tae j soldier finds on his numbered sear, a bag with a set of clean linen, and hiss clothes cleaned, mended and disinfect- I ed. 'When dres ed he passes to tho next car, which is called the tea-room, where ho can get tea, sugar, tobacco, etc. The disinfecting compartment is designed for the disinfection of clothes, boots and fur jack t«. It is operated with steam formalin. After the disinfpetion tho compartment h filled with ammonia, to take away the caustics odour of the formalin. The compartment in which parasites are destroyed' uses air heated to 100 degrees Centigrade. To kill the parasites, it is enough to keep the bags in the rotating drums of the compartment for ten or fifteen minutes. The equipment of the other cars oalls for no speciai comment. In one of the cars there is a cobbler shop, with instruments for mending boots, etc. The b:.ih train is provided with linen by special cars that supply the stores from Petrograd .and other towns. At present there are three hath trains in the Russian army. Each of thetn can daih- a bath to two or three thousand" soldiers. The cost of construction of such a bath train depends upon the cars that nre used, and attains to fifty to seventy thousand roubles (£SOOO to £7000). Tho coit of maintenance of a bith l rain, including salary and boarding for the trained attendants and servants, fuel, etc.. is 10.000 roubles per month, not counting the linen.