may occasion sickness unless the evil is remedied very shortly. The only remedy for this is to dig a ditch from pond to the river so that the water will run freely through it. I have given orders to have a survey made. The ditch will have to be about one mile in length. The only objection to this is that a fresher might do so me damage to the land through which the ditch will run, and the owners would call on the United States for that. They have, however, no objection to having the ditch dug. I respectfully, request that you will give instruction in regard to this with as little delay as possible, for if this work is to be done, it should be done immediately. I forward herewith a report of the surgeon on this matter. The sinks are removed from the pond, and large walnuts have been dug in place of them.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

S. EASTMEN,

Lieutenant - Colonel, U. S. Army, Commanding Depot.

[Inclosure.]

HDQRS. BARRACKS, Numbers 3, CHIEF SURGEON'S OFFICE,
Elmira, N. Y., August 13, 1864.

Lieutenant LOUNSBURY, Acting Assistant Adjutant - General.

Pursuant to your orders I have the honor to report that I carefully examine the pond inside the inclosure of Barracks, Numbers 3 and the sources of the disgusting odors there in. The trouble does not seem to arise altogether from the decayed matter which has been thrown in, but from the daily accumulation. The drainage of the camp is in to this pond or pool of standing water, and one large sick used by the prisoners stands directly over the pond which receives its fecal matter hourly. The new sinks will be completed in a day or two, when one source of miasma will be removed, but this does not remedy another very important cause. Seven thousand men will pass 2,600 gallons of urine daily, which is highly loaded with nitrogenous material. A portion is absorbed by the earth, still a large amount decomposes on the top of the earth or runs in to the pond to purify. Again, without constant care and watching, more or less of the garbage or its washing finds its way into the pond. An estimate was made of the quantity of antiseptics necessary to neutralize the poisonous odors. The estimate varied from one-tenth to equal parts of disinfectants to the amount of decaying material. It will be necessary to ascertain the number of pounds of decaying material in the pond. Suffice to say that it will require many barrels. It must be borne in mind that disinfectants rapidly generate sulphuretic, carburetic, and chlorinated gases, which of themselves are injurious to health, and that all these chemicals only retain their disinfecting properties while the chemical changes are going on. The changes with the escape of gases being rapid, disinfectants will have to be put in to the pond daily, as disinfectants do not stop decomposition, but merely neutralize the odors while the gas is being generated.

It is questioned by scientific persons whether disinfectants exert any chemical changes miasmata, or whether the obnoxious odors are merely displaced or overpowered by the stronger, less disgusting, and more rapidly evolved gases of the disinfectants. If such is the case, by the use of disinfectants we have two deleterious gases in the atmosphere instead of one. The less disagreeable to the old factories overcoming the more obnoxious, consequently the only benefit derived from disinfectants would be overcoming a gas obnoxious to health, which still pervades the atmosphere by a less disagreeable gas to the