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accompanying the army, aiul dispersed through the cavalry,who with two stirrups to one side of their saddle, were seenin the heat of an action ready to carry the wounded from offthe field to the medical attendants.
However, the first traces of field hospitals in the east,which appear to be discovered, occur no earlier than in thesixth century ; when the Emperor Mauricius had with hisarmy the above named deputati, whose duty he expresslydescribes, as does also Leo VI. in the ninth century, whocopied many things verbatim from the works of that prince.
From what has appeared, we contend, that it is sufficientlyestablished that there was some regular station, where whatare now known as the staff of an army, were to be found onthe lield of battle; that this staff, or medical board, con-sisted of physicians, surgeons, &c. known as exercilus medi-cus, medic us cohort is, and medicits leyionis, or else why thedeputati to assist the wounded off the field; or had the me-dical people been dispersed through the army, those lastnamed assistants would have sought them in vain with thewounded. That station, wherever it was, constituted theField Hospital.
It is remarked by Mdhsen, that though an order wasmade in the convention of Ratisbon , in 742, that every com-mander of an army should have along with him in the fieldtwo bishops, with priests and chaplains, and every colonelbe attended by a confessor, no mention whatever is madeof lield hospitals, or any surgeons belonging to the firstChristian armies, in the writings of the middle ages. Itmay, however, be seen, from the works of Paracelsus , Thur-neyser, Loltich, and other medical men, that they were presentat battles and sieges; but it certainly does not appear theyhad an appointment in a medical capacity. Another re-mark of Mdhsen occurs upon this subject, which we shalltranscribe ; that a field surgeon, in the beginning of the fif-teenth centurv, was destined rather for the service of theofficers and chief commanders, than for the service of thelield hospital: their number being much too small for awhole army. And as their commission authorised them toreceive prisoners and plunder, and, like the knights, to con-vey with them a given uumber of archers into the field, ithas been conjectured, that to fight formed also a part oftheir duty. Which circumstances appear exemplified in arelation with which Rymer, in Feeder a, furnishes us, in the4th vol. p. 146 and 117. He says, “ When Henry V. of England carried on war in France , in 1415, he tookinto his service Nicholas Colnet, as field surgeon, for a