TRENCH FOOT

1. The Chapter on Trench Foot from "Military Surgery" by Penhallow

2. The Chapter on Trench Foot from "Medical History of the Great War"

These two descriptive chapters on Trench Foot have been taken from "Military Surgery" by Dunlap Pearce Penhallow, MD. (Harv), London, Hodder & Stoughton, Oxford University Press, 1916 and from the chapter on Trench Foot in the official "Medical History of the Great War, Medical Services; Surgery of the War, Vol. I", edited by Major-General Sir W. G. MacPherson, K.C.M.G., C.B. LL.D, 1922.

Trench foot was very common in the trenches because of the waterlogged and unhealthy conditions of the trenches and the requirement to stand still for long periods with the feet immersed in water above freezing point.

Although not mentioned here, rubbing the affected parts with whale oil was a widely used preventative treatment but this was unpopular with the men because of the odour.

A very similar condition, immersion foot, still occurs in seamen who have spent long periods sitting still in lifeboats awash with cold water.

Dr M. Geoffrey Miller,

Editor.

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