CIRCULAR

   No. 6.
MEDICAL DIRECTOR'S OFFICE,
      Department of the Ohio,
           Cincinnati, Ohio, October 25, 1862.
      The following instructions are received for the information of
Surgeons in charge of  General Hospitals in this Department:

      I. In keeping the clothing accounts of contract nurses, strict
regard must be paid to paragraphs 1,153, 1,158,  1,159, 1,160, 1,161
and 1,162 Revised Regulations.

      The receipt rolls are to be  made  in triplicate, according to
form  52, Quartermaster's  Department.  One copy to be kept in the
hospital  records, and two copies to be sent as vouchers with the  Quar-
terly Return of Clothing, &c.—(see Form 51 Quartermaster's Depart-
ment)—which  is  made quarterly to the  Quartermaster  General at
Washington.

       The  price of Clothing is to be charged  according to the  fol-
lowing table of prices:

       Statement of the cost of clothing for a Private of Infantry in
the Array of the United States, copied from the printed statement of
July  1, 1861.
Articles.
Uniform Hat,................
Feather,......................
Cord and Tassel,............
Forage Cap,..................
Uniform Coat,..............
Trousers, pair,...............
Blue Flannel Sack Coat,.
Flannel Shirt,...............
Drawers, pair,...............
Bootees,   "  ...............
Stockings,  "  ...............
Great  Coat,...................
Blanket,......................
Leather Stock,..............
Cost of Each	
Article. !	
Dollars.	Ceni'b. |
1	55 i
	13£
	13*
	63
6	7i
3	03
2	15
	88
	50
]	94
	26
7	20
2	95
	14
Remarks.
  Commutation value of
one year's clothing,  "In-
fantry Soldier,'' $37.58 4-5
being one-fifth of the value
of the allowance of cloth-
ing for Jive years.

  $37,58 4-5.
      The civil nurse is entitled to the same  articles and amount of
clothing  as a Private of Infantry.  On the discharge of the nurse,
the cost of the clothing issued to him is to be deducted from the com-
mutation value of the clothing to which he was entitled.
      By order,                              C.  C. Byrne,
                                        Assistant Surgeon  U. S. A. 
       II. The Hospital Fund may be disbursed as indicated in para-
 graph 1,195 General Regulations for "any articles for the subsistence
or comfort of the sick not authorized to be otherwise furnished."
       Each Surgeon in charge of a General Hospital, will, therefore,
be held responsible that no deficiency of comforts and  delicacies  for
 the sick be allowed to exist.
       " Medical officers in charge of General Hospitals are directed
to examine carefully each provision return, comparing the same with
the amount of subsistence stores on hand, and the number in hospital;
they will expend the hospital fund as  it accrues, for the benefit of
the sick, and especially in  increasing the variety and improving the
quality of their diet.
       " It is believed that many of the complaints  respecting the
insufficiency of food are due to a mistaken zeal on the  part of some
medical officers for the accumulation of a large hospital fund."
       The monthly statement of the hospital fund must be forwarded
regularly to the Surgeon General's office each month, and a duplicate
sent to this office for transmittal to the Assistant Surgeon General at
St.  Louis.
      III. The attention of Hospital Surgeons is called to the follow-
ing extract from Circular No. 11, Surgeon General's Office.
       " The Military Hospitals will be open to the authorized agents
of Soldiers'  Relief Associations, and other Aid Societies, from twelve
o'clock M. to six o'clock P. M., daily, and to the friends of patients
and other visitors, if, in  the judgment of the surgeons in charge, their
visits will not be prejudicial to the welfare of the sick."
                                   L. H. HOLDEN,
Surgeon  U. S. A. and Medical  Director. 
y\ 
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