From them, of course, no supply could be obtained. More than
thirty hospitals were not capable of receiving all the sick and wounded
who applied for admission. Where were to be found buildings sufficiently
spacious, mattresses, bedding, utensils, provisions, and the prodigious
number of medical attendants, whose services were so urgently required
by these poor creatures? Every edifice at all adapted to the purpose had
long been occupied; and so completely had every thing been drained by
requisitions, that the hospital committee had for some time been unable
to collect even the necessary quantity of lint. Almost every barber's
apprentice was obliged to exercise his unskilful hands in the service of
the hospitals. It would have been impossible to procure any thing with
money, had it been ever so plentiful; and this resource, moreover, was
already completely exhausted. The most acute understanding and the most
invincible presence of mind were inadequate to the providing of a remedy
for these evils. No where was there to be seen either beginning or end.
The city was covered with carcasses, and the rivers obstructed with dead
bodies. Thousands of hands were necessary to remove and bury these
disgusting objects before any attention could be paid to the clearing of
the field of battle about Leipzig. As all sought relief, there was of
course none to afford it. It was difficult to decide whether first to
build, to slaughter, to brew, to bake, to bury the dead, or to assist
the wounded, as all these points demanded equally prompt attention.
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