APPENDIX C
LAW OF 17 JULY 1776
The Congress took into consideration thereport of the Committee on the memorial of the director general of theAmericanhospital; Whereupon,
Resolved, That the number of hospital surgeonsand mates be increased, in proportion to the augmentation of the army,notexceeding one surgeon and five mates to every five thousand men, to bereduced when the army is reduced, or when there isno further occasion for such a number:
That as many persons be employed in the severalhospitals, in the quality of store keepers, stewards, managers, and nurses,asare necessary for the good of the service, for the time being, to be appointedby the directors of the respective hospitals:
That the regimental chests of medicines, and chirurgicalinstruments, which are now, or hereafter shall be, in the possession ofthe regimental surgeons, be subject to the inspection and inquiry of therespective directors of hospitals, and the directorgeneral; and that the said regimental surgeons shall, from time to time,when thereto required, render account of the saidmedicines and instruments to the said directors, or if there be no directorin any particular department, to the director general;the said accounts to be transmitted to the director general, and by himto this Congress; and the medicines and instruments notused by any regimental surgeon to be returned when the regiment is reduced,to the respective directors, and an accountthereof rendered to the director general and by him to this Congress:
That the several directors of hospitals, in
201
the several departments, and the regimental surgeons,where there is no director, shall transmit to the director general regularreturns of the number of surgeons' mates and other officers employed underthem, their name and pay; also an account of theexpenses and furniture of the hospital under their direction; and thatthe director general make a report of the same, from timeto time, to the commander in chief and to this Congress.
That the several regimental and hospital surgeons,in the several departments, make weekly returns of the sick to the respectivedirectors in their departments:
That no regimental surgeon be allowed to drawupon the hospital of his department, for any stores except medicines andinstruments: and that, when any sick person shall require other stores,they shall be received into said hospital, and the rationsof the said sick persons be stopped, so long as they are in said hospitals,and that the directors of the several hospitals report to the commissarythe names of the sick, when received into, and when discharged from thehospitals, and make a like return to the Board of Treasury:
That all extra expences for bandages, old linen,and other articles necessary for the service, incurred by any regimentalsurgeon, be paid by the director of that department, with the approbationof the commander thereof: That no moremedicines belonging to the continent be disposed of, till further orderof Congress:
That the pay of the hospital surgeons be increasedto one dollar and two thirds of a dollar by the day; the pay of the hospitalmates to one dollar by the day; and the pay of the hospital apothecaryto one dollar and two thirds of a dollar by the day; andthat the hospital surgeons and mates take rank of regimental surgeons andmates:
That the director general, and the several directorsof hospitals, be empowered to purchase, with the approbation of the commandersof the respective departments, medicines and instruments for the use oftheir respective hospitals, and draw upon the paymaster for the same, andmake the report of such purchases to Congress.
SOURCE: Ford, Journals of theContinental Congress, 5: 568-71.
