ship God with each other in the freedom of thought and purpose which such association implies and needs. Some of the Surgeons do not concern themselves in relation to the Chaplain's labors. They neglect the chapel services and refuse to co-operate in facilitating them. It is earnestly hoped that the hospitals that have no chapels for religious worship and instruction may be supplied with them, and that every possible facility may be afforded to this department of the service. We are satisfied that the order for the provision for religious worship should be peremptory, and that no local officer should be allowed to prevent it. Connected with every hospital is an association of ladies who are engaged in the praiseworthy enterprise of preparing delicacies for the sick and wounded and of ministering to the relief of their sufferings. In the ministration of all such services as they can render, the work of the ladies is performed under the direction of the Surgeon with whom they co-operate in the labor of relief to the patients. We have received by letter and otherwise the warmest approvals and commendations by Surgeons and Chaplains of the invaluable services they are rendering. It is with pleasure that we have observed on every occasion of our visits the marked influence produced by the efforts of the Medical Director, Dr. James Simpson. The blank forms of reports which are filled by the Surgeons of the hospitals daily and sent to his office with such other information as always accompanies them, enables him to judge of the condition and character of each hospital. Should there appear any irregularity, it is promptly corrected. All cases of mismanagement on the part of subordinate officers are investigated and the proper remedy applied. In this labor the Doctor is assisted by the Surgeons in charge of the hospitals who co-operate with him in the most courteous and friendly manner in the discharge of the duties in which their associated labors are required. In occasional visits, the view of the hospital is presented to his personal inspection, and in counsel with the Surgeons of his department a mutual understanding is experienced and a high degree of satisfaction enjoyed in the performance of the arduous and responsible labor of hospital direction. In the pursuit of our work among the hospitals we were put in possession of the following circular, which we read with much pleasure and were rendered most happy in witnessing its effects. In a number, perhaps in all the hospitals the order is read to the subordinate officers and their co-operation is desired in its enforcement. If proper atten. tion be given, such as the circular requires, there must pass through the wards and other departments, such a reforming influence as must be felt throughout the district: MEDICAL DIRECTOR'S OFFICE, MIDDLE DEPT. 8TH A. C. Circular No. 37. From the reports of the several Hospital Chaplains, forwarded through this office, to the Secretary of War, there is good reason to believe that their labor for the religious, and moral instruction of the soldiers, does not meet with proper support from the subordinate Medical Officers connected. with the several hospitals in this Department. Chaplains having been appointed by the President, for the purpose of affording moral and religious instruction to officers and soldiers in the General Hospitals, it is expected that all Medical Officers connected with these institutions will, by precept and example, sustain them in their arduous and responsible duties. It is earnestly urged upon all the Medical Officers in this Department, by their presence to encourage attendance upon divine service, and to use their utmost efforts to suppress profanity and other vices that tend so greatly to degrade the soldier. "The discipline and character of the National forces should not suffer, nor the cause they defend be imperiled, by the profanation of the day, or name of the Most High.' J. SIMPSON, Surgeon U. S. A. Acknowledge receipt. Medical Director. The quotation with which the circular closes, is extracted, we believe, from one of the proclamations of the President of the United States. Whether or not it is original in the proclamation, it discloses the views of that high functionary on the subject, and is sufficient authority for its use throughout the Medical and Religious departments of the army. We have been favored with another order which was issued by Dr. Simpson a few days after the date of our last report. The humanity of the order is apparent, and its effect has been most salutary upon the attendants at the funerals of the deceased. The direction in relation to post-mortem examination is well timed and appropriate. We have had repeated evidences of the good effects of the circular of the Medical Director on the orders of Surgeons and the manner in which they have been carried out in several of the Hospitals. MEDICAL DIRECTOR'S OFFICE, MIDDLE DEPT. 8TH A. C. Circular No. 42. It is eminently proper those dying in General Hospitals in the service of our country should receive that respect due patriot soldiers. Surgeons in charge of hospitals are hereby instructed, that prompt and full notice of the decease of each patient, and the time of burial be given to the Hospital Chaplain, and that the medical officer of the day be present at the funeral exercises, that they may be conducted with proper decorum. When post-mortem examinations become necessary, Surgeons in charge are to be held responsible, that no needless mutilation occur, and that proper care and neatness be observed. J. SIMPSON, Surgeon U. S. A. Medical Director. We now proceed to notice each Hospital in the several relations in which the Commission is laboring in them. Jarvis Hospital. Dr. De Witt Peters, Surgeon in charge. Rev. F. W. Brauns of the Presbyterian Church, Chaplain. Capacity, 1,400. Patients, Sept. 1st, 1864, 1,203. Admitted from Jan. 1st to Sept. 1st, 1864, 3,240. Deaths, same period, 105. Discharged on account of disability, 58. This hospital is situated on the Western extreme of Baltimore street, Baltimore. The place it occupies was formerly the residence of Gen. Geo. H. Stewart. The hospital was sometimes designated by the title of "Stewart's Hospital." The site of the hospital is high and the location one of the healthiest about the city. The barracks, which are wooden houses and tents, are regularly arranged in rows with grass plats and flower beds between. The flowers are cultivated by the convalescing inmates, who appear to enjoy much pleasure in being able to occupy their time in so interesting and instructive an employment. We have visited the always found the best grounds a number of times, and have posssible order prevailing, and all the work of the hospital in performance in the best manner. Pleasant countenances greeted us wherever we went, and there was not apparent to us a single person in the service that was not laboring with cheerfulness and with a seeming desire to afford every possible means of relief to the suffering inmates.. The chapel is a wooden structure that was erected for the exclusive use of the Chaplain. It is only used for other collateral purposes on occasions of emergency. Religious services are regularly held by the Chaplain, the Rev. F. W. Brauns, who is one of the most attentive and faithful of the Chaplains of the army hospitals. Large supplies of books, tracts, religious newspapers, &c., are provided for him at our office, and on the several occasions of our visits we have found them in extensive use by the men. "At the book," said we to a middle aged man as we stopped for a word in passing near the place where he was sitting engaged in reading. "O yes," he returned, "our Chaplain brings us very nice books and papers from the Christian Commission. "And do you like to read them?" we inquired. "We do indeed," was the reply. "We cannot do without them.' "Do all the boys read?" we asked. "Not all, some of them don't care much about reading, but the number is very small. Most of us like to read, and we should be very unhappy if we had no books and papers. I have read several books through, and I always read the newspapers all over." The further conversation held with the man convinced us that he had been greatly benefitted by the chapel services. and the opportunities afforded for improvement by reading. A double agency of good was wrought by the chapel services and the supply of reading matter. The chapel services encouraged him to read, and the reading rendered the chapel services more attractive and profitable. We spoke with a number of the patients on our round, and all bore the same testimony to the labors of the Chaplain and the benefits they received from them. Doubtless the readers of this report will enjoy the same satisfaction that we have received in reading the Chaplain's account of his funeral services. The benefit of such engagements, so systematically and solemnly performed, must be very great. The sight of a departed comrade, an associate perhaps in the loose habits of the camp life or in danger, or a companion in suffering in the hospital must always be more or less impressive, and it must be gratifying to the survivors to assist, as they may be able, in performing the last rites of religion and humanity to the dead. Impressions made on such occasions are beneficial. They must produce temporary and they may occasion lasting interest. Respect for the dead is one of the most grateful, as well as one of the most universal feelings of humanity. It may be abused, however, by neglect, irregularity and carelessness. Such should never be allowed. The dead should always be treated with respect. When the spirit even of the vicious has passed from its earthly tenement, it leaves the form cold in its inanimation and utterly helpless for such ministrations as survivors may be able to perform. The heart of an enemy is sometimes touched and softened by the view of the helpless remains of the once despised object of his hostility. Death is the great canceller of all worldly obligations, and his invasion of the homes of the living ever brings with it the suggestions of the condition to which all must in time be reduced, and of the equality of all in their quiet resting place in the cemetery. But not only towards the dead are the survivors more feelingly disposed. There are heart searchings impelled on such occasions that induce a more tender regard for the living and a desire for the pursuit among them of a less reprehensible and more approved course of life. Altogether the well managed funeral must have a subduing and moralizing effect, while quite the contrary may be the result of the indifferent consignment of the dead to the dust. It would be well if the system pursued by |