omes
your solemn duty to tender it.

The sufferings of this war are indeed vast beyond all comprehension. Is
not there danger that this very fact may lead us to add to that
suffering without need?

"ROTTING AWAY."

In a pathetic appeal to be given work the men at one internment camp
here said, "We are simply rotting away." And others say, "The people
outside do not understand." Loss, heartache, privation, stagnation,
friction, stupid and malicious gossip, mental and moral
deterioration--"rotting away." This disintegration of personality, the
gradual rotting of the man's selfhood, is perhaps, clearly envisaged, as
great a horror as war can bring. It is not the result of deliberate
cruelty, but simply of conditions most of which are inevitable if there
is to be internment at all.

A REPORT ON KNOCKALOE.

The reports available on our own internment camps do not go back beyond
March, 1916.[29] It is perhaps well to remind ourselves that even by
May, 1916, there were still defects. Thus in the American Report of May
18, 1916, on Knockaloe, we read: "The huts are being put in good
weather-proof condition, and are being protected against the wind and
rain by felt and tarred paper."[30] As to sanitation, "There have been
improvements in the sanitary arrangements since our last visit." "In the
hospital in Camp IV. there is now being built a recreation room, where
convalescents may sit, which will give more room for the patients; also
a special sink has been provided for washing the hospital utensils, and
new latrines have been installed. They seem to be at work at this
hospital to improve its condition. As Camp IV. has the largest number of
older men interned, this hospital has more patients than others, and
seemed rather crowded at the time of our visit." "In the isolation
hospital we found only one bath and one tap for all the patients who are
suffering from various sorts of contagious diseases. We took this matter
up with the proper authorities, who assured us that it should have their
attention. The sanitary arrangements in all the hospitals might be
improved, except possibly in Camp I." "There were complaints about the
hospital treatment, particularly of the care of the eyes, ears and
teeth, for which the interned men claimed that there was not sufficient
opportunity for special treatment."

These last complaints are curiously parallel to some made at Ruhleben.
[See Miscel. No. 3 (1916) pp. 3, 15, 16.]

"T