Ambulance

Ambulance, properly, a kind of vehicle used for conveying sick or wounded persons to the hospital. The word is often used, however, to designate the medical establishment accompanying an army, or the work performed by such an establishment. The employment of ambulances was not introduced into the army until after the Crimean war, when it was recommended by a commission which was appointed in 1857, and which effected many improvements. In 1877 an association was formed for the training of students outside the army, and lectures were given all over the country, and classes formed for instruction respecting aids to sufferers from accidents.