In each of the six beds in the ward a different activity is taking place. On the left side, a man is being lifted from a stretcher on to the near bed, in the middle bed a man receives a chamber pot from an orderly, and in the furthest bed a man lying prone has bandages removed from his back by a surgeon. On the right side, the furthest patient is being fed, in the middle a surgeon performs an operation on the thigh of a wounded soldier, and in the near bed is a man whose breeches are being cut open with scissors by a female nurse to expose a thigh wound. He cries aloud and clasps his hands, in pain or prayer or both.