The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-26 00:00:00

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From- Vie flagrant iejuitice shown to arm-y
surgeons after the Crimean war, it cannot bo
wondered at that Surg on-, bona fide Surgeons,
cannot be got for a war, as yet not of ten months'
duration. To induce them to go to the Crimea
!hey were given 401. towards an on fit, which they
were made to -refund immediately after the pence.
The Royal w, rri.nt, granting increased pay slid
tank, and abolishing antiquated and musty regula-
tions, drawn up and alwost signed, was rejected
the m:nuent the peace was prod timed.
They were put on halt-pay in indecent haste,
and iu the .most summary and utijnst mann'r; and
ih,.se who were kept on full-pay were made to do-
double work ; six weeks' I•ave to men Who worked
their lives and souls out in the deadly hospitals of
the East ! This was unfair treatment to a class
of officers who left 70 of their number in the ceme-
teries of the East—victims of their unceasing devo-
tion. It is undeniable tlret there is an amount of
ditemzan- and d'ssaii4actionin the breast of every
Military Surgedus, the e.O .-s of which ought in
fai ne,s towards them t) be rem,,ved.
Th,re ate. no Jules for promotion, for home
or foreign service, for pensiot s or allotn eat of
stations, (kc., dit.c. A thau may be k, pt in exile
all his life ; he may he ordered abroad, although
there are 20 of his glade much long,r at home,
and complaint is unavailing ; he rare or 4~
gets leave, even fitr a day ; he is always in bar-
nesi ; his position as Surgeon of a regiment is
most unsatisfactory, for if he discharge his
duty, he is at constant war with his colonel. He is
supposed to look with assiduity to the preservation
of the health of the men in his medical charge, and
yet his rec 'mm ndations can be put aside by the
officer commanding, in the orderly room basket,
as so much waste paper. If a surgeon wish to keep
on friendly tt ruts with the camel, who is to write
the confidential report on his conduct, the sooner
ha puts all ideas of military hygiene into one of his
pill-boxes the batter ; consequ,ntly a surgeon either
becomes listless and indifferent about adopting na a-
sures for the preservation of the health of the men,
or is bullied out of the regiment if he uphold his
position with dignity, and discharges his duties in a
scrupulous, conFeieutiout manner, by keeling a con-"
stan supervision-over the health of his men, and re-
per .ing anything which he considers detrimental to
!J. • •

Finally, when promoted to be surgeon,. be has to
setve in Cut, rank for two years on the pay of an
asistant-surgeon—an i,just ice which is apparent to
every one. Tht:se and a le4ion of o- her acts of
stupid inj us prevent men of statuA from entering
the army as surgeons. It is an undeniable fact that
the state is a loser by not having the medical charge
of regimebt3 in the han is of scientific, able, and
independent mi'itary surgeons..-I remain, Lec.,
Calcutta, MILITARY SURGEON.
4th April, .1858.

r nch of the service, which appt ared rotten in tbe
PAPER
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MILITARY SURGEON \C:','',4;:k=l: !,.i t '''
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TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN..
.R,—May I ask, through-your paper, Whhlliaall. S
- done for the. improvement of the medical esfa-
ihment of the British army? Tbis question 7
mid interest every' one having friends or rela-
ms in that army. It would be shortsightedness to
gard it is a mere personal matter affecting inili-
.lry surgeons. • This Important branch of the ser-
i.e has been neglected in a most shameful and
tidal manner. Attention has been paid to every
.-1 imea, except the medical department, which I
~
b ieve was the most rotten of all. •
xecutive officers have ' now a staff college, •sol-
difrs have good schools, but. what means of improve-
ment are offered ta the military surg, on ? What
stays have been taken to prevent it being leas rot-
ten in a second war ?
?from the peeress to the huMblest mother, it is a
matter of deep concern that her distant son, when
lying on a bloody field, or, far w, rse, stricken down
by.a deadly climate, should be, cared for skilfully
and assiduously.
Military surgeons are • kept ten 'and even
fifzeen years in colonies, where they have no
opportunities of keeping up, much less improv_
ing, their professional knowledge, awl the Go. .
vernment have the blindness or the parsimony
to send these officers into the field to discharge re.
spOnsiblecluties, and perform serious operations in
Military Surgery—gives him the charge of perhaps
1,000 brave tro-ps, t) prevent, alleviate, and -
cure their maladies. It is a crying shame and a
gross injustice to the troops, from the general to
the private, to place valuable lives in the hands of
a man who has been, for the last ten years of his
life,, vegetating in the back woods of Australia,
Canada, or the Cape. Can this surgeon be au
courant with all the improvements and discoveriei
in the progressive sciences of medicine and sur-
gery? Is he fit to take charge of a thousand men in
the flail 1 Decidedly not.
It his been well said that "of all pretending
fools, t! e ignorant physician is the greatest ," but
what shall we say of the ignorant surgeon ? It would
confer a great benefit or, the army.if the subject of
the edu:ation of military surgeons, and the oppor-
turiiLics and inducementi offered them for being
thorough good surgeons were brought before the
public, I do not say Parliament, for it has been de-
cided by a' Select Committee that the medical
b anCh of the army is in a di=graceful s!ate of back-
warclne,,s. It is hoped by every officer and man in
the service, that some high-minded advocate of
army reform will cause due consideration to be
given to this grave subject; the serv:ces of the no-
ble and chivalrous Stafford are not forgotten.
The Secretary for War stated in Parliament that
the Medical Department required complete reorga-
nisation, and. that_ the claims of medical officers
would receive every attention. H. R. 11. the Duke
of Cambridge, in his impartial evidence before a
Select Conmittee of the_Rouse of Comm ms, that
terminated in
.July, 1856, stated his decided opi-
nions on the advisabitity of granting higher rela-
tive rank to surgeons. Sir Da Lacy Evans fully
coincided -in that opinion, and passed an eulogium
on medical t.ffLers which will not be forgotten by
them. Many distinguished military atithorities
stated that the position of military surgeons should
be improved in every respect, so as to induce men
of science and ability to enter the service.
It is a melancholy thing to see what stratagems
the Director-Genet al is obliged to adopt in order
to procure some kind of surg'c .1 attendance f. r the
army i writing to the different colleges, hospitals,
and d:spenisaries, begging for students, to matter
how junior, offering them commissions it th-y pass
a farce of an examination ; getting tl.e Colleges of
Surgeons to reduce their curriculum to the lowest
p ,Fsible standard, and wishing the professors to
tuff up to-the students the ad van tag,:s of entering
the a my.