Star.
London, England, 1808-03-18 00:00:00

it was declared not to be lmt spoilable, that Phlsi-1
cians to the Army should-have taken a Degree eel
Oxford or Cgnbridge, or that they should have a
llicence tiom the College of Physicians. The fernier
Mfmbers of the Ober& were also directed to continue.
diet,. joint monthly reports on the sick of the army tts
tie Cominan&r to Chief and Secretary at War,' a
to consider, together all Matters which should be
specially referzed to 'theft. Sit Lucas Pepys conceive%
that the Board was constituted in order to prey
partiality or favour in appoiattnents, as themajori .
was to reeornmend ; and in his etamination he says,
that the recommendations of the Board were jet
fact founded on ajoint qpinion of the Merits of the
persons rec ed. And Mr. Keats, states. in kis
examination, that there etas much convenience in three
'wises being put to the recommendation; although
he admits, that the usage at the Board was, to leave
to the Physician General the recommendation of Phy-
sicians, and for the 'Surgeon General and Inspector of
Hospitals to recommend, by turns, the Staff and Rat,
gimental Surgeons. We cannot learn, either from. Sii•
Lucas Pepys or Mr. Keate, the surviving Member.,
of the Board, what were the real reasons which led
to the discontinuance of it; but Mr. Keate conjec-
tures, that it was supposed this• alteration in the sys-
tem might lead to dispatch in-Other matters. They
both agree, however, that no advantage has followed
from the change. Sir Lucas Pepys indeed states,.
that this division of the patronage has been attended
with this disadvantage ; that persons of inferior medis'i
cateducation, (the Deputy Inspectors y, have been`
appointed to situations superseding. the authority
•or
the Physicians. And Mr. Keate, in his Paper, sue'
gesting alterations in the present army. Medical sys.l
tern, states, as one inconvenience arising from the ar.
rangement of 1798, that the recommendation is In"
some eases with one Member of the Board, and the.
responsibility for the conduct of the person so recoms
Mended is with another Member, instancing, in his"
own ;case, that, with the exception of the Staff Sur-
geons,
all the Medical Staff proceeding on foreign ex-1
peditions, as Physicians, Inspectors, Purveyors, Apo-
thecaries, Hospital Mates, &e. are recommended by
the other Members of the Board, although he (Mr.
Keate) is responsible for the selection of them for the
particular services on which they may be employed,
and for their conduct afterwards. And we observe
the same incongruity in the case of the Inspector Ge-
neral, who has the controul over, and is responsible
for the conduct of the Regimental Surgeons and As-
sistants, although these are appointed on the re-
commendation of the Surgeon General.
But the chief inconvenience which has followed from
this division of patronage, and of the responsibility, has
been probably an unnecessary increase of many of the
branches of the establishment, and a mno:i greater ex-
penditure than would otherwise have been incurred.
The information which we have collected justifies, we
think, this conclusion ; and it is scarcely to be doubt-
ed but that the check on each other's conduct, had
the heads of the Army Medical Department conti-
nued to act as a Board, would have been much more
effectual than any apprehended censure from their
Superiors can have been, considering how incompe-
tent any but professional men must in general be to
judge of those peculiar matters individually trans-
acted by the Members of the former Board.
The principals of the Department still regulate
themselves by the directions contained in his Majes-
ty's Warrant. The Physician General does not ap-
pear to have any other duties than those which are
prescribed in it ; and he holds no other public em-
ployment: his pay is now forty shillings per diem.
The Surgeon General states, that his actual du-
ties, in addition to those detailed in his Majesty's
Warrant, are, the formation of iledical Staff for
every foreign expedition ; the due supply and appro.
priation of medicines, Hospital stores, and instru•
meets for the use of the troops employed thereon ;
the issue of directions to the Inspectors and Deputy
Inspectors for the conduct and controul of the Medi-
cal Department attending expeditions, and of specific
instructions to the Purveyors and Apothecaries at-
tached thereto, relative to the charge and expendi-
ture, and to the transmission of regular accounts and
monthly and quarterly returns, which are afterwards
verified, and registered in his office. The future
supply, also, to such expeditions depends on him.
It does not appear to us by what authority Mr.
Keate executes these duties in addition to those enu-
merated in the warrant. Most of them, it seems, had
been executed by him whilst he held the office of In-
spector of Regimental Infirmaries. But from Lord
Amherst's letter to him and to Mr. Gunning, given
in the appendix, we infer that such duties were to have
been jointly executed by them and by the Physician-
General, when such officer should be appointed.—
Whether, however, he-voluntarily, or by agreement
with the other Members of the Board, undertopk these
additional duties, we cannot but remark, that a very
extensive patronage has accompanied the execution of
them.
We find further, that the Surgeon-General has also
the direction of the depots of mcdicines and stores for
home and foreign consumption ; and that he exa-
mines the claims of the medical officers under his con-
pout; for the contingencies of travelling, lodging-
money, &c. and recommends the payment of them •
mid, lastly, that he attends at the Royal College of
Surkeons at the examination of the Hospital Mates.
The pay of the Surgeon General has always been
iotty shillings per diem. Mr. Keate holds the office
also of Surgeon of Chelsea Hospital, the establiebesk
lary of which is one hundred pounds per annual.
,with apartments, coals, and candles ; and an allow-
ance of nine hundred pounds per annum during war,
and seven hundred pounds during peace, instead of
making bills for !Ili services at that Hospital.
The third principal officer of the army Medical
Department is now styled inspector General of ArMY.
Hospitals ; a title which was first used on the appoint.
merit of Mr. Knight, who succeeded Mr. Rush to
1801. He executes the duties prescribed to theliut
apector of regimental hospitals in his Majesty's War.
rant. He registers, as appears from the deM44
statement of his duties given in the Appendix, the
yreekly Hospital Fund arising from the stoppages froth,
:the pay of the men in the Regimental Hospitals
load he gives an half-early statement of the same tti
the War Office. It is a part of his duty also to ar-
range and regulate the establishment of the office iii
London, and to controul the:disbursements -of it... 4
Arid Mr. Knight also states, that he superintends
-..cssienal education of some Medical Cadets, who;
cram Mr. .Knight'sexanahlation,. are I4os-

it appears