The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1842-05-17
From The Baitino re Patriot
NATIONAL IMPORTANCE OF AN u. ..
NAVAL MEDICAL BUREAU.

=
NAVAL MEDICAL BUREAU.
la obedience to the promise made in oul last NUN
Der, we now 90 to show the great impeachment DIS
inlerposes 10 naval efficiency as evidenced by
the reports from which we are copying They thus
portray the horrors Of an unhealthy ship
Scurvy, putrid ulcer, malignant dysenlery, and fe-
ver allied to that Of gaos, suddenly swept off the
greater portions Of many ships crews, and well ngh
depopulaled fleets The first Of these diseases alone
has sufficed to place well manned vessel at the mer-
cy Of the winds and waves. Witness Lord Auron
ship, the Centurion, IN l742. The SO weaken
ell by scuryy that only eight men were capable oil do
ing duty and these reduced in health that had the
ship been compelled TO keep the sea very few days
longer would not have been possible to have brought
her ID an anchor at Juan Fernandez, and she must
have gone adra in the Pacific Ocean, as hap
pened 10 81 anish ship, in the same and under
the same clicumstances."+ So dreadful the
mortality at sea- from this one cause alone that the
description given by Portuguese historian OF the
early expeditions of hat nation, in pushing their dis
coveres on the African coast, in search of India,
seems but warranlable hyperbole. If the dead,
says he who had been thrown overheard between
the coast Of Guinea and the Cape of Good Hope, and
between that Cape and Mozambique, could have
COMMISSIONERS placed for them each on the spot where
he sank the whole way would appear one continued
cemetery" g In large fleets, the mortality was not
less frshtful than in single ships" "Sir Richard
Hawkins the great navigator, WHIP lived in the time
of Elizabeth and her successor relates that in the
course Of twenty years. he "had known of 10000
seamen Ga number short by only about 1000 of all who
served in the fleet which conquered the Spanish Ar
mada) having persisted by scuryy alone" "This
fearful mortality is not story merely OF the oden
time, for late the year 1850, Sir Gilbert
Blame found that in feet manned with between 1000
and 5000 seamen the mortality had been one IN seven
the preceding year" Enumeratng the great improve
menls presented by ships of warof the present day,
Of which are common TO the United States and
British navies, and some confined TO the latter, the
reviewer continues" Add To these bodily comforts
SO beneficial health the excellent Diet and superior
medical treatment provided for the sick and the
rangemcnts lately adopted for amusing and insructipg
the mind, we'll as the improved discipline and ad.
mrable limitations set 10 the caprcious exercise and
abuse Of authority; and We may safely affirm that
shipof war; instead OF being, 70 mery, object
OF aversion, cannot fail TO present many attractions
to the seamen and sure we that il is by such
engagements these, and not by vain attempt to
compete with the merchant service in the wages of
tered to the sailor, that navy will be manned by
hardy frames and willing spirits, ready now, here
tofore TO brave every danger in defence of the
Try which shows itself thus careful OF their health,
comfort, and Improvement.
sThe success which has attended these well direct
ed attempts TO preserve and improve the health of
our seamen is too well known to require any length
oned remarks" g In national point of view, and
as leston of finance the health of the navy is
of the most important which can occupy our atten-
tion"
eff it be true, it undoubtedly is that these i'm
proyements in health ave alone suiced to double the
effective force Of our Navy-to make ship for all
purposes of navigation and warfare, equivalent to
two of equal force--to enable vessel to keep the
for twice or thrice the time which was possible
fifty years ago. Fit be true, that at the old rate
of mortality all Europe could not have furnished the
seamen necessary for our defence and safety during
the great revolutionary warf-then is it mere waste
Of words to prove that public health is National
blessing, and the neglect of 1t calamity and curse.
Motives of economy alone must influence government
spare no exerton by which the health of our Navy
may be promoted and secured for il is clear that if
one man can be made to do the work OF two the ex-
pense of one man must be saved and this unit be
multiplied, by the number of men actually employed
in our Navy, we have product which can scarcely
fail to strike the mind of the economist But this by
no means represents the whole saving to the Nation
which accrues from such improvements in the health
of our seamen we must add to this all the expense
formerly incurred in raising men to supply the place
of those whom disease had cut off or rendered use
less. But we have not yet exhausted all the argu-
ments which might be urged IN favor of scrupulous
and watchfu care of the health Of our Navy. 1t is
not merely that our force has been doubled and our
expenses diminished by more than a half, but each
individual employed must be made more effective by
having his health carefully preserved to him, and his
life prolonged to gain increased experience and ap-
tude for his employment The preservation Of the
public health is economy in every sense 1t not only
saves money but il makes it, 1t substitutes men for
children, productive for unproductve laborers. It
supplies country with its best riches and its cheap
est defence---the strong to labor and to fight
Such the testimony of one of the distinguish
ed Medical Journals of Europe, to the important
duties and results of properly sustained and efficient
public Medical service. We earnestly call the aten.
ton of all in the Navy out of it, who take an into
rest in its welfare, to the observations have thus
laid before them, and would ask is the arrange
ment and position of the u. 5. Naval Medical Corps
at all proportioned to its public utility No one, |
naval officer or Citizen acquainted with
the subject, will for moment assert that il il.
The many and outrageous improprietes existing in
laton to that corps cannot be more than alluded to in
this article and shall conne ourselves to the great
defect arising from the want of Medical Burea and
we shall only point out one of the many utilities of
this Every precaution is taken to secure competent
members for the Naval Medical Service, but for want
of professional head, large portion Of the vaua
BILE services of each is lost-we alude to those obser
vatons made and the experience acquired, in the va
rious circumstances and climates of their profession
al occupation. The single observations of individuals
if collected by properly constituted department,
would form an amount of information, not only use
full to the service, but to the public at large Talents
and requirements which now are confined to the ind
vdual possessing them, would accumulate their fruits
in the common store-house for the general good and
the fact of having official head to which the results
of experience might be communicated, and sugges- |
tons made with the knowledge that they would be
investigated and properly appreeia
ed, would do much to stimulate observation, and to
arouse into active exeron faculties that might other
wise rest in unproductye languor The great utility,
indeed the absolute necessity Of some professional head
to the Naval Medical Department, renders it mat
ter of great surprise that it has not before this been
constituted, and we trust that wise and practical le
gislation will no longer permit such Gripping def
cheney to continue, and that it will, in bare Justice,
do something to sustain branch of the public service
which, without arrogance, claim to have done
something for the public good. r.
Sir Gilbert Blame, Health of Seamen, predatory
discourse.
Sir Gilbert Blame, Health Of the Navy.
From the NJ o. advertiser.
The people in Congress, that is, those of them THAI
ire the friends of Mr.. CLAY were at last dates not