The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1842-05-17
Eron N. Baltimo re Patriot.
From Me bdItWUTt ut' lo''
NATIONAL IMPORTANCE OF AN U. ..
NAVAL MEDICAL BUREAU.

NAVAL MEDICAL BUREAU.
In obedience to the promise made in oul last mum
ber we 60 to show the great impeachment as
ease nterposes to naval efficiency, as evidenced py
the reports from which we copying They thus
portray the horrors of an unhealthy ship
Scurvy, putrid ulcer, malignant dysentery, and ie
yer, allied to that Of gaols, suddenly swept on .ne
greater portions of many ships crews, and well nigh
depopuated fleets The first OF these diseases alone
has suiced To place well manned vesse a. the nei
cy of the winds and waves Witness LORD hutoh
ship the Centurion, IN lI42 !" ne crew SO "eaheh-
ed by scurvy that only eight men were capable oil 40
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 anchor at Juan fernandez, and she must
have gone adrih in the Pacific Ocean, once hap
Dened TO 81 anish ship in the and under
the same circumstances SO dreadful was 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
coveries the African coast, in search OF India
seems but warrantable hyperboe. Ii the dead,
says he who had been thiown overheard between |
the coast of Guinea and the Cape of Good Hope and
between that Cape and Mozambique, could nave
tomb stones placed for them each the spot where
he sank, the whole way would appear one continued |
cemetery" 6 In large fleets the mortality was not
less frightful than in single ships" Sir Richard
Hawkins, the great navigator, who lived IN the time
of Elizabeth and her successor, relates that In the
course of twenty years, he had known of 10000
seamen number short by only about 1000 OF all who
served in the fleet which conquered the Spanish AT
| mada) having persisted by scurvy alone. his
fearful mortality is not story merely OF the oden
time, for late The year 1850, Sir Gilbert
Blame und that in fleet manned with between 7OOO
and 5000 seamen the mortality had been one IN seven
The preceding year" Enumerang the great improve
ments presented by ships of of the present day,
OF which common to the United States and
British navies and confined to the latter, the
reviewer continues Add these bodily comforts
SO beneficial health the excellent Diet and superior
medical treatment provided for the sick, and the ar
engagements lately adopted for amusing and instructng
the mind, well as the improved discipline and al
mirabe limitations set 10 the caprclous exercise and
abuse of authority and may safely affirm that
ship war, instead of being, formerly, an object
Of AVERSION, cannot fail TO present many attractions
to the seamen, and sure that is by such
engagements these, and not by vain attempt to
compete with the merchant service In the wages Of
ered the sailor that our navy will be manned by
hardy frames and willing spirits, ready now, as here
tofre to brave every danger in defence of the
try which shows itself thus careful of their health
comfort, and improvement.
"The 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
cned remarks" In national point of view, and
as question of finance, the health of the navy is
of the most important which can occupy our atten-
| ton"
elf it be true, as it undoubtedly is, that these i'm
provements in health have alone sufced to double the
effective force of our Nayyto make ship for all
purposes of navigation and warfare, equivalent to
4 two of equal fOrce-to enable vessel to keep the
4 sea for twice thrice the time which was possible
some fifty years ago. If 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 wart-then is it mere waste
! of words to prove that public health is National
| blessing and the neglect of it calamity and
Motives of economy alone must influence government
to spare no exertion by which the health Of our Navy
may be promoted and secured; for it is clear that if
one 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 Butths by
no means represents the whole saving to the Nation
which accrues from such improvements in the health
of our seamen; 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
less But we have not yet exhausted all the argu-
ments which might be urged IN favor of scrupulous
| and watchful care of the health of Navy. 1t is
not merely that our force has been doubled, and our
expenses diminished by more Than 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 apti
| tude for his employment. The preservation Of the
public health is economy in every sense 1t not only
saves money, but it makes it. 1t substitutes for
children, productive for unproductve laborers. 1t
supplies country with its best riches and its cheap
est defence-the arm strong to labor and to fight'
Such is the testimony of one of the most distinguish
ed Medical Journals OF Europe, as to the important
duties and results of properly sustained and efficient
public Medical service. We earnestly call the aen-
ton of all in the Navy out Of it, who take nte
rest in its welfare, to the observations have thus
laid before them, and we would ask, is the arrange
ment and position of the U. S. Naval Medical Corps
at all proportional to its public utility? No one,
statesman naval officer citizen, acquainted with
the subject will for moment assert that it is.
The many and outrageous impropretes existing in
aon 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 of the many utilities of
this. Every precauton is taken to 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 aude to those obser
vatons made and the experience acquired, in the
rous circumstances and climates of their profession
al occupation. The ngle 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 confined to the ndi-
vidual 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 DE
Understandings investigated and properly apprecat-
ed would do much to stimulate observation, and to
into active exeron faculties that might other
wise rest in unproductve languor. The great utility,
indeed the absolute necessity Of professional head
to the Naval Medical Department, renders it mat
ter of great surprise that it has not before this been
constituted, and trust that wise and practical e-
gisation will no longer permit such gripping def
cheney continue and that it WILL in bare Justice,
do something sustain branch of the public service,
f which, without arrogance, claim to have done
something for the public good. r.
sSir Gilbert Blame, Health of Seamen, predatory
discourse.
t Sir Gilbert Blane Health of the Navy.
Il From the NJ o. Advertiser.
,.lo mo hat fhoco ,f fhop, t,n.