The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1885-05-09
THE SEA DOCTOR.
Duties and Trials of Steamship Physi-
cisn-His Petty Responsibilities.

Duties and Trials of Steamship Physi-
cisn-His Petty Responsibilities.
The duties of steamship doctors are
tar more onerous than is generally sup
posed. Upon these jealous and pains
taking officials fall o hundred petty
cares of which the passengers know
nothing. To mention at once one of his
most disagreeable duties: the ventila-
ton and disinfecting of the ship is al
carried on under the doctors directions,
aud in rough weather he is sometimes
obliged to issue formal orders to steer
age passengers to leave their poorly
lighted hunks below to come up into
the keen air and the dashing spray. In
rare cases, force has actually to be en-
ployed to make people leave their beds;
there are ominous threatenings and
gruntings, but returning health makes
the recalcitrant patients ashamed of
their obstinacy. Indeed the saloon pas
sengers are now and then more refrac-
tory than the humble denizens of tho
steerage The doctor and the purser
too, together share the burden of the
innumerable questions hurled at the
Captain by the passengers. Ten thou
sand demands concerning everything,
from the science of navigation to the
prospects of safe and speedy arrival,
are heaped upon the unusually good ma
tured trio of officials, every one of whom
has probably been asked each question
at least hundred times before Even
when the passage from port to port is
tious medical officer to do; but when the
rough gales swoop down on the Allan
tic the labor is quite trying.
''In the midst of terrible cyclone,
some years ago." recently said a
veteran sea doctor to the writer, when
the good ship literally stood on her
beam ends, and when it seemed as il
she would be swept away into the abyss,
l suddenly felt the qualms of sea sick
ness creeping over me. 1t was the first
time l had been thus affected for many
years, but they were none the less ter
rible, and / felt like crawling into my
room and resigning myself to them.
Just as | was about to do this was told
tildt u sdllOl tfiO lOitCdStIc utu Que
of his legs broken, and / was COM
PEELED to go to him and summon all
my skill and nerve for difficult case
of surgical practice. Scarcely had ]
finished this exhausting work when
another sailor on deck was nearly
killed, and had to spend the rest OF
the day over him. Before l had finished
the second operation l had quite for
gotten my own illness"
Sometimes, despite the elaborate pre-
cautions taken by the agents of steam
ship companies in shipping passengers,
the doctor awakens after the voyage is
begun to the horrible consciousness
that he is face to face with an infec-
tious disease. which may spread
throughout the ship and result in
destroying the reputation of the line
He sets to work to isolate the people
who are i'll. If smallpox is the dis
order, he persuades every one except
the sick that it is nothing of the kind,
and in the meantime takes extra
ordinary pains to get the sufferers out
of sight. He extemporizes a hospital,
and places trusty attendant in charge;
he issues orders that no cabin passen-
gers shall be allowed to visit the steer
age, and that no occupant of the steer
age shall appear on the saloon decks.
He deluges every hole and corner with
disinfectants, and when asked by pas
sengers why it is done, answers that
lone can never be too careful at sea"
If patient dies of smallpox he is
buried at midnight. or at an hour in the
morning when it is believed that all the
passengers are profoundly asleep.
'Do you meet much with diphtheria
on your voyagesp" the writer inquired
of the doctor above referred to-
''Why, yes, lots of it, and it is ques-
ton which is the worse of the two on
board ship, smallpox or diphtheria.
Only few weeks ago, while on the voy-
age to England, a mother in the steer
age sent for me, and when l went to
her, implored me on her knees to save
her two children from the perils Of
diph liberia, with which they seemed
threatened. %, DOCTOR she said, sob
bing as if her heart would break, 'diph-
liberia has robbed me of every near rel
alive have in this world except these
two children. My husband and three
of my babes died of it, and now it has
come again. Well, sir, bless my heart!
worked over those children as have
rarely worked before or since. But the
disease had certainly declared itself on
board, and although l took every pre-
caution, one of the children died be-
fore reaching port and the other in a
hotel in Liverpool The mother re-
signed herself solemnly to her great
grief. She said that when they were
taken i'll she knew they would not re-
cover. "-Brooklyn Ea6ie.