Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1895-08-22
THE SHIP SURGEON.
MlLlloNAlRES AND PEASANTS ARE HIS
PATIENTS.

He Is an Information Bureau For Passen-
gers-His salary Is Not Large. but There
Are Perquisites That Make the Job Gen.
orally Worth Having.
The duties of ship surgeon while at sea
are a combination of those of doctor and
a sanitary inspector. AS IA physician he
Is thrown completely and entirely upon
his own resources. He has no one to con-
suit in case of doubt or anxiety on his
part He has no option about taking OF
leaving n case. 1t is his duty TO attend
with equal devotion and impartiality every
passenger on board the vessels, without
regard to race, color or the necessity of
bath. In fact, il is most obligatory for him
to minister TO the steerage passengers, for
there are usually one or more doctors In
the first and second cabins, especially in
summer, who can DO called upon for their
fellow travellers in emergency cases.
AS a health officer he must visit every
part of the ship to see that everything is
clean; disinfect, IL that Is necessary;
watch the food that is prepared for the
crew, the stcerage and cabin passengers.
ship surgeon Is generally supposed by
the passengers TO know everything about
the vessels from the height of the mast to
the number of revolutions of tho screw.
"Once, said the surgeon of one Of the At
lantic liners, "a young woman asked me
what they did with the ashes. You smile,
but that is by no means an unusual ques-
ton. 1t is SO common, in fact, that the
stereotyped answer to IL Is that they make
the coal beavers eat the ashes. People at
sea ask all sorts of silly questions, to the
disgust, annoyance and amusement OF the
officers. The best plan when you are at
sea is to keep your eyes and ears open and
your mouth shut Just have little pa
thence. Some other inquiring mind will
ask the question you have on your tongues
end. If he gets snubbed by your golden
silence you have saved yourself that. If he
gets reasonable explanation, you also are
enlightened without having exposed your
ignorance.
All the Storage passengers pass before
the ship surgeon rs they go on board It
there is any just cause why they should
not be taken, they are sent back. When
they go on board, they frequently carry
their babies done up in shawls-head, eyes
and ears covered up, until one cannot tell
whether the bundle is a child or a long
loaf of bread MANY time, F" continued
the surgeon ~ have made one of them
open a bundle oniy TO find it contained
articles of food or clothing. The clothing
is often not up TO the standard of that
cleanliness which stands close to godliness
but it is not so Objectionable as child
with scarlet fever.
Chow is the berth of surgeon on board
a ship obtainedY'
"A man may not be less than 90 years
old though one so young as that Is seldom
accepted, the Judgment of the companies
being that the surgeon, deprived as he is
of consultation with other doctors, should
have had a somewhat considerable actual
practice The doctor applying must, of
course be a graduate from some recognized
and accepted school of medicine. In order
to obtain the position it is well to have
friend at court.
"What is the salary?"
Tho salary, of course, varies according
to the vessel tho doctor is on. The salary
OF surgeon, even on one of the finest pas
senger steamers that cross the ocean, Is
seemingly small.
us there anything behind that seem
inglyY"
Eyes. The actual salary paid by the
company wewill assume to 30 between $40
a month and $40 week. Now, $40 q
month for professional man, whose edu-
cation has cost him thousands Of dollars,
would seem ridiculous. But can assure
you that il a surgeon on some of those pa
latial ocean steamers only got salary of
$40 year neither he nor his family need
go hungry or out at the elbows
1.-THE law prohibits a ship surgeon from
making out bill or from naming any spe-
cific price for his services He is supposed
to be there for the purpose of serving the
| Tn ba attanI 10
call of everybody on board, even the mean
est. Neglect of the steerage passengers
charged against ship surgeon, If the com
plant were sent in to the company proper
| ly, would certainly be investigated, and IL
it should be sustained the doctor would be
dismissed When he has done his full duty
| in the steerage there is no law against his
| being very kind and thoughtful and atten-
tive to Mr. and Mrs Millionaire in the
! first cabin, nor Is there the slightest OBJ
| lection on the part of the company If Mr..
| Millionaire shows his substantial appreca
ton of the doctors skill and gentlemanly
conduct While the position of ship sur
| geon on a fine passenger steamer Is not ex-
! actly sinccure, and there are other things
than signing the pay roll TO do, the man
who holds such place need not ask his
pastor at home To take up a collection for
his suffering family Nor is this substan-
tial recognition by any means confined to
the first cabin. 1t is quite universal in the
second cabin, with n sporadic case here
and there in the Storage.
"No doctor on land has, in a social point
of view, patients who represent SO many
grades of society as those who come under
the care of ship surgeon. When young
man on land first sets up his sign as an NJ.
d., he has generally some idea as to the
social stratum from which his patients are
to come, some fixed principle, some limit
beyond which he will not 40. Some doc
tors wish TO practice only among the very
wealthy; some prefer the respectable mid
die class; some wish to have principally
singers and acters for their patients; others
work In the sluns and rattle off prescrip-
tions like bullets from n repeating rifle.
At sea, all these classes are attended by
the surgeon. | am afraid that there as on
land, the doctor frequently fingers the
longest at the side of the patient from
whom the latest fee can with reason be
expected. Now York Tribune.