Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1895-08-22
THE SHIP SURGEON.
MiLLloNAIRES 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.


orally Worth Having.
The duties of ship surgeon while at sea
a:e combination of those of n doctor and
sanitary inspector. As a 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 or
leaving case. Ii is his duty to attend
with equal devotion and impartiality every
passenger on board thes vessels, without
regard to race, color or tho necessity of
bath. In fact, it 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 be 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, if that is necessary;
watch the food that is prepared for the
crew, the steerago and cabin passengers.
A 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 the screw.
"Once said the surgeon of one of the At
lantic liners, "a young woman asked mo
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 tho
stereotyped answer to it is that they mako
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 Il reasonable explanation, you also arc
enlightened without having exposed your
Ignorance.
All the steerage passengers pass before
the ship surgeon Us they go on board If
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 tho bundle is u child or Il long
loaf of bread. MANY time, F" continued
the surgeon, II have made one of them
open u bundle only TO find it contained
articles of food or clothing. The clothing
is often not up to tho standard of that
cleanliness which stands close to godliness,
but it is not so Objectionable as a child
with scarlet fever. :"
"How is tho berth of surgeon on board
ship obtainedY'
"A man may not be loss than 90 years
DID, though one so young as that is seldom
accepted, the Judgment of tho companies
being that the surgeon, deprived as he Is
of consultation with other doctors, should
have had somewhat considerable actual
practice. Tho doctor applying must, of
course, be graduate from some recognized
and accepted school of medicine. In order
to obtain the position it is well to have a
friend at court. -
"What is the salary?"
''The salary, of course, varies according
to tho vessel the doctor is on. The salary
of q surgeon, even on one of tho finest pas
senger steamers that cross the ocean, is
seemingly small.
"Is there anything behind that seem
ingly?'"
Eyes. Tho actual salary paid by the
company wewill assume to be between $40
month and $40 week. Now, $40 a
month for u professional man, whose edu-
cation has cost him thousands of dollars,
would seem ridiculous. But l can assure
you that If 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.
'The law prohibits ship surgeon from
making out II bill or from naming any spe-
cific price for his services. He is supposed
TO be there for the purpose of serving the
passengers In fact, he must attend the
call Of everybody on board, even the mean
est Neglect of the steerage passengers
charged against ship surgeon, II the com
plant were sent in to the company proper
ly, would certainly be investigated, and If
it should be sustained the doctor would be
dismissed. When he has done his full duty
in the Storage, 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 tho slightest OBJ.
lection on the part of the company If Mr..
Millionaire shows his substantial apprecia.
ton of the doctors skill and gentlemanly
conduct While the position of ship sur
geon on fine passenger steamer is not ex
actly a sinecure, 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 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 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 no will not go. 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 actors for their patients; others
work in the slums and rattle off prescrip-
tions like bullets from repeating ride
At sea, all these classes are attended by
the surgeon. | am afraid that there, as on
land, the doctor frequently fingers tho
longest at the side of the patient from
whom the fattest fee can with reason be
expected. New York Tribune
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PaternaI Advice.
Ben, said the old colored deacon to