The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-06-26
PATRIOTISM OF SURGEONS.
Practitioners Who Give Up Large Incomes to Serve
Uncle Sam.

ST made $4,000 in my practice last
year. said a surgeon not much past 80
| a few days ago, and they offer me a
place in the army now which will pay me
| just $500 The name of this successful
New York operator has not yet appeared
! in the list of appointments given out in
Washington, but it is likely to do so when
| the second call volunteers are mustered
in.
The successful surgeon is not likely to
/ be fiattered by the offer of any position
in the United States army which can be
given to him. yet there are dozens of sur
! geons among the recent volunteers who
have gone into the service knowing that
! it meant the loss of fve-SiXthS of their in
come during the time they remained in
| the army. Such eminent specialists as
DR.. Nicholas Sem of Chicago and
DR.. John GuiteraS of Philadelphia are
now serving their country, in uniform
with the rank and modest emoluments of
surgical officers. Many others of more
or less note all over the country have
sacrificed incomes two or three times as
great as they will receive in the army,
and have run the risk of injury to their
practices in order to serve in the present
war In fact Uncle Sans surgical SER
vice can claim the highest attainments
in several special lines likely 10 prove
THE Importance of having the highest
professional skill available in behalf of
the wounded may be judged. says Sur
geon General Sternberg, from the fact
that in the civil war for every eleven men
killed in battle seven died of their
wounds or died in hospitals, according
skillful operators should make it posi-
bic for us to improve on that record in
this war
ARMY EXPERIENCE.
Another consideration. aside from pat
riotism, that may have had an influence
in bringing some eminent practitioners
into the service is the opportunity for val
liable experience. This may have been
of weight in the case of DR.. Sem, who
is now in charge of the medical depart
ment at Camp Thomas.
1t is precisely in operations for gunShot
wounds and especially for those wounds
of the abdomen which were conceded 70
be fatal in the war of 1862 that DR.. Sem
has made his most interesting discover
les. Little known in the east outside of
his profession, he is one of the most pop
ular surgeons in Chicago and in MilWau-
l1ee, where he made a reputation before
his removal to the western metropolis.
Some of DR.. Senn's friends say that it is
due mainly to his influence that Mrs. L.
7. Letter of Chicago has purchased the
Chickamauga Park hotel, at Crawfish
Springs. and offered it TO the war depart
ment to be used as a general hospital.
The gift is to be commemorated In the
Hospital" bestowed on the only institu-
ton of its kind in the country. Some
magnificent demonstrations perhaps dis
coveries in the surgery of .gunshot
before the close of the war.
1t is probable that DR.. Sem received
from his private practice not less than
ten times what his pay in the service will
be. Twenty times might come nearer to
the correct figures. This is certainly no
light sacrifice for a professional man to
make.
DR.. Sem was at one time surgeon gen.
eral of the Wisconsin National Guard and
while in that position he conceived the |
idea of organizing the Association of Mil |
iatry Surgeons of the United States. The |
society was formed in 1891. and DR.. Sem !
became its president. The association !
has been of valuable service in furnish |
ing men to the government in the pres |
ent war and is likely to grow far beyond |
its original plans.
GRADES OF ARMY SURGEONS.
The chief surgical officer of the United |
States. Brigadier General Sternberg. is a |
physician of high attachments and an |
investigator of orinality- and daring in the |
obScurer germ diseases. DR.. Sternberg'S |
researches in the bacteriolOgy of pneu- |
monia have attracted great attention in !
the profession. On account of the pro-
feSSlonal standing which he has given the /
army service many an ambitious young
surgeon is glad to serve under him even
If he does have to sacrifice nine-tenths of
his income for the sakA of the country.
Next to the surgeon general Games, in
the medical department. the assistant
surgeon general, who has the rank and
pay of a colonel in the army. The incum-
bent. Colonel Greenleaf. is now with Gen
eral Miles. The next grade is the deputy
surgeon general with the rank of lieu
tenant colonel There are ten deputy
surgeon generals in the regular service.
and seven have recently been appointed
n the volunteer service with the title
IF chief surgeon and the rank of lieu
enant colonel. 1t is to this grade that
DR.. Sem has been appointed.
The next grade is that of surgeon. with
he rank of major; there are 50 of these
n the regular service. Their pay is
800 per year. 1t is this position which
he New Yorker quoted at the beginning
# this article had reference to, and which
many other young surgeons have ac-
epted in spite of the loss of from two to
en- times that sum in yearly income and
he prospect of much personal discom-
ort.
A large number of such appointments
ave been made in the volunteer service.
he mer have the rank of '-chief sur
cons" and serve as chiefs with divisions
Every regiment of the regulars has a
urgeOn with the rank and pay of major
ext below them are the assistant sur
cons. the lowest grade in the depart