The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-09-05
ARMY AND VAR mrDioAE srnrIcr.
Criticism OF Their Ineniciency by y Dis-
tinRuished English Surgeon.

FTom an Addren bp Or. Alexander Opston before he
british Medical association.
Our Army and Navy Medical services. since
the surgical world was stirred to its depths
thirty years ago by the doctrines of Lister.
have been. fear. gradually falling into a con-
dition that cannot fail to evoke much anxiety
regarding their present and future.
tits moderate and reasonable to expect that
the medical officers OF the army and navy
shall be able efficiently to perform their funo-
lions In time OF peace. and fully be prepared
for the eventualities OF war. Yet no observant
member OF tho profession can have failed to
observe Tint the most talented graduates
nave ceased to aspire to enter the services:
while those medical officers who possess few
years experience OF the services admit they
have made mistake in entering them, and
would gladly. were II possible, sacrifice the
years they have spent in them and quit them
entirely. sven for some comparatively unprom-
Using post in civil life.
Consequently. rear by year the m sdical ser-
Vices, especially that OF the Queens Army,
have become moro attcnuated and under
manned. Oft-repeated experience. over tho
very same ground, has indeed taught us to
conduct. In some respects. the medical part OF
expeditions In the JunRles and swamps OF
West Africa. the deserts OF the Nile or the
ravines OF the Himalayas in way that probably
no other power could excel or even equal. Our
enemies there are poorly armed and our cas-
ualties few. But 1t dare not be inferred from
this that we are In condition to deal with
war against a great power with arms and Or
CARNATIONS at least equal to our own. In which
large numbers OF wounded-thousands instead
OF tens-must be treated.
Their duty in time OF peace affords the army
and navy surgeon. IL Is no evaporation to
say. scarcely any chance OF acquiring tho
knowledge and skill that would be demanded
OF MIN in war. No surgeon can now. as in for
mer days. rise suddenly out OF the ranks OF
those destitute Of special training. however
eminent his natural abilities may be. He who
10 skilled in exercising his profession becomes
30 by many years Of special training No man
who is but theoretically acquainted-bs 1t In
ever SO perfect fashion-with the mere doc
trines Of antiseptlc surgery Is able to stop at
once into tho arena as a practical surgeon.
standard OF work at least equal in excel
lence to that Of the civil surgeon ought to be
expected of army and navy medical officers
Sem OF Chicago. chief operating surgeon
with the United States Army, recently in the
field. and one who has done much for surgery,
points this out
Statistics show that wounds OF the brain.
chest and abdomen form about 20 per
cent. OF all the wounds received in battle
There must therefore. in the next great cam
paiRn. DO an enormous field Of usefulness for
properly-traned antiseptic surgeons. and a
fearful waste OF life II they be not there to oc-
cupy 1t. Yet who that compares the conditions
under which the civil surgeon is formed with
those existing In the Royal Army Medical
Corps or the Navy will be so bold as to say
that the latter furnish any adequate means OF
famiiarizing their surgeons with the highly
complicated and difnoult procedures which
they ought to be able to carry out with dexter
ity and succcss2