Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1905-10-05
The Position Is Not Sinecure, and
the Doctor Must BE n Man of Wide
Attachments and ms Progressive
His Colleagues on shore


With an alacrity born of physi-
clans innate desire to relieve suffer
ing the ship surgeon got into his clothes
and started for the scene of his labors.
The decks were wet with rain and fly
ing spray, and the rolling of the ship
added to the discomforts of perambula-
ton. AS the doctor passed a compan-
ionway leading from the weather side
of the ship a huge wave slapped
against the vessel and sent n torrent
of water through the passage. The
surgeons cap went by the board, and
his oveYcoat was drenched. He was
tempted to be angry, but as his mind
harked back TO other days, when on
cold, wet nights he had driven ten
miles or more over the bleak New
Hampshire hills on errands of mercy.
he congratulated himself ON having the
stanchest of decks under his feet in
stead of being compelled to guide
horse through the murky, impenetrable
darkness.
In n few moments the doctor had
ushered into the world little life, and,
though the vessel rolled and pitched,
causing the hospital TO assume all sorts
of crazy positions at times, he felt
amply repaid for the loss of sleep, for
this tiny boy had by few days es-
capped being born on the soil of a des-
potic European nation.
And this ushered in one of the doc.
tors busy days. No sooner had he
comfortably ensconced himself on his
settee for a nap until the first bugle
call than he was summoned to attend
a sailor who had scalded his leg and
foot while preparing to swab one of
the decks. Before the sailors needs
had been attended to it was breakfast
time. That gave a brief breathing
space.
At 8 o'clock the round of visits COM
menced. In the forward port hospital
a steerage passenger was found to be
i'll with pneumonia, showing tempera-
ture of 104 degrees; steward had
acute nephritis, fireman tonsilitis and
q boy a septic hand, which he had
brought aboard. In the after hospitals,
devoted to women, there were also va
rious cases. A woman taken acutely
and maniacally insane after leaving
port demanded good deal of atten-
tion A young woman with pleurisy,
an old lady with facial neuralgia,
child with laryngitis and another with
a bronchial cold each took up a portion
of the surgeons time.
At 1890 o'clock came inspection. For
an hour the captain, purser, surgeon
and chief steward thoroughly inspected
the ship from stern to stem. Every
part of the vessel, from the first cabin
to the third class and from the saloon
to the firemen's forecastle, was gone
over Matters of ventilation, cleanli-
ness and order were considered, and
nothing which did not meet the appro-
baton of the officers escaped detection.
The thoroughness exercised in this in
spection is such that the stewards
show the greatest vigilance. Neatness,
order and cleanliness have to be en-
forced on shipboard.
After inspection the surgeon made
his cabin calls. Fortunately NAL de
mer and minor ailments were all that
claimed his time. Then followed the
surgery hour, at which twenty-five or
the third cabin passengers and mem
bers of the crew asked for medical ad-
yice The cases were nearly all or
miner nature-coughs, colds, sprains,
cuts and the like. Most of the third
cabin passengers were seaslck, and the
majority were more than willing to lie
in their berths until the gale subsided.
During the afternoon the surgeon
had an opportunity to get a two hour
nap. Then came the evening hospital
calls and at $50 o'clock the evening
surgery hour. At this time it was nee
essary to reduce hernia and to mt
truss. A bad case of varicose ulcer
was treated, and couple of stitches
We're. taken in the scalp of pugna-
iious Irishman who had decried Eng.
lands greatness in the hearing of
loyal Britisher. A fireman overcome by
the, heat in the stokehole and another
afflicted with vertigo ended the labors
pf the surgeon for the night.
, Such was a sample days routine.
Happy. was the medical man when on
reaching port after a busy week. he
was able to land every person on the
ship. Two went to the hospital, but
both were s.out of the woods before
the vessel again turned her PROV home
ward.
Avery general misconception seems
to exist among the medical profession
and indeed among many of the laity,
also as regards the professional attain
ments of surgeons on the transatlantic
steamships. There is a widespread no
ton that to be a ships doctor one need
only have a sTnatteri1fg of medicine, to-
gether With. the vaguest ideas Of sur
gerry, and that, possessing these, man
is amply qualified to watch over the
health of several hundred people among
the passengers and crew of his vessel
In-polnt ofsfact, the average steam
ship surgeon is at least as well quail
fed as the average physician on shore.
Many of them indeed are men of the
highest scientific attainments. The
number of men who would like to go to
sea as surgeons. 81. great that steam,
ship companies mayepiclN and &choosef
among the. abTest of the younger men.
1t is extremely difficult nowadays for
any but an exceptional physician to OBJ
tain a regular berth aboard transat-
lantic liner. =
To secure place as physician on one
OF the ships. it is essential TO liafe had
ample hosiis&al experience. As a rule,
the infringement gives preference to
men who have been in private practice
after completing their hospital work.
All steamships sailing under the Eng
lish flag are required to carry as reg
ular surgeons men who have been
trained in England, Scotland or Ire
land.
The ship surgeon, however he may
devote some OF his time to the ameni-
ties of civilized life, cannot be the So
clal butterfly he is sometimes repre-
sented as being. Indeed, most sur
geoiis .see the passengers only Mt the
table over which they preside and EpcS
SsiQnally onsthe promenade dcck: The