Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1905-05-24
THE SHIPS SURGEON.
RusY TIME ON BOARD A
TRANS. ATLANTIC LINER,
TIE POSITION is NOT A sISEcuRE, AND
THE DOCTOR MUST BE A MAN OF
WIDE ATTArNMENTs AND
PROGRESSIVE.

d woman in the port aft hospital
,vho is much IN need Of your services,
air. was the salutation Of the third
cabin steward as he awakened the ship
surgeon from comfortable sleep and
snolled a delightful dream concerning
nautical elysum where people were
meyer III and where ship surgeons were
allowed to sleep uninterruptedly each
night
II WAS o'clock on IA miserable morn
tng \ heavy gale from the northeast
had blown steadily for thirty hours,
Kicking UP a nasty sea. Despite the
great length of the ocean greyhound.
she plunged about I'm the turbulent wa
Ter like some frightened monster Her
enormous head plowed through the
mighty waves and sent mountains of
spray dying to the very stern.
with an alacrity born OF physi
eians 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-
ZION. As the doctor passed a compan-
tonway leading from the weather side
Of the ship huge wave slapped
against the vessel and sent n torrent
of water through the passage. The
surgeons cap went by the board. and
his overcoat was drenehed. 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 n
horse through the murky, impenetrable
darkness.
In a 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 u few days es-
capped being born on the soil of 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 1t was breakfast
time That gave a brief breathing
space.
At o o'clock the round of visits COM
menced. In the forward port hospital
steeragc passenger was found to he
Ill with pneumonia. showing temporal
ture of l04 degrees; a steward had
acute nephritis, fireman tonsilitis and
a boy 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 a good deal of atten-
ton A young woman with pleurisy,
an old lady with facial neuralgia,
child with laryngitis and another with
a bronchial cold each took up 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
10 the flremens forecastle was gone
over. Matters OF ventilation. cleanli-
ness and order were considered, and
nothing which did not meet the appro-
batlon Of the officers escaped detection.
The thoroughness exercised in this III
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 OF
the third cabin passengers ana mem
bers of the crew asked for medical ad-
vice. The cases we're nearly all OF
minor nature-coughs. colds. sprains'
cuts and the like Most of the third
cabin passengers We're s-easick, and the
majority We're more than willing TO lie
III thelr berths until the gale supslueu'
During the afternoon the surgeon
had an opportunity to get two hour
nap. Then came the evening hospital
calls and at $50 o'clock the evening
surgery hour. At this time II was nee
essary to reduce hernia and to fit a
truss. A bad case of varicose ulcer
was treated. and a couple of stitches
Yer sag~ oil, In of mn A.
eious Irishman who had decried Eng
lands greatness in the hearing of a
loyal Britisher. A fireman overcome by
the heat in the stokehole and another
afflicted with vertigo ended the labors
OF the surgeon for the night.
Such was sample days routine.
Happy was the medical man when on
reaching port after a busy week he