- Email: [email protected]
THE LUNACY BILL, 1887.
903 mine of instruction and
method-rank ; and experience has now shown that this system carried out to its logical conclusions contains scarcely experience be over-estimated. The simple fact is that in depart- elements of the greatest value to the Army, State, and even every of material I, also to the medical profession. It entails ultra-professional ment of the hospital there is always a plethora for teaching purposes, and the veriest glutton, hungering duties, and necessitates a designation embracing them ; and thirsting after knowledge, can only partake of a portion ’, but the latter need not disturb our peace of mind, as it already exists in three of our present grades. of what is daily set before him. So much for surgical work only. Possibly, with your Moreover, in a department complete in itself, some of us may at another time think we see an escape from the blot, which you so permission, some further information be given as regards our clinical opportunities in other forcibly put forward in your issue of the 23rd instant-departments. The present instalment will, however, demon- award of honours for service centred in the military head ; strate on what substantial grounds we may contest the and you do us a kindness in giving it prominence. To speak claim adduced on behalf of the metropolitan schools. plainly, it is nothing short of a disgrace, it saps all loyal I am, Sirs, yours truly, feeling towards our departmental superiors, it stifles the JAMES HARDIE. growth of all professional culture and progress. But will not unity, strength,and proper recognition of us as militarymedical officers performing multiform duties carry also THE MEDICAL STAFF AND RANK. and due authority and influence of our head proper To the Editors of THE LANCET.
assistant-surgeons, is, indeed, to the
a
student, of which the value
can
,
among
the other heads of the army
sections,
and
a
SIRS,—Mychief reason fornow addressing you isthe under- dominant (if not sole) influence in the internal economy the department, including promotion as well as rewards? lying inference of your recent annotations and the letter of of and will not division of our present work into professional and a recent correspondent that the medical staff in asking for professional, with outside men and officers to carry on rank is departing from its proper status as a professional body; ultrathe latter, by so much deprive us of weight in the military and if you will allow me, I will try to make our views (or, at sphere, and equally reduce the influence of our head on the least, those of a section) plain. The question is admittedly points mentioned ? The present blots are relics of the
not one of personal likes or dislikes, but rather what is necessary to honestly and efficiently carry out the duties entrusted to us. In itself we care nothing for military rank, and to anyone so inclined it can be reached through the ordinary portal for the combatant officer far easier and with less expenditure of brains and money than through the doubtful and indirect mazes of the medical staff; it is not that we regard our profession as secondary to any other, but rather that, valuing it highly, and seeing how, in developing, its threads ramify through all the segments of the military machine, we desire reasonable freedom and a defined position for ourlabours. There are many among the older members (and I am myself among the number) who viewed with personal dislike departures ultra-professional taken step by step, until now we have work to do identical with that of the combatant officer; but we cannot but acknowledge that this is the normal sequel of unification, and the logical and necessary outcome of our present duties is rank. If anyone suppose that, as at present placed, we are merely medical men charged with care of sick, let him run his eye over the medical regulations of the army detailing also sanitary work, charge of command of Medical Staff CJrps, which embraces duties as essentially military as any that a combatant officer These are the duties which can be called upon to do. during peace, and doubly so during war, call for a defined status for the responsible individual; one not liable to disturbance through the jealousies of the combatant ranks, or by personal interpretations of orders and warrants, and whittlings and twistings to meet a given end. It was utter absence of all trust and faith in the acts of the military towards the medical staff which constituted the motive power in the recent outcry over relative rank, and it is this which now makes us look with more than doubtful eyes over the proposed amendment of the paragraph which almost word for word repeats the preceding paragraph on honorary rank, while stopping short of the logical step of granting the latter. The present disturbance is not our act, it has been thrust upon us; and now that the Secretary of State for War has told us (much to our astonishment) that relative rank is ameaningless phrase, we cannot but see in our present state a condition fraught with misunderstanding and friction with other segments, and with probable failure when next tested in the field. We seem to have come to the parting of the ways; the better we are professionally the less we feel the possibility of contentedness; and what we now ask for is that the War Office should know its own mind and give us fair play. If our work is to be limited to purely professional topics, we can regard our then position as medical men in Government employ with complacency. What suffices for the chaplains will suffice for us, with stripping of our trappings and gaudy uniforms, spurs, swords, and salutes, the complements of different military ranks-all a pure mockery to rankless men and an obstacle in attendance on sick men. If, however, unification is to normally evolve, we cannot but be an integral part of the military machine, and our status must be defined in it on the only recognised
sores,
a time when our duties were more strictly professional than they now are. and when the head possessed a, lessened importance; and it seems to some of us that our present position without rank and the misplaced power over awards and promotion await the same solution--emancipation from the unreasonable supremacy in our affairs of the I am, Sirs, yours truly, military caste. ONE OF THEM. April, 1887. We have much pleasure in inserting the above letter from a distinguished officer of the Medical Department though we cannot quite agree with the writer on some of the points he advances.-ED. L.
past, of
THE LUNACY BILL, 1887. To the Editors of THE LANCET.
SIRS,—The new clause inserted on Feb. 22nd last into the’ Lunacy Bill of the present year, at the instance of Lord MonksweU, to the effect that "when any officer is transferred from one county asylum to another his service in all’ such asylums shall count for the purpose of computing the pension or superannuation allowance," is good so far as it
goes. But there are officers who have served a sufficient number of years to earn a pension whose service has not been confined alone to county asylums, who have transferred their services from one of the county asylums to one of the borough or metropolitan district asylums, or vice ve7-sd. Those gentlemen will naturally be of opinion that, in fairness, the operation of the clause in question ought to beextended to them. It will not, I venture to say, be contended that the work in the borough or district asylums is less anxious, onerous, and responsible than it is in the county asylums, and, moreover, probably one effect of the exclusion of the officers serving in them from this pension. clause would be to deter the best men at present serving in the county asylums from offering themselves for such, appointments in future. I am. Sirs. vour obedient servant. JAMES ADAM, M.D.
THE ERASMUS WILSON BEQUEST. To the Editors of THE LANCET. SIRS,—I venture to think that the petitions which have. been lately presented to the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons by persons desirous of the suppression of experiments on living animals place the question of the disposal of the funds which have accrued to the Royal College of Surgeons in a new aspect. Before these expressions of opinion by a section of the public, any disposition of the funds of the Erasmus Wilson bequest was a matter of interest mainly to the body into whose hands they had fallen, and in a secondary degree to the medical profession in general. The decision must now lie between the opinions of the leaders of the profession, as expressed in the largely
method-rank ; and experience has now shown that this system carried out to its logical conclusions contains scarcely experience be over-estimated. The simple fact is that in depart- elements of the greatest value to the Army, State, and even every of material I, also to the medical profession. It entails ultra-professional ment of the hospital there is always a plethora for teaching purposes, and the veriest glutton, hungering duties, and necessitates a designation embracing them ; and thirsting after knowledge, can only partake of a portion ’, but the latter need not disturb our peace of mind, as it already exists in three of our present grades. of what is daily set before him. So much for surgical work only. Possibly, with your Moreover, in a department complete in itself, some of us may at another time think we see an escape from the blot, which you so permission, some further information be given as regards our clinical opportunities in other forcibly put forward in your issue of the 23rd instant-departments. The present instalment will, however, demon- award of honours for service centred in the military head ; strate on what substantial grounds we may contest the and you do us a kindness in giving it prominence. To speak claim adduced on behalf of the metropolitan schools. plainly, it is nothing short of a disgrace, it saps all loyal I am, Sirs, yours truly, feeling towards our departmental superiors, it stifles the JAMES HARDIE. growth of all professional culture and progress. But will not unity, strength,and proper recognition of us as militarymedical officers performing multiform duties carry also THE MEDICAL STAFF AND RANK. and due authority and influence of our head proper To the Editors of THE LANCET.
assistant-surgeons, is, indeed, to the
a
student, of which the value
can
,
among
the other heads of the army
sections,
and
a
SIRS,—Mychief reason fornow addressing you isthe under- dominant (if not sole) influence in the internal economy the department, including promotion as well as rewards? lying inference of your recent annotations and the letter of of and will not division of our present work into professional and a recent correspondent that the medical staff in asking for professional, with outside men and officers to carry on rank is departing from its proper status as a professional body; ultrathe latter, by so much deprive us of weight in the military and if you will allow me, I will try to make our views (or, at sphere, and equally reduce the influence of our head on the least, those of a section) plain. The question is admittedly points mentioned ? The present blots are relics of the
not one of personal likes or dislikes, but rather what is necessary to honestly and efficiently carry out the duties entrusted to us. In itself we care nothing for military rank, and to anyone so inclined it can be reached through the ordinary portal for the combatant officer far easier and with less expenditure of brains and money than through the doubtful and indirect mazes of the medical staff; it is not that we regard our profession as secondary to any other, but rather that, valuing it highly, and seeing how, in developing, its threads ramify through all the segments of the military machine, we desire reasonable freedom and a defined position for ourlabours. There are many among the older members (and I am myself among the number) who viewed with personal dislike departures ultra-professional taken step by step, until now we have work to do identical with that of the combatant officer; but we cannot but acknowledge that this is the normal sequel of unification, and the logical and necessary outcome of our present duties is rank. If anyone suppose that, as at present placed, we are merely medical men charged with care of sick, let him run his eye over the medical regulations of the army detailing also sanitary work, charge of command of Medical Staff CJrps, which embraces duties as essentially military as any that a combatant officer These are the duties which can be called upon to do. during peace, and doubly so during war, call for a defined status for the responsible individual; one not liable to disturbance through the jealousies of the combatant ranks, or by personal interpretations of orders and warrants, and whittlings and twistings to meet a given end. It was utter absence of all trust and faith in the acts of the military towards the medical staff which constituted the motive power in the recent outcry over relative rank, and it is this which now makes us look with more than doubtful eyes over the proposed amendment of the paragraph which almost word for word repeats the preceding paragraph on honorary rank, while stopping short of the logical step of granting the latter. The present disturbance is not our act, it has been thrust upon us; and now that the Secretary of State for War has told us (much to our astonishment) that relative rank is ameaningless phrase, we cannot but see in our present state a condition fraught with misunderstanding and friction with other segments, and with probable failure when next tested in the field. We seem to have come to the parting of the ways; the better we are professionally the less we feel the possibility of contentedness; and what we now ask for is that the War Office should know its own mind and give us fair play. If our work is to be limited to purely professional topics, we can regard our then position as medical men in Government employ with complacency. What suffices for the chaplains will suffice for us, with stripping of our trappings and gaudy uniforms, spurs, swords, and salutes, the complements of different military ranks-all a pure mockery to rankless men and an obstacle in attendance on sick men. If, however, unification is to normally evolve, we cannot but be an integral part of the military machine, and our status must be defined in it on the only recognised
sores,
a time when our duties were more strictly professional than they now are. and when the head possessed a, lessened importance; and it seems to some of us that our present position without rank and the misplaced power over awards and promotion await the same solution--emancipation from the unreasonable supremacy in our affairs of the I am, Sirs, yours truly, military caste. ONE OF THEM. April, 1887. We have much pleasure in inserting the above letter from a distinguished officer of the Medical Department though we cannot quite agree with the writer on some of the points he advances.-ED. L.
past, of
THE LUNACY BILL, 1887. To the Editors of THE LANCET.
SIRS,—The new clause inserted on Feb. 22nd last into the’ Lunacy Bill of the present year, at the instance of Lord MonksweU, to the effect that "when any officer is transferred from one county asylum to another his service in all’ such asylums shall count for the purpose of computing the pension or superannuation allowance," is good so far as it
goes. But there are officers who have served a sufficient number of years to earn a pension whose service has not been confined alone to county asylums, who have transferred their services from one of the county asylums to one of the borough or metropolitan district asylums, or vice ve7-sd. Those gentlemen will naturally be of opinion that, in fairness, the operation of the clause in question ought to beextended to them. It will not, I venture to say, be contended that the work in the borough or district asylums is less anxious, onerous, and responsible than it is in the county asylums, and, moreover, probably one effect of the exclusion of the officers serving in them from this pension. clause would be to deter the best men at present serving in the county asylums from offering themselves for such, appointments in future. I am. Sirs. vour obedient servant. JAMES ADAM, M.D.
THE ERASMUS WILSON BEQUEST. To the Editors of THE LANCET. SIRS,—I venture to think that the petitions which have. been lately presented to the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons by persons desirous of the suppression of experiments on living animals place the question of the disposal of the funds which have accrued to the Royal College of Surgeons in a new aspect. Before these expressions of opinion by a section of the public, any disposition of the funds of the Erasmus Wilson bequest was a matter of interest mainly to the body into whose hands they had fallen, and in a secondary degree to the medical profession in general. The decision must now lie between the opinions of the leaders of the profession, as expressed in the largely