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THE MEDICAL SERVICE OF THE BRITISH ARMY IN THE CRIMEA.
got a step by merit, the promotions having taken place solely by seniority. The local rank conferred on Dr. Mathew will soon cease, and it could scarcely ever have been regarded as a step. The regimental surgeons whose case I am stating do not form a very numerous class—all the better reason for doing them justice. In the cavalry there have been a good many changes and promotions, although the assistant* . surgeons have in some instances to make the same complaint as their seniors. In the infantry, there are only, so far as I know, De Lisle (4th), Longmore (19th), Muir (33rd), and Fraser (Ilifle Brigade). I believe that General Codrington especially mentioned Dr. Muir, Dr. Longniore, and Dr. Watt of the 23rd, after the fall of Sebastopol, in a despatch which has not yet seen the light; and that Dr. Alexander has recommended them for promotion to Dr. Smith. The reason why these gentlemen have been kept in the front aggravates the injustice done to, them. They are men of too much experience to be moved from tear. Kneeling on the bloody straw of the ambulance carriage, their regiments, and their assistant-surgeons, whose average he coolly issues his orders, and his moral courage revives the service in the field is two years, are not old enough in the army sinking hopes of the wounded; for his face wears a supreme to be intrusted with the care of whole battalions. During the activeoperations of the campaign, when there was, alas ! calm which inspires them with confidence. " In these solemn hours the military surgeon is the repository too much work to be clone, it might have been right to withof great mysteries. The dying man entrusts him with tender hold promotion from those officers, because the step would messages for his far-away family ; one coniides to him his remove them from regimental charge; but those considerations riches, another his profoundest secrets. After the battle, the no longer exist, and the recollections which once influenced the general, the officer, and the soldier hear only the shouts of authorities ought now to be an additional reason for recognising triumph and songs of joy ; but the surgeon only hears the long their merit. It has been the habit of Dr. Andrew Smith to ’ fill up iirst-class staff vacancies which occurred in the field and plaintive groaning of the whole army. ’’ Night comes ; and all are asleep save him. A vigilant sen- from the colonies or from home, to the great prejudice of the tinel, he is awake amongst the wounded. Next day, though regimental surgeons in the front. They have been deprived exhausted with fatigue, he sets out with the ambulance ; he even of the pecuniary advantages to be gained by service in goes to one and to another ; here, hastily exploring a wound ; the hospitals which sprang up in the East, or in the Contingent,. there, searching for a bullet in the cavity of the human chest. where the pay was enormous. I believe there is an assistant-He-goes about giving hope to all; sowing life,-so to speak; surgeon in the Land Transport Corps who served as deputywrestling, in dpspair, with death; inventing and improvising inspector-general of hospitals in the Turkish Contingent at 50s.. a thousand methods ; transforming planks and cords into surper diem and a gratuity of six months’ pay at the close of thegical apparatus ; even tearing his clothes into rags to staunch engagement. The regimental surgeon who went through the the blood of the wounded. His is the struggle between the cholera campaign in Bulgaria, who was at the Alma and at blind force of destruction and the intelligent power of conser- Inkermann and at Balaklava, who hashad to struggle through the terrible winter of 1854, and to contend with typhus, disvative science. " Such is the man whom we have seen modestly walking at ease, cholera, and wounds,—whose zeal, skill, and humanity the left of the regiment. ! after the war had virtually ceased were ei-tielly tried by the " Honour then to him! His mission in armies is a thousand awful explosion of the 14th November, 1855,—works on with times sacred ! ’vvives, mothers, and sisters-ye who, in the his 13.s. a-day, with no decoration or honour, and no locale silence of the home-hearth tremble for those who, far away brevet, or advanced rank. from you, are engaged in the glorious duties of war,-calm your fears :-Science and Charity watch over those you love."
all this multitude. It is the hour after the battle ! During the fight he will brave death as fearlessly as any other one. Without sharing the excitement of the combatants, he will be a great actor in the bloody strife. He will be calm and reflective when all around him are agitated and distracted. He denies himself emotion, for his hand must not tremble; his glance must be penetrating, and his judgment must be prompt and unerring. In an atmosphere of grape-shot and smoke he is as collected as in his cabinet. The shrieks of the wounded, and the booming of the cannons disturb him not; his hand is as steady as in the operating-theatre of an hospital. All ranks appeal to him for aid, and he obeys as promptly the call of the poor soldier as of the mighty general; he succours the fallen of the enemy as well as the wounded of his own army. The mangled and dying bodies of his companions and friends are brought to him, yet he must stifle in the birth every rising emotion, for the eye of the surgeon should never be veiled by a
In these enthusiastic words does the French colonel describe the sacred duties of the soldier-surgeons. On some future occasion we may sketch other traits in their character, and give other illustrations of their bravery ; meanwhile, we would conclude these remarks with a noble sonnet, from the little volume of war poems recently published by Alexander Smith and Sydney Yendys-which expresses in bold verse all the heroism and self-denying devotion of which we have spoken:’* Over that breathing waste of friends and foes, The wounded and the dying, hour by hour,In will a thousand, yet but one in power,He labours thro’ the red and groaning day. The fearful moorland where the myriads lay Moved as a moving field of mangled worms. And as a raw hrood, orphaned in the storms, Thrust up their heads if the wind bend a spray Above them, but when the bare branch performs No sweet parental offica, sink away With hopeless chirp of woe, so, as he goes, Around his feet in clamorous agony They rise and fall; and all the seething plain Hubbles a cauldron vast of many-coloured pain."
Dumfries, June,
1856.
A. M. A.
surgeons has
MEETING OF THE MEDICAL REFORM COMMITTEE OF THE PROVINCIAL MEDICAL AND SURGICAL ASSOCIATION. THE Medical Reform Committee of the Provincial Medical, and Surgical Association, at a meeting holden in London, on. Thursday, June 19th, having taken into consideration the Bill of Mr. Headlam, as amended by the Select Committee of the House of Commons, passed the following resolutions :1. Moved by Dr. NOBLE, and seconded by Dr. WEBSTER:— " That the provisions of the Bill now before them carry out the principles of uniformity of examination and qualification, reciprocity of practice and registration, which the Association has always contended for." 2. Moved by Sir JOHN FoRBES, and seconded by Mr. BOTTOMLEY:"
That, without pledging themselves to every detail in theBill, the Committee think its general provisions sobeneficial, and the time so favourable for settling the question of medical reform, that they are desirous of seeing the Bill at amended
once
THE MEDICAL SERVICE OF THE ARMY IN THE CRIMEA.
BRITISH
"THE TIMES."] IFI20P,I Crimea, June 7. BEFORE the army abandons the Crimea, I trust for ever, it may be as well to direct attention to the fact, that the regimental surgeons who have served throughout the whole of this campaign, from the landing at Gallipoli to the embarkation from Russian shores, will return to their country, or be sent with their regiments for further service, in exactly the same position as they were two years ago. With the exceptions of Dr. Mouatt ’and Dr. M’Gregor, not one of the regimental THE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF
passed into law." by Dr. LANKESTER,
3. Moved
and seconded
by
Mr. NUNNE-
LEY :-
’’ That the Committee therefore advise the Association to a cordial support to the Bill; and warmly recommend it to the profession at large."
give
ROYAL HONOUR,—At
an
investiture of the Order of the
Bath by Her to confer the
Majesty on the 21st inst., the Queen was pleased badge and riband of a companion of the Bath on Deputy-Inspector-General of Hospitals John Robert Taylor, from the Crimea, a gentleman who has contributed a very interesting collection, illustrative of gun-shot wounds, to the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons.
717
all this multitude. It is the hour after the battle ! During the fight he will brave death as fearlessly as any other one. Without sharing the excitement of the combatants, he will be a great actor in the bloody strife. He will be calm and reflective when all around him are agitated and distracted. He denies himself emotion, for his hand must not tremble; his glance must be penetrating, and his judgment must be prompt and unerring. In an atmosphere of grape-shot and smoke he is as collected as in his cabinet. The shrieks of the wounded, and the booming of the cannons disturb him not; his hand is as steady as in the operating-theatre of an hospital. All ranks appeal to him for aid, and he obeys as promptly the call of the poor soldier as of the mighty general; he succours the fallen of the enemy as well as the wounded of his own army. The mangled and dying bodies of his companions and friends are brought to him, yet he must stifle in the birth every rising emotion, for the eye of the surgeon should never be veiled by a
In these enthusiastic words does the French colonel describe the sacred duties of the soldier-surgeons. On some future occasion we may sketch other traits in their character, and give other illustrations of their bravery ; meanwhile, we would conclude these remarks with a noble sonnet, from the little volume of war poems recently published by Alexander Smith and Sydney Yendys-which expresses in bold verse all the heroism and self-denying devotion of which we have spoken:’* Over that breathing waste of friends and foes, The wounded and the dying, hour by hour,In will a thousand, yet but one in power,He labours thro’ the red and groaning day. The fearful moorland where the myriads lay Moved as a moving field of mangled worms. And as a raw hrood, orphaned in the storms, Thrust up their heads if the wind bend a spray Above them, but when the bare branch performs No sweet parental offica, sink away With hopeless chirp of woe, so, as he goes, Around his feet in clamorous agony They rise and fall; and all the seething plain Hubbles a cauldron vast of many-coloured pain."
Dumfries, June,
1856.
A. M. A.
surgeons has
MEETING OF THE MEDICAL REFORM COMMITTEE OF THE PROVINCIAL MEDICAL AND SURGICAL ASSOCIATION. THE Medical Reform Committee of the Provincial Medical, and Surgical Association, at a meeting holden in London, on. Thursday, June 19th, having taken into consideration the Bill of Mr. Headlam, as amended by the Select Committee of the House of Commons, passed the following resolutions :1. Moved by Dr. NOBLE, and seconded by Dr. WEBSTER:— " That the provisions of the Bill now before them carry out the principles of uniformity of examination and qualification, reciprocity of practice and registration, which the Association has always contended for." 2. Moved by Sir JOHN FoRBES, and seconded by Mr. BOTTOMLEY:"
That, without pledging themselves to every detail in theBill, the Committee think its general provisions sobeneficial, and the time so favourable for settling the question of medical reform, that they are desirous of seeing the Bill at amended
once
THE MEDICAL SERVICE OF THE ARMY IN THE CRIMEA.
BRITISH
"THE TIMES."] IFI20P,I Crimea, June 7. BEFORE the army abandons the Crimea, I trust for ever, it may be as well to direct attention to the fact, that the regimental surgeons who have served throughout the whole of this campaign, from the landing at Gallipoli to the embarkation from Russian shores, will return to their country, or be sent with their regiments for further service, in exactly the same position as they were two years ago. With the exceptions of Dr. Mouatt ’and Dr. M’Gregor, not one of the regimental THE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF
passed into law." by Dr. LANKESTER,
3. Moved
and seconded
by
Mr. NUNNE-
LEY :-
’’ That the Committee therefore advise the Association to a cordial support to the Bill; and warmly recommend it to the profession at large."
give
ROYAL HONOUR,—At
an
investiture of the Order of the
Bath by Her to confer the
Majesty on the 21st inst., the Queen was pleased badge and riband of a companion of the Bath on Deputy-Inspector-General of Hospitals John Robert Taylor, from the Crimea, a gentleman who has contributed a very interesting collection, illustrative of gun-shot wounds, to the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons.
717