351SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS’S SPEECH ON THE ARMY-SURGEONS’ BILL.

’writer) of the "Archives of Universal Science," a work

abounding in questions of recondite philosophy.The question of the correctness or incorrectness of Mr.

WALKER’S views is, in this place, wholly beside the mark;nor have we here anything to do with the polemical disqui-sitions which are lavishly scattered through some of his trea-tises. We only wish to recal attention to the fact that he

appears to have been the first to point out that the two rootsof the spinal nerves were endued with sensation and motionrespectively, and thereby to lead to the true knowledge ofthe physiology of the spinal cord, although a theory dif-ferent from his own, on this head, is the doctrine generallyaccepted in the present day. But, for our own parts, weconsider some of the other works of Mr. WALKER, in

branches of inquiry which he has made peculiarly his own, tobe of at least equal importance with that on the NervousSystem. We may instance, particularly, his work on " Inter-marriage," which exhibits great ingenuity of thought, andis stamped with the impress of well-directed labour.

Differences of opinion upon scientific points will perhapsever agitate medical minds; differences in schemes of medicalpolity may disunite our ranks; but there is one ground onwhich all members of our fraternity can unite-in the self-sacrificing spirit which characterizes our profession, to openthe heart and hand to raise up a distressed brother. It were

well, considering what Mr. WALKER has done for science, if arepresentation of his circumstances were made by his profes-sional brethren, to the Government, to obtain for him, if pos-sible, some pension for the remainder of his life-a pensionfrom the Government fund, which ought to be devoted to per-sons who by their scientific or literary labours have renderedservices to their country.* Meanwhile, it is necessary to

relieve Mr. WALKER’S embarrassments; and in proposingthat a subscription be opened for that purpose, it affords usgreat pleasure to be enabled to state that " Dr. ALisoN, Pro-" fessor of Practice of Medicine in the University of Edin-" burgh, Mr. GOODSIR, Professor of Anatomy in the University" of Edinburgh, and the Rev. W. STEVENSON, of South Leith," have consented to receive contributions." We are also

glad to announce that Professors SHARl’EY and GRANT, ofUniversity College, and Professors TODD and BOWMAN, of

King’s College, London, agree to become treasurers, and wehope their example will be followed in other parts of GreatBritain, by gentlemen who will communicate with the trea-surers in Edinburgh or in London. Let his medical brethren

now rally round, and aid Mr. WALKER in his extremity,nor give cause for it to be said, that our profession-so justlyesteemed for its warmth of charity-has neglected and aban-doned one of its most laborious and deserving members.

ABSTRACT OF A SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF COM-MONS, BY LIEUT.-GEN. SIR HOWARD DOUGLAS,BART., M.P., ON THE ARMY-SURGEONS’ BILL.

Sm H. DOUGLAS rose, pursuant to notice, to call attention tothe cases of medical officers, surgeons, and paymasters of re-giments, who have not been included in the warrant issued inMay, 1846, consequent upon the motion he made in April,1845, for an improved retirement to a limited number of me-dical officers, and all officers of regimental staff, to extend tothem the benefits conferred by the war-warrant dated the 1 st

* We shall be glad to give a place, in an early number of THE LANCET,to any representation that may be drawn up, with the view of bringing the isubject of Mr. WALKER’S claims before Government. I

October, 1840, to officers of all other branches and arms of theservice. In October, 1840, a warrant was issued, granting full-pay retirement to a limited number of officers of infantry andcavalry, including 20 lieutenant-colonels, 20 majors, and 115captains, of whom 45 might be brevet-majors. This boon wassoon after extended by war-warrant to a limited number ofofficers of artillery, engineers, and marines, and navy. Thisfull-pay retirement, however, was not extended to medicalofficers, nor to the officers of the regimental staff-namely,surgeons, paymasters, quartermasters, and veterinary surgeons.Deeming this distinction unjust, he (Sir H. Douglas), in theyear 1845, in Committee on the Army Estimates, brought thesubject under the consideration of the House, when his viewsappeared to meet with unanimous approbation, at least no ob-jection was urged against them. In May, 1846, a warrantwas issued, granting an increased retirement to quartermas-ters and veterinary surgeons to the extent of about five-sixthsof their pay, but neither paymaster nor surgeon were included.The improved retirement granted to veterinary surgeons andquartermasters was 8s. and 10s. a day, respectively, after thirtyyears’ service. His object was to urge the just claims of pay-masters, regimental surgeons, and medical officers, to partici-pate, in like proportion, in those advantages. The principle ofthis arrangement was not confined to the two classes of offi-cers to which he referred, but was established by Actof Parliament to regulate the amount of retired allowanceto all public functionaries in certain proportions to theirfull pay, or salaries at the time of retirement, increasingby twelfths for every five-years’ service, commencing afterhaving served ten. The efÌect of this would be to increasethe retiring pay of the other two classes, from 15s. to 18s. anda fraction. The measure, as he had stated, would, to a certainextent, be self-sustaining, for the pay of a regimental surgeonwho had served thirty years, being ae1 2s. a day; and that ofa paymaster, Sl 2s. 6d. ; and the former being succeeded by a.surgeon, commencing on 13s. a day, and the paymaster by oneon 12s. 6d. a day, there would obviously be a commensuratesaving. But what paymaster or surgeon would give up 22s. aday in addition to the advantages which he derived from bar-rack accommodation, lights, fuel, a soldier servant, and theadvantages of a mess, which might be taken altogether, equalto 10s. more, to retire on 15s. a day1 What was the conse-quence ? That these officers were obliged to cling to activeservice long after their physical powers were too much im-paired to discharge efficiently their laborious duties, and muchlonger, consequently, than was consistent with the good of theservice or their own comfort. With respect to medical offi-cers, surgeons of regiments, whatever argument could be urgedon behalf of paymasters, might be applied with greaterforce to the case of that learned, most important, and, as hethought, rather neglected class, entitled on every account tothe first consideration and distinction. The army surgeon, itis true, does not purchase his commission; but the expensenecessarily invested on his education must not be forgotten;and he, like the paymaster, cannot realize this by sale, for thebenefit of his family. No one who knows anything of thesevere and painful duties which a medical officer has to dis-charge, and the services in which he must be engaged, in thepresence of disease of every kind, facing death in every shape,can doubt of the hardships which officers of that class musthave undergone during a service of thirty years. The surgeon,too, let it be remembered, must be in full possession of all hisenergies, keep himself well up to the mark in every improve-ment in practical surgery and in medical science. Paymastersand quartermasters may, with rather diminished powers, clingto the service without any great detriment to it, or inconve-nience to themselves, after these had somewhat faded; butthere was a period of life beyond which the medical officer,however perfect his intellect, could not discharge effectuallyhis duties on the field as surgeon of the regiment-a periodbeyond which vision becomes imperfect, the nerve unbraced,the hand too unsteady in the difficult and delicate operationswhich a surgeon was called upon to perform. No man of theage of sixty or sixty-two could be expected to retain thesefaculties unimpaired; and as the great bulk of medical offi-cers enter the army at the age of twenty-four, thirty-twoyears’ service would bring them near to that stage in humanexistence, beyond which it would be vain and unreasonable toexpect that a medical officer of thirty or thirty-five years’ ser-vice in all climates should retain his efficiency. Officers socircumstanced are aware of this sad truth, but continue toserve, knowing that the half-pay to which they are entitled isinsufficient for their wants; that, from bodily infirmities anddeficiency of mental energy, they cannot add to their incomeby private practice, being unequal to compete successfully

352

with younger and more recently educated practitioners, andtherefore cling to the service. It is for the interests of theservice, then, that men so circumstanced should cede theiravocations to younger individuals; but this they can only betempted to do, or are justified in doing, by our increasing theirrates of retirement. The medical officer, while on full-pay,has no cause for complaint-this is sufficient to attach him tothe service, but binds him too long, from the rates of retire-ment being so inadequate. The hon. and gallant member thencited, from official returns, the cases of many deputy inspec-tors-general of hospitals, and surgeons, who had been fromtliirty-six to forty-three-three years in the service.These tables show, that whilst medical officers had no means

of realizing, by sale of their commission, the expense of theireducation, and did not enjoy the advantages of an improvedretirement, as granted to veterinary surgeons and quarter-masters, he had now, alas ! to show, that the widows of medicalofficers were not so well provided for by pension as the widowsof officers of relative rank. The surgeon of a regiment rankswith captain; a staff-surgeon of the first class with major; thedeputy-inspector with lieutenant-colonel; the inspector-generalof hospitals with a general officer. But the widow of an in-

spector-general killed in action only gets 801. a year, whilstthe widow of a general officer of the lowest rank-viz., briga-dier-general, gets 901. The deputy-inspector’s widow gets only601.; but the widow of a lieutenant-colonel, 801. The staff-surgeon’s widow gets 20l. less than the widow of a major; andthere is a difference of 5l. to the disfavour of the surgeon’srelict compared with the widow of a captain. The House willbe sensible that, though these differences be of small amount,they are of vast importarce to widows and orphans left tosuch slender provision. The hon. and gallant member read aletter from the widow of an officer who had served throughoutthe Peninsular war, and had afterwards died at Jamaica, inwhich she stated that she had only X45 per annum pension;but she complained most that she did not receive the pensionto which she was entitled, as her husband had held the relativerank of major." My late husband, staff-surgeon Burmester, served for

twenty-four years on constant active service-the whole ofthe Peninsular campaign, the battle of Waterloo, and waswith the Army of Occupation in France. He was then sentto Jamaica, where, in discharge of his duty, I had the misfor-tune to lose him, and I was left with three little children.

" Hitherto I have received the small pension of X45 perannum, and what I complain of as a sad grievance is, that Ido not receive the pension I am entitled to, as my husbandheld the relative rank of a major."He would now beg to say a few words which he hoped

would take these officers as a class out of the category of civilfunctionaries and non-combatants. The medical officer cannotbe considered anon-combatantin the sense of personal exposure,nor in many cases, as he could tell, of personal military gal-lantry. The medical officer is suddenly called upon to dis-charge duties which require the vigour and powers of endur-ance of less advanced age; to partake of the fatigue, priva-tions, and diseases incidental to actual service; to brave everyclimate, to witness death in every form, and to suffer it himselfin the field, when administering to those whose lives he isendeavouring to preserve. Two surgeons of her Majesty’sregiments were killed on the field of battle in the operationsof the Sutlej; three at Cabul. How many of the HonourableCompany’s service he knew not. He requested the House tolet him endeavour to depict the duties of medical officers onthe field of battle. The action is about to commence. Themedical officers attached to the troops take post in the imme-diate rear of their respective corps, and then prepare the im-plements of their mournful and painful calling. The battlebegins; the active combatants, unmindful and regardless ofdanger, buoyed above the terror of death or of wounds byardour and excitement, which few can imagine, heed not thecasualties that happen around them. Not so the medicalofficer. The fallen and the disabled, that are not beyond thereach of his skill, become the subjects of his immediate care.The fiercer the fight, the more numerous these sad consign-ments. There, on the naked field, exposed to personal risk,and within reach of the bullets, which may have previouslyploughed the ranks of the columns or lines in his front, themedical officers, with unflinching eye, steady hand, and well-braced nerves, discharge their melancholy functions, and fre-quently lose their lives in endeavouring to save others. Is thebattle won The troops move forward with exultation to reaphe fruits of their victory. The medical officers remain onhe blood-stained field, amidst the havoc of war, to collect themutilated victims, and administer to the sacrifices that victory

exacts. Is the battle lost ? or is the field, though won, aban-doned, as ofttimes happens ? 1 The medical officers performtheir still more painful duties on the forsaken field, and be-come themselves captives, in common with those who, by theiraid, may survive. Then there was the assault of the fortress,and the storming of the breach, at which medical officers areinvariably aiding. And this is the class-such the persons,from whom you withhold advantages enjoyed by the practi-tioners of a less exalted surgery. The horse is a noble animal;the veterinary science is an important and useful profession;but man is a nobler animal still, and a soldier, apart fromother considerations of humanity, a more important and valu-able agent. He appealed, then, in the strongest terms, to thefeelings and generosity of her Majesty’s government, to theHouse, and to the country, against the exclusion of the classof officers whose case he had taken up, from ad vantages whichare extended to others-from a boon which all public servants,civil and military, now enjoy.

THE MANCHESTER MEMORIAL.

A MOST important memorial against the 11 Outlines of a Billfor Regulating the Profession of Physic and Surgery, which iscontained in a Report on the Present State of the MedicalReform question, published by the Council of the NationalInstitute of Medicine, Surgery, and Midwifery," has been ad-dressed to Sir George Grey, signed by one hundred and forty-two of the leading members of all classes of the profession,resident in Manchester and its immediate neighbourhood.The memorialists are headed by Dr. J. L. BARDSLEY and E.LYON, consulting-physicians; and Mr. WILSON, the senior sur-geon to the Manchester Infirmary. The document itself willbe found at p. 355.After stating their various objections to the Report, they,

in conclusion, earnestly entreat Sir George Grey," To decline becoming a party to any legislation in the spirit

set forth in the " Outlines of a Bill" published by the confer-ence of delegates. They have to state, moreover, that if, un-fortunately, from the extraordinary activity and perseveranceof a very small minority of the profession, any such Bill shouldpass into a law, members qf the English College of Surgeons will,in many cases, feel bound to decline being placed on the registeraltogether, rather than to occupy therein an unjustly subordinateposition. The memorialists sincerely hope that the members ofthe college will not be driven to so extreme a proceedi’i?g; but theyare convinced, at the same time, that if the course of events shouldcall upon them to take such a step, they will not hesitate to do so."

z* We do not hesitate to declare this to be one of the most

striking documents which the medical reform agitation hasever produced. It is a most significant commentary upon thereport of the Institute, and of our own criticisms upon thatprecious production. The men of Manchester are evidentlyalive to their true interests, and determined to maintain their

professional rights. We doubt not we shall have to chroniclemany other memorials upon the same model. There is not a

word in it which does not deserve to be written in letters of

gold. The towns and counties should lose no time in follow-

ing so glorious an example.-ED. L.

Correspondence.

STATISTICAL REPORTS CONCERNING CHOLERA.

.. Audi alteram partem.11

To the Editor of THE LANCET.

Sm,—There is something so veryunsatis&ctoryin themannerthe reports on cholera are now obtained and published, thatI cannot forbear calling your attention to the subject.

In the reports, published by the Central Board of Health,of the cholera in 1832, diarrhoea cases are enumerated ascholera," therefore, "the comparative mortality among thefully formed cholera cases would appear to be much lowerthan the true amount." Are we to infer, at the present time,that the same practice obtains Should it not be so, however,