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they greatly admired the medical service and that was theonly English service which they did admire. In submittingthe toast of " The Guests he emphasised the great valueof the moral support which they had received from the civilconsulting surgeons and assured them that the Royal ArmyMedical Corps cordially congratulated them on the honourswhich they had so worthily won.The toast was responded to by Sir WILLIAM MAC CORMAC,

who bore testimony to the excellent work done in SouthAfrica by the Royal Army Medical Corps, saying that froma considerable experience in other wars as well as in thepresent one he had no hesitation in saying that thework done by the Army Medical Service in South Africawas as good as, if not even better than, that which haddistinguished them in any previous campaign or any similarwork in other countries. At the present moment China offeredan object lesson of this, for there our Medical Service wasadmittedly superior to that of our allies. Referring to thedifficulties caused by the undermanning of the Royal ArmyMedical Corps he said that revolutionary changes were oftenfraught with evil, and in the present instance did not seem tobe required. The all essential matter was to procure asufficiency of men to fill the vacancies in the corps. Whatwas chiefly needed on the part of the authorities and theoutside world generally was a much larger measure ofsympathy and appreciation for good work well done andwithout regard for self. The large number of civiliansurgeons, some 700 in number, who had served in SouthAfrica would help in this. They had witnessed the devotionto duty of the Army Medical Corps, which would serve topromote the solidarity between the two branches of the

profession.Sir FREDERICK TREVES said that in replying to this toast

he had to invert the usual order and refer to the hostsrather than to the guests. He bore tribute to the kindnesswhich had been experienced by the consulting surgeonsat the hands of every member of the Royal Army MedicalCorps. He then referred to the criticism which had beendirected against the Army Medical Service and describedit as being in many particulars unfair and un-English,and said that Sir William Mac Cormac and he hadtaken the earliest opportunity on their return to Englandof expressing their high opinion of the services of the

Royal Army Medical Uorps. He referred to the services iof Surgeon-General Jameson at headquarters at home I

and said that he had every single detail of the depart-ment at his finger-tips. In South Africa itself he was

snrprised to find how wonderfully the work was done,seeing that surgery in war was attended with all sortsof difficulties and not to be conducted as it was at homein a hospital. In passing he mentioned the pleasure it wasto civil surgeons to serve under Colonel Stevenson. Hereferred to the great abilities of Sir Thomas Gallwey in Natalas an organiser and remarked that he had become an expertin the art of commandeering. Lieutenant-Colonel Babtie,V.C., too, was noticeable for his powers of organisation,whilst the splendid deed performed by him at Colenso wouldcause his name to live in history. He mentioned theservices at Durban of Major MacCormack and at Pieter-maritzburg of Major Dodd. In conclusion, he observed thatto obtain a proper estimate of the work of the Royal ArmyMedical Corps the opinions of two classes should be sought-namely, of the civil surgeons and of the sick and thewounded. He could only say that any corps would beproud of that testimony-testimony borne, be it remarked,by the people who really knew.

Professor CHIENE endorsed all that had been said bySir William Mac Cormac and Sir Frederick Treves and saidthat the work that he had seen done as he passed throughWynberg, Kimberley, Mafeking, Johannesburg, and Pretoriawas work equal to that done in any civil hospital, andas to the criticisms which had been directed against themedical service all that he could say was that he simplydid not understand it. The work done by the RoyalArmy Medical Corps was work that no civil surgeoncould be ashamed of. "We do not believe a word saidagainst you," remarked Professor Chiene. He then pro-ceeded to allude to the enormous difficulties that beset themand the way in which they had been met, and added that thework out there had been well done because Surgeon-GeneralJameson was at the head of affairs at home. He had comethat day from Edinburgh to be present at the dinner in orderto support Surgeon-General Jameson and to indicate onbehalf of the profession in Scotland their opinion of hiswork.

Surgeon-General O’DWYER then proposed the health ofSurgeon-General Jameson, a toast which was most warmlyreceived and greeted with musical honours.

Surgeon-General JAMESON, in reply, thanked the officersand guests for the cordial way in which they had receivedhim. He referred to the difficulties of the campaign andbore tribute to the excellent assistance which he had re-ceived from his colleagues at headquarters. " Never," hesaid, "had a Director-General been better served." As tothe future he had little fear ; they would work out their ownsalvation. The alterations that were needed could becounted on a man’s fingers ; but one thing was in-

dispensable : the personnel must be increased andto that end the service must be rendered attrac-tive. There was the whole pith of the matter. It wasalso desirable that more sympathy should be extendedto them from outside. Although he had no longer officialconnexion with the Army Medical Service he could assurethem that his interest in the department would never cease,and he felt confident that the cloud which had so suddenlyarisen and was now hanging over them would as suddenlydisappear.During the evening the band of the Royal Army Medical

Corps played an excellent selection of music.

THE ANNUAL DINNER OF THE INDIANMEDICAL SERVICE.

THE annual dinner of the Indian Medical Service was heldat Princes Restaurant, Piccadilly, London, W., on June 13th,Surgeon-General R. Harvey, C.B., D.S.O., Director-Generalof the Service, being in the chair. There was a goodattendance which doubtless would have been even better hadit not been for the trying circumstances through which Indiahas lately been passing-plague, famine, and the wars inChina and South Africa having made heavy claims uponthe services of Indian medical officers.The usual loyal toasts having been given by the Chair-

man and duly honoured, " The Sister Services" was proposedby Surgeon-General Sir Joseph Fayrer, who alluded to thegood work that had been done by the services in the SouthAfrican war and quoted the report of the Royal Commis-sioners in support of his statements.

Sir Henry F. Norbury, Director-General of the RoyalNavy Medical Service, in replying, said that up to thepresent time there had been at the several examinations asufficiency of competent candidates, and no gentleman hadreceived a commission as a medical officer in the RoyalNavy who had not been considered quite professionallycompetent by the board of examiners. The war in Chinahad, as far as the medical department of the navy was con-cerned, at one time been beset with much greater difficultiesthan it had experienced in South Africa, and in China theway in which the arduous medical work had been carried outhad been most favourably reported on by Vice-Admiral Sir E.Seymour, G.C.B., the Commander-in-Chief on that station.Surgeon-General A. F. Preston, A.M.S., also briefly acknow-ledged the toast."The Indian Medical Service" was then proposed by

Surgeon-General Harvey, who said that it would be manifestlyimproper for him to discuss the various schemes for theimprovement of the medical services that were at once tobe, or had been, put forward. These schemes would receivethe most careful consideration from the Government ofIndia, and he believed that the Service was patriottic enoughto accept any changes which might be considered necessaryin the real interests of the State. He did not think, how-ever, that any change disastrous to the Service could possiblybe in the interests of the State, and he therefore consideredthat the Service might regard whatever proposals might beput forward with equanimity. As these subjects were tabooedhe would say a few words as to certain misconceptions whichseemed to exist as to the conditions in the Service itself andthe relations of the Government of India to the Service. Therewas said to be much discontent in the Service, but this wasmainly due to the one great grievance-the constant inter-ference with leave. Steps had been taken to remedy this

L and he thought that most of the other grievances were more, or less imaginary. A complaint had recently appeared in a

medical journal that the pay on entry to the Service was

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286 rupees. A statement of this kind, if true, would tend tomake good men hesitate to enter the Service, and he couldnot conceive what good the author of it expected to gain byappealing to the papers instead of representing the matter tohis departmental superior. The statement, however, wasthe reverse of true, for the minimum was raised from 286to 317 rupees more than 16 years ago, and further raisedto 350 rupees four years ago, so that with this and

exchange compensation allowance the pay of the juniorofficers was some 30 per cent. higher than the amount stated.Another grievance recently put forward was that the pensionsof civilians was much larger than those of the Service,but the inventor of this one was probably not aware thatevery civilian contributed more than half of his own

pension, while the medical pensions were given by the Statewithout any contribution from the officers concerned. Hehad recently been asked whether it was true that medicalofficers had to act as butlers to their brother officers. This Iwas a very coarse way of expressing the fact that regimental ,1medical officers were frequently asked to be managers of themess. In all regiments some officer had to do this, and hewas proud to say that he had had the honour to be " butler

"

to the Central India Horse during the greater part of thetime he had belonged to the regiment. He had seen a recent

complaint that the work of a civil station and the responaibility of a jail were too heavy and exposed a man to risk ofhaving to answer for the misdeeds of his subordinates, buthe was glad to think that what most men wanted was theopportunity for hard work and responsibility, and he knewthat if they did their work properly subordinate officialswould have no chance of involving them in loss.One other point he would like to allude to. Two yearsago their secretary had stated that he knew of no

instance of a man receiving any proper acknowledg-ment for distinguished work in the ordinary linesof the profession. That was, unfortunately, true, speakingas he was of purely surgical and medical work, butthe six appointments of Honorary Physician and Surgeon tothe King were intended to reward such. A gentleman in amedical journal had, however, given a new complexion to thecomplaint by saying that with the single exception of Dr.D. D. Cunningham no man had ever been rewarded for goodprofessional work. This statement also would tend to deter

good men from entering a service where there were no rewardsfor merit, but in this extended sense it happened to beentirely untrue, since representatives of every other branchof the profession had from time to time been decoratedfor good work in botany, physiology, hygiene, obstetrics,and gynasoology, medical jurisprudence, college and jail,plague, and famine, work, while a distinguished chemist’sname was before the Government for recognition when heunfortunately died, and Mr. HafEkine, who, though not amember of, was in intimate relation with, the Service, hadreceived a O.I.E. for bacteriological work in connexion withcholera and plagne. The Government of India was frequentlyaccused of indifference to the interests of the Service andparticularly of neglect to further medical research. He hadrecently read how the perverse imbecility of an adminis-trative pedant had thwarted Major Ronald Ross inhis most valuable and distinguished work by taking himaway from the scene of his labours and setting him toroutine work which anyone else could have done as well.The truth was exactly the other way. The Government ofIndia had taken Major Ross from routine work, put him onspecial duty to investigate the malaria problem, given him200 rupees a month additional pay when so employed, andhad thus given him the opportunity and the leisure withoutwhich his valuable discoveries might not have been com-pleted. They were associating one of their own officers withthe envoys sent to India by the Royal Society to investigateIndian fevers, and he hoped it might be found possible tosend an officer with Major Ross on his new expedition toAfrica. The Government of India bad given an allowancewhich had enabled the committee of which he had thehonour to be President to start the Pasteur Institute of Indiawhich was doing admirable work. They had started a newalienist department and sanctioned the scheme for researchlaboratories. The central laboratory would be started at onceand the provincial laboratories would follow as funds becameavailable. He thought, therefore, that he had shown thatthe Government of India was alive to its responsibilities andthat the Service held out as good opportunities as ever togood men. He knew of no service in the world which gaveso many opportunities of doing good. It gave to its most

unfortunate member a reasonable subsistence and a fairpension, while to many of its members it gave good, and to-some very valuable, prizes, with the chance of honours anddistinctions. He believed that the Service would continueto deserve well of the country in the future as in the past,and he invited them to drink to this most desirableconsummation.

I The Guests" was proposed by Dr. W. S. Play fair, andresponded to by Dr. F. W. Pavy, who referred humorouslyto the physiology of dining.

Lieutenant-Colonel Lyon then rose and said that they mustnot forget to thank Mr. Freyer, who had acted as secretaryof the dinner and to whom, indeed, was due the credit forthe initiation of the annual dinner of the Indian MedicalService.Mr. Freyer, in replying, laid stress on what, in his

opinion, was a great grievance-namely, that honours werenot given as they should be for good work done purely insurgery and medicine which lay at the very foundation ofthe work of the Service.Daring the course of the toast-list Surgeon-General Sir

Joseph Fayrer mentioned that a history of the IndianMedical Service was being written by Surgeon-GeneralBeatson.

In the intervals between the toasts the pleasure of theevening was enhanced by Mr. Percy French who sangamusing Irish songs and drew in chalks topsy-turvy pictureswhich would, we imagine, delight the author of the 11 Bab,Ballads."The following is a list of the officers and guests presentSurgeon-Generals W. B. Beatson, Sir J. Fayrer, B’1rt..

K.C.S.I., F.R.S., W. R. Rice, C.S.I., and C. Sibthorp,C.B. Colonels: W. E. Cates, H. Cayley, D. E. Hughes,J. C. Penny, W. H. Roberts, and D. C. O’C. Raye. Lieu-tenant- Colonels: : O. Baker, S. H. Browne, C.LE., A.Crombie, E. F. H. Dobson, P. J. Freyer, T. J. Greany,P. de H. Haig, D. F. Keegan, Sir George King, K.C.I.E.,Sir A. S. Lethbridge, K.C.S.I., I. B. Lyon, C.I.E.,R. Macrea, H. McCalman, G. Massy, R. D. Murray, E.Palmer, J. Parker,.W. A. Simmonds, J. F. Tuohy, R. R. H.Whitwell, and A. H. Williams. Majors : J. W. Caldwell,E. R. W. C. Carroll, T. E. Dyson, F. J. Drury, S. Hassan,and C. T. Hudson. Captains : S. Dallas, G. G. Giffard,P. P. Kilkelly, A. E. H. Pinch, and E. E. Waters ; and Dr.W. S. Playfair.

Guests Sir H. F. Norbury, K.C.B., Surgeon-GeneralA. F. Preston, A.M.S., Dr. F. W. Pavy, F.R.S., Presidentof the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society, Mr. John H.Morgan, F.R.C.S., President of the Medical Society ofLondon, Dr. J. E. Squire, and Mr. Thomas Wakley, Jun.

MIDLAND MEDICAL UNION.

A MEETING of the Nottingham branch of the aboveUnion was held at the Masonic Hall, Nottingham, onJune 12th, Mr. G. B. WRAY being in the chair.

Mr. C. J. PALMER (Mansfield) reported on the work done inhis district. 1. An ironworks club which had proposed toalter its form of payments so that an average pay of from 18s.to 20s. per accident should be reduced to 15s. had been toldthat its suggestion was not agreeable to the surgeons (18 or20 in number). The club thereupon gave way and continuedthe old rate. 2. Most of the friendly societies in theneighbourhood were paying 4s. per member and were nowbeing approached with a view to having that fee raised.3. The guinea midwifery fee was generally adopted exceptin one or two colliery villages. In the case of Dr. W. C.Rainsbury (Teversall), who had received notice after adoptingthis fee, another surgeon had been engaged, but there werestrong reasons for hoping that Dr. Rainsbury would eventuallybe reinstated on his own terms.

Dr. E. H. HouFTON (Shirebrook) said that a similar con-dition of things was to be reported from Chesterfield. Mostof the clubs had been raised to 4s. and arrangements were inprogress to meet delegates from the friendly societies witha view to a further rise. Dr. Houfton pointed out that oneor two of the men who still refused to adopt the guineamidwifery fee (and so stood in the way of others) were menin good position who perhaps charged full fees themselves ; rbut having very large practices they allowed their assistantsto take 15s. and even 10s. 6d. Such men could better afford