540

THE LANCET.

LONDON: SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1861.

ARMY MEDICAL REGULATIONS.

THE profession will be glad to learn that an Army regulationsomewhat discouraging to the formation of a joint examinationby the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons has been rescinded.Three months ago the War Office intimated that the medical

and surgical qualifications required from intending candidatesfor the competitive examination must be obtained by distinctexaminations. This led to an announcement by the EdinburghColleges, which appeared in our columns, warning intendingcandidates for the Army service that they must undergo the

separate examination of each College, while for Poor-law ap-pointments, and for registration under the Medical Act, thejoint examination by the two Colleges was valid. This state

of matters, to say the least of it, was perplexing to those stu-dents who were uncertain whether the Army might be theirdestiny, but who preferred, as all students naturally will, thejoint examination; while it was a discouragement to the Edin-

burgh Colleges for having done right, and an encouragement to. our own Colleges for having failed in their duty in delaying toform a joint board, although the voice of the profession de-,mands such an arrangement. But the War Office has thoughtbetter of it, has repented of the confusion it has wrought, andhas just intimated that the regulation requiring the examinations to be distinct has been rescinded. It has followed the

example of the Poor-law Board, which, when lately appealedto on the same question, intimated that it required simply alegal qualification in Medicine and in Surgery, and did notconcern itself with whether these were obtained by separate orby conjoint examination, or from one College, provided that

College had authority to issue qualifications both in Surgeryand in Medicine, or to issue a qualification which included,Sur-gery as well as Medicine. The principle adopted by the Poor-

.,,,law Board, and now followed by the Army, -that of simply.:requiring a -complete legal qualification, embracing Medicine

_ and Surgery,-must commend itself to the approval of the

profession, however unpalatable it may be at Lincoln’s-inn-

fields ; and the Edinburgh Colleges may be congratulated onthe course being again set free for the operation of their jointexamination, for leading the way in the formation of whichthey have received on all hands, and deserve, the highestpraise.The fact that the Colleges license in one department only,—

giving, in short, what in the eye of the -law is but a half

diploma,-is the only reason why a double qualification, as itis called, is required. It is simply a regulation requiring acomplete legal qualification, and the joint examination by thetwo Colleges is the true way to attain this-the true way of

attaining for the general -practitioner, in other words, for the

profession, that one-faculty system which THE LANCET has

long advocated. Such an arrangement was specially con-

templated by the Medical Act, which provides, in Clause XIX.,that " Any two or more of the Colleges and Bodies in the"United Kingdom mentioned. in Schedule (A) to this Act,"may, with the sanction and under the direction of the Gene-

"ral Council, unite or co-operate in conducting the exami-" nations required for qualifications to be registered under this" Act." And that the Medical Council approves it, is evidentfrom the readiness with which it sanctioned the scheme of a

joint Board by the Edinburgh Colleges. The intention of the

Dublin Colleges to form a joint Board is understood to havebeen checked by the Army regulation; while the disincli-

nation of one of our own Colleges found in the same regulationa convenient pretext for delay. Now that this obstacle has

been removed, it is hoped that no further time will be lost in

instituting a joino examination; and we trust that none of theformer petty jealousies will be allowed to stand in the way.There is yet time to have the scheme ready for the approval ofthe Medical Council at its approaching meeting. Indeed, self-interest will probably now operate to enable the College of

Surgeons to see that it owes this duty to the profession. The

attraction of a complete qualification on one examination is somanifest that the existence of such opportunities elsewheremust diminish the applications for the diploma of the College,and by thus touching its pocket touch what has always beenits most, if not its only, sensitive point. There is not only thejoint examination of the Edinburgh Colleges of Physicians andSurgeons, giving the double licence and title of Physician andSurgeon, but there are the medical and surgical degrees of theScotch Universities on one examination, and the College is,doubtless, sufficiently alive to the fact that a considerable

number of the candidates for its diploma have been hithertofrom the Scotch Universities. In Ireland, too, there is now

the surgical as well as the medical degree of the Dublin Uni-versity.Another consideration which may help the College of Sur-

geons to see its way to a joint examination with the College ofPhysicians is, that a question may now be fairly raised whe-ther the College of Physicians is not of itself empowered tolicense the general practitioner should the College so choose,or, indeed, whether its licence does not already include autho-rity to practise Surgery as well as Medicine, in virtue of thedefinition of the word "Physic" in the Charter of the College.We do not mean that the College needs to issue a separatediploma in Surgery, or even to mention Surgery in addition to,"Physic" in its diploma ; but that in the ominous words oftheCharter, "forasmuch as the science of Physic doth compre-"hend and contain the knowledge of Surgery as a specialmember and part of the same," the Licentiate being, as such,legally authorized to " practise and exercise the science ofPhysic in all its members and parts," it is a fair question toraise whether the Licentiate of the College of Physicians is nota fully -constituted general practitioner. That famous Clause

XXXI. of the Medical Act would recognise as sufficient anyone qualification which embraces legal authority for " Medicineand Surgery;" and the regulations of the Pour-law Board,founded on the principle of recognising all legal qualificationsto the full extent, expressly intimate that one qualificationcontaining authority to practise Medicine and Surgery will besufficient.

We throw out these hints to indicate that the College ofSurgeons, besides being now exposed to a new competitionelsewhere, is by no means so safe even in its own domain as ithas hitherto considered itself; that it stands on the edge of aprecipice, over which it may fall, unless the College of Phy-sicians extends its hand to save it. By now forming a joint

541AN INDIAN COURT-MARTIAL.

Board with the Physicians, it may not only escape these the respective ages of seven and five years, at a working man’sapproaching dangers, but recover its somewhat tarnished repu- house in the Mile-end-road, and I was living in the most desti-

tation,..by thus at last performing its duty to the student and tute condition. I had no property, no expectations. I could

to the profession. not raise or borrow any mo ley to pay my passage out. How,to the profession. therefore, could I obey the imperative order to sail in August?

IT I had foeseen this difficulty during my interview at the India

IT has not often been our lot to peruse a more distressing Office with Colonel Baker, the Military Secretary ; and I hadaccount, of the misfortunes of an Indian medical officer than accordingly asked him, ’What if I have no means of takingthe following, drawn from the columns of a recent num- me to India ?’ His reply was, The Government do notber (March 9th) of the Bombay.Times and Standard. The entertain the question at all. It is for you to obey the order,

Presidency of the Bombay Army had, it is well known, ac- or, failing to do so, to lose the service.’ ,

quired an unenviable reputation for the character of its Courts- It now occurred to Dr. LAWRENCE that he was entitled,

Maitial; but it was hoped that with the retirement of its late under the circumstances, to draw a loan upon the Bombay

Commander better days.would come. Such expectation has Military Fund for means to return to his post in India, or at

been fallacious, for we have here before us a detail of such least that he might borrow of it X120 for the voyage, if he

proceedings as (in the words of the Indian editor) disclosl’s could only find his way back to prefer the claim. Before taking

an amount of euffering. and oppression almost unharmlleled, the step here, however, he applied to Colonel SWANSON (a very-

and recalling the picture of misery THOMAS HOOD has left us old member of the Fund) for his opinion; and the latter gave

in his "Song of the Shirt" and "The Pauper that nobody it as follows :-owns." "Dr. Lawrence having applied to me for my opinion, I begIn,1846 Dr. HYDE PA-umFr. LAWRENCE entered the service to state that under the regulations of the Bombay Military

Fund he will be entitled, on his return to Bombay, to a loanof the East India Company. The climate soon began to tell Fund rupees from the Fund, his the purpose of bringing hisdisa dvan tageous ly him, an d in 1848 he was obliged to

of 1200 rupees from the Fund, for the purpose of briniging hisdisadvantageously upon him, and. in 1848 he was obliged to family from England, on condition of his having repaid allleave for England on a medical certificate of three years’ leave. former loans with interest. I am no longer a Director of the .

He remained here, however, only, two years, but in 1-57 was Military Fund, and I give this opinion merely as a member;again absent for another year. After returning once more, he but I have no doubt on the point.

’

was forced to leave Bombay in October, 1859, upon a three (Sianed) "J. SWANSON, Col. Bombay Army."

years’ medical certificate, having in the preceding month of It must be now observed that when Dr. LAWRENCE left -

August left Ahmedabad. During the three weeks he remained Bombay his Military Fund schedule was endorsed upon the

atBomba,y he was so ill as to be unable to go to the pay-office, back, that he was still indebted to the Fund Rs. 834-13-1,

being, in fact, confined by sickness to his quarters at Kliet- being the balance of a loan he had previously contracted. But

waddy during the whole of that time. Being not only a sick there being certain arrears of pay which would become due to

but a poor man, and having a wife and two children, without Dr. LAWRENCE during his absence from India, before leaving

any private means of their own, Dr. LAWRENCE was obliged to he gave instructions to Captain MOYLE, of the 22nd Regt. of

obtain the sum of X120 from the Government, to which he Grenadiers, to act for him in receiving that pay and settle

believed every officer going home on sick certificate was en- the claims rightly due from him to the Fund. Presuming that

titled, to defray the expenses of his passage. Now it must this had been done, the Assistant-Surgeon drew a bill on the

be remarked that India was likely to be the early grave of Secretary of the Bombay Military Fund for £ 120, and left for

Dr. LAWRENCE if he remained there; he was constantly away India, where he arrived last November, to find that the bi1l

on sick leave, and formed what is technically known as one of had been presented for payment and refused. On his arrival

the. "bad bargains" of the Service. Prejudiced people may he was put upon subsistence money, and ordered to Ahmed. suppose that there was a resolve to get quit of such a bargain abad, whenoe he was telegraphed on the 21st of February’-if possible. - The Assistant-Surgeon arrived in London in to proceed- to Bombay. Being urtable- from the allowances

November, 1859. In February following he first heard of made him to pay his passage from Surat, he was obliged to

some charges having. been preferred against him by the late leave his whole kit and uniform and all his children’s -clothing

Commander-in-chief. He went at once to the India Office, , on board the steamer as security for the passage-money, which-

and:was informed that he was ordered to make the best of his amounted to-70 rupees. He now found that the former charges

way forthwith to India to meet certain accusations which might for which he was recalled to India, anzl upon,which a Court of

, " Court of Inquiry." rrn exact na ure r these Inquiry had been held, had been abandoned, but that he wasinvolve a " Court of Inquiry." The exact na ure of these Inquiry had been held, had been abandoned, but that’he vtras ’

charges could not be learned. At this time he was so unwell to- be’tried, on the 5th March, before a European general

that he hesitated at this order for return to India only three- Court Martial, upon-the following charge,:,-

months after his arrival in England. He therefore proceeded " For conduct highly disgraceful, unbecoming the character

to Sir RANALD MARTIN (the t’hysieian of the India Council), ’an offitrer and a gentleman, and to the prejudice of goodto Sir RANALD MARTIN (the Physician of the India Council),- ’ order and military discipline, in having, under date the 66hB.and after a personal examination by him was allowed to remain.. of July, 1860, drawn a bill of exchange for X120 on the Secre-at home until the following August.. Since leaving India Dr. tary to ‘the Bombay, Military. Fund, payable to the order ofLAWRENCE had not received any pay except "subsistence Messrs. Ja es Thomson and Co., London, he (Assistant-Sur-money," and this only dated from his arrival in November. geon Lawrence) well knowing at the time that he had not oalyAt length July came, when he was to be thinking of leaving

no authority to draw on the Secretary to the Bombay MilitaryAtlength July came, when he was to be thinking of leaving- no authority to draw on the Secretary to the Bombay Military

for the East; and, pleads the Medical Officer in his defence,— Fund for toe above money, but that he was actually indebted. tor the East; and, pleads the Medical Ofncenn his defence,— .1. said Fund the sum of Rs..834-13-1, or thereabouts, as

"What was I to do? How could I obey the command to the said Fund the sum of Rs..834-13-1, or thereabouts, as . :

" What was I to do ? How could I obey the command to exhibited on his last pay certificate received by him in theproceed to India ? I had no money, nor means to obtain any. month of February, 1860; the above being in brear.h of the-fI was lodging in London, together with my two children of Articles of War."

-,

542 REPRESENTATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON.

From the prosecutor’s (Colonel CniTTY’s) address, it must selves. Captain Chitty had a most odious task imposed uponbe admitted that it is plain the assistant-surgeon should not, him in the prosecution, and consulted well his own reputationin a legal military sense, have left India before he had ad- in waiving all reply to the prisoner’s defence. We say, reve.

justed the claims which the Military Fund had against him. rently, God help the officers of an army subject to authorities*’ the second place, such claims had not been adjusted him sanction such proceedings as are revealed in this case."In the second place, such claims had not been adjusted in his

that sanction such proceedings as are revealed j, this case: ,absence, as Dr. LAWRENCE presumed they would have been. The Court had just closed for deliberation and finding whenThirdly, that being still a debtor to the Fund, he had not our

latest correspondence left Bombay. As to what its judg4

strictly the privilege of asking a further loan from it. Why ment ought to be, there can exist, we should imagine, but onestrictly the privilege of asking a further loan from it. Why ..

the adjustment did not take place we do not know, nor why opinion.the charge brought before the Court of Inquiry for leavingIndia in debt to the Fund was abandoned by it. Suffice it to THE Graduates of the University of London are wisely reo

say, Dr. LAWRENCE was brought to Court Martial for doing solved not to lose the long-promised seat in Parliament throughthat which he honestly believed he was entitled to do, and supineness. The exciting cause of their present activity is the

without doing which he never could have obeyed his summons movement of the Scotch Universities, which are making strenu.

of recall and returned to his duties. In the forcible words of ous efforts to snatch one of the four condemned English seats.the editor of the Bombay Standard— Resentful of aggression, our northern friends are not slow to,

The man, prostrated by sickness, with a wife and two seize an opportunity at the cost of others. An opinion un-

children dependent upon him, his heart heavy with the know- favourable to the endowment of Chelsea with two seats seems

ledge that a serious but unknown charge is hanging over him, to have gained ground. A shrewd glance from the North de.is left to perish in the streets of the metropolis unless the scries the fair prospect. A claim is put forward to appropriatehand of charity is stretched out to save him. To get back to one seat to the Universities of Scotland. It is generally feltthis country, and to save his commission, but one chance pre- that if the question were one of a comprehensive Reform, in-sen t e d’ itself. lie believed that he was entitled to £120 fromIn-

sented itself. He believed that he was entitled to £120 from volving the redistribution of seats on a large scale, and espe-the Medical Fund for the voyage if he could only find his way °

back to prefer the claim. Instead of doing so, as nine men cially the filling up of Scottish vacancies, no claim could beout of ten in circumstances so desperate would have done- stronger than that of the Scotch Universities. But that is not

namely, drawing the bill forthwith, he proceeded with mar- the question. There are four English seats to dispose of, andvellous propriety to inquire of Colonel Swanson if his impres- it seems equitable to transfer them to English constituencies.sion were correct, and found it confirmed. The bill is there-

And, again, if it be a question simply of which academicaf And, again, if it be a question simply of which academicalfore drawn ; and after twelve months of heartbreaking misery .,--.-, ... -..... .he arrives in India to find that the charges preferred against body should first be admitted to parliamentary representation,him are abandoned, but that he is now to be arraigned for the London University may urge repeated and distinct recog-what he did in his desperate efforts to get back and face the nitions of its claims. Lord GRANVILLE took occasion quitecharges hanging over him." recently to declare publicly his intention to support the priorTo sum up Dr. LAWRENCE’S defence, it was briefly this: right of the English University to an English seat. We be.

that in drawing the bill upon the Military Fund he simply did lieve that the leading members of all political parties concurthat which he then conscientiously believed he had the right in the sentiments upon which this intention is based.

to do; and that now the matter being unravelled, those cir- It is expected that Sir JAMES GRAHAM, who is a member ofcumstances which were allowed to continue in operation, and the Senate of the London University, will bring forward anwhich were afterwards hastened so as to render the right more amendment in favour of the Metropolitan University upon anythan questionable, were so permitted to remain and come into motion having for its object to transfer a seat to the Scotchaction unknown to him, and after he had used every means as Universities. Actuated by the hopes springing from this con-he supposed to prevent them doing so. Consequently his juncture, the former supporters of Sir JOHN ROMILLY are againconduct "was not highly disgraceful, unbecoming the character strenuously organizing their forces. A preliminary meeting’ of an officer and gentleman, and to the prejudice of good has been held at the Freemasons’ Tavern, and a resolution has" order and military discipline." And who, generously and been passed requesting the former committee to resume their

conscientiously can say it was? What "officer and gentle- functions, to watch over the proceedings of the House of Com-man" can read the report of this Court-Martial, and forbear to mons, and to take such steps as may seem to them advisablelook upon the assistant-surgeon infinitely more in sorrow than to bring the Master of the Rolls forward as a candidate at thein anger ? earliest period.

" Since my arrival here," says he, " I have been, and am Sir JOHN ROMILLY rendered the most valuable services in

now, living in a tent in the Strangers’ Lines,’ entirely sup- assisting at the foundation of the University. He unites everyported by the charity of a person who knew me some years claim that exalted personal character, influential position, andago ; for as I have always served either in Scinde, Rajpootana, honourable association with the University can bestow. Itor at Aden, I knew no one in Bombay to whom I could apply will be fortunate if the graduates succeed in obtaining him as or at Aden, I knew no one in Bombay to whom I could apply be fortunate if the graduates succeed in obtaining him asfor relief.for relief."

their first representative.GOD help thee, Dr. LAWRENCE! For may we not, with the

Bombay Advocate, , ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.—The annual meeting" Say advisedly that the proceeding is infamous, and that of this Society was held on Monday afternoon at Burlington

such tyranny and cruelty could hardly find a parallel in th House, Piccadilly. Sir Roderick Murchison presided. The

history of military administration. We need hardly add meeting was numerously attended. The report stated that

that the man is a stranger to us. We are persuaded that during the year 233 fellows had been added to the Society,that the man is a stranger to us. We are persuaded that which now comprised 1510 fellows. The income for the yeareveryone who reads the trial will regard the course pursued had been £6583 12s. 5d. ; and, after meeting the necessaryby the authorities with the same feeling of indignation as our- 1 I expenditure, a balance of X710 lls. 4d. remained.