John McCosh

“ The medical department as a body yield to none in a well grounded education, and a diversity of talent well fitted to advance the cause of science in all its departments, but where extra professional labours are required, and satisfactorily complied with, some adequate remuneration is necessary to insure a continuation of them. ”

“ The world and the legislature have put it down, officers have seen the folly, the barbarity of the old mode of demanding satisfaction, and a duel is now a much rarer occurrence than a deliberate murder. ”

“ Each presidency has its own commander-in-chief, its own grade of promotion, its own dress, its own code of laws and regulations; even its own language; and unless on the frontier, or on general field service, the armies do not come in contact, nor interchange duties. The European officers are picked men who enter the service as a profession for life,with honours and preferment held out as rewards for professional zeal and talent. ”

“ In European regiments, every surgeon has two or three assistants under him, but by far the greater number of those enrolled as assistants hold independent charges quite as important as the surgeons. No regiment of Native Infantry has more than one surgeon or an assistant, and the duties of all civil stations are entrusted to assistants. Most civil appointments must be given up on promotion, or promotion must be given up to retain the appointment. Most staff appointments are now open to assistant-surgeons. ”

“ At one time, Government prohibited Europeans from receiving fees from natives,but that restriction has now been withdrawn. In most cases, the natives prefer their own countrymen as their medical attendants, and take the advice of European skill only in extreme cases or where they hope to profit by the influence of their medical attendants.
To one not initiated in the customs of the East, the mode of attendance on native ladies of rank must appear very absurd. The doctor is rarely, indeed, allowed to see his fair patient face to face. ”

“ AN OUTLINE OF INDIA.—Though every one knows that India is the brightest gem in the British Crown, and the most important colony on the surface of the globe, yet few young officers arrive in the country with correct ideas of its geographical extent ”

“ Officers who do not wish to give offence to their appointed medical attendant, will always express to him their wishes if they want the opinion of another surgeon, and a ready compliance will always be found, and a consultation the result. At the same time it must be borne in mind that it is the duty of any surgeon to visit any patient on any emergency when called on to do so, transferring the case afterwards to the surgeon of the corps that the sick officer belongs to. ”

“ Formerly, all surgeons at the presidency had the privilege of having the prescriptions for their patients, whether of or not of the service,made up free of expense at the Government Dispensary. Of late, this boon has been withdrawn, the doors of the dispensary have been closed against all dispensation and the wants of the sick are supplied by numerous druggists who drive a very flourishing trade in consequence. Very few practitioners not in the service, contrive to maintain a favourable position in practice in Calcutta unless through their capacity of druggists. ”

“ The prejudices of the natives against the taint of dead bodies has been overcome, and practical dissection is carried on at all seasons and with alacrity; degrees and diplomas are granted, and the course of study is acknowledged by our English schools to qualify for English degrees. The students of highest attainments, are styled sub-assistant surgeons, and are appointed to the numerous dispensaries established in most large cities, or to minor civil stations;during their course of study most of the students receive subsistence from Government, at the rate of five or more rupees a month. ”

“ In Calcutta, private practice forms the principal source of income, and though the pay of a presidency surgeon is far below that of a regimental one, yet their appointments are eagerly sought for. The scale of remuneration varies with the income of the family attended, and runs from 200 to 800 rupees annually, or one week's pay of the head of the family. ”

“ All officers in India may expect to be much left to themselves, to be cast entirely upon their own resources ;and happiest are they who have some pleasant hobby to mount independent of the world, and can take a quiet canter along the monotonous high-ways and bye-ways of tropical existence. ”

“ The medical officers have again and again memorialized against their grievances but to no purpose; they feel that they have been looked upon as a discontented troublesome set of men,and that they have been treated accordingly with neglect. ”

“ In most cases, the lady throws the door slightly open and extends her hand through the slit for him to feel her pulse, or in the event of his being admitted into the Harem, the patient lies in bed shrouded in curtains and exposes the tongue or the seat of disease through a hole in the curtain made expressly on purpose. Nor is this modesty confined to the young and the beautiful, but the old, and for what is known to the contrary, the ugly also are equally shy in exposing their person. ”

“ The examination for medical appointments takes place at the India House in July and January; and all information respecting particulars can be got from the secretary in the military department at the India House.
Besides the professional qualifications required, young officers cannot be too careful to improve themselves in education, in the most comprehensive sense of the word. I am of opinion, that general education is too much neglected, and that cadets are too apt to be satisfied with having passed their curriculum without caring much for anything more. To write a good hand ”

“ NATIVE SKILL.— The healing art has been practiced from time immemorial, amongst the natives, by self taught practitioners, and their precepts have been handed down from generation to generation as a valuable inheritance to their children. Every village has its doctor, and every village doctor has his thousand cures for all the ills that flesh is heir to. ”

“ Promotion from assistant to surgeon is regulated by seniority alone. All surgeons of thirty years' standing are promoted to be senior surgeons, but the offices of superintending surgeon and member of the Board were, in 1842, declared staff appointments, to which seniority gave no claim ”

“ It is somewhat remarkable, that promotion to the rank of senior surgeon is but an empty name, for by G. O. it "confers no claim whatever to superior allowances, and will make no change whatever in the nature of their employment." They get the rank of major at thirty years' service, but no corresponding increase of pay. In my opinion, this restriction is calculated to injure the public service most materially. An increase of pay, after having served 16 years as surgeon, was urgently called for. ”

“ But the possession of a hobby is not enough; they ought to be able to physic their own horses and dogs; to superintend the construction of their own houses and baggage carts; to know how to manage a farm-yard and a garden; how to cook their own dinner; brew their own ale; how to ride and how to drive how to shoot and how to sail; how to calculate their pay in vulgar and decimal fractions ”

“ Turning to the north-west, we find the mould expanding, the stature lengthening by degrees, and attaining the very beau ideal of manly form and feature in the Rohilla. Crossing the Sutlej, we find in the Seikh, men of still further strength and stature, but with less polish; and on entering Afghanistan, still further development of muscle, though with reduced stature and less refinement; fit companions for horses and camels; beasts of burden as well as stalwart men. ”

“ Indeed the spirit of the times seems to be to lower the emoluments of the seniors and reduce the inducements to continue in the service, as the eagerness with which the fund annuities are taken up, amply demonstrates. ”

“ Most of them are Europeans, some, the sons of European soldiers who have not had the benefit of an education in Europe. They enter the service as hospital apprentices on the pay of thirteen rupees a month, after two years service they may be promoted to assistant apothecaries or assistant stewards on seventy rupees a month, and after about nine years spent in that grade, they are promoted with pay of 120 or 140 a month. ”

“ During the course of his service in India, he may make such a faithful collection of representations of man and animals, of architecture and landscape, that would be a welcome contribution to any museum. The camera should be made of good substantial mahogany, clamped with brass, made to stand extremes of heat. ”

“ In all cases, both principal and seconds must undergo the ordeal of a court martial, involving the risk of loss of commission, and in fatal cases the risk of being indicted for manslaughter or murder. ”

“ Lately a valuable new journal, called the Indian Annals of Medicine, published half-yearly, has been established in Calcutta, and is at present the only representative of the profession in Bengal, its pages being occasionally enriched by official communications sent to and presented by the Medical Board. ”

“ Many of their remedies are worthy of a place in our more enlightened codes, and have indeed been adopted, and their success in surgery in cases of cataract and calculus is wonderful,considering their ignorance of anatomy. ”

“ To take no measures to obtain reparation for insulted honour, subjects the officer insulted to the ordeal of a court martial.
19. PAY.— The pay of an Assistant Surgeon at a half batta station, is C.R. 225 12 per month, and at a full batta C.R. 256 10, and if in medical charge of a regiment, C. R. 165 is added as staff allowance, medical officers in charge of departments, are allowed C.R.121⁄2 rupees for every 100 natives per month, and 25 percent, for Europeans. ”