Judical ADMISSION OF WOMEN TO THE EXAMINATIONS AT THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, ENGLAND.
THE
The London School of Medicine for Women have presented a petition to the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, praying that women medical students might be admitted to the examinations at the College. The matter has been referred to a Committee of the Council for consideration and report. The decision of the Council on the subject will be looked forward to with no little interest. LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS TO THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE FOR THE YEAR 1894. Medical Service ... Madras Medical Service ... Bombay Medical Service... Army Medical Staff Assistant Surgeons
Bengal
...
76 8 8 5 11
66
Others
is expected, supplies by far the Bengal, largest number of contributors and shows a marked increase over each year's numbers. The sister Presidencies also show an increase over last year's number, but is still not represented as they ought to be; the same remark applies to the Array Medical Staff from whom we should be glad to get more help. We observe with pleasure the increase in the number of Assistant Surgeon contributors. There are a large number of medical men in Burma who subscribe to the Journal, and we should be glad to have the benefit of their experiences to a greater extent than at present. as
LONDON LETTER. The
country
is at
present
in the throes of
a
General Election, and great is the excitement in
consequence in town and country. You will be kept thoroughly informed of the progress of this eventful contest which, however noisy in its incidents, does not materially disturb the even flow of life and industry of this great country. The principal interest which the struggle possesses from a medical point of view, consists in the effect which the new War Office arrangements will exercise upon the medical services. Sir H. Campbell Bannerman announced on the which ended his regime at the fatal
evening
Srpt.
1895.]
LONDON LETTER.
War Office that the Duke of Cambridge was about to resign, and that the arrangements for the government of the Army were to undergo considerable modification in the future. The office of Commander-in-Chief is to be retained, but it is to be shorn of much of the power which has hitherto attached to it. Still the new Commander-inChief must of necessity have a strong voice in the ordering of army arrangements; and it is a question of much anxiety to the Army Medical " Department who is to succeed The Duke." Rumour allots the succession to either Lord Wolseley or Lord Roberts. The former is known to be inimical to the Department as an integral part of the military organization, and to be desirous to reduce it to the status of a civil adjunct to the army. Lord Roberts, on the other hand, is believed to be favourable to the aspirations of the service, and to be willing to accord to it that assured position in the army which, most people believe, is necessary to efficiency and hearty work. In a series of papers which recently appeared in the Times on the subject of Military Administration, army doctors were referred to as " officials" and not as " officers." These papers are understood to have emanated from Lord Wolseley, and the tone of them as affecting the medical staff accords with his previous deliverances on the subject. The history of recent campaigns in India ought to give an emphatic quietus to all such views, and to demonstrate finally, if such demonstration were needful, how imperative it is that the army his comrades in all surgeon who has to succour battle should be and of march the eventualities I am not among those who admire a soldier. the fighting doctor in the sense of an assumption of the functions of a combatant; but the army disabled by surgeon has to render aid to those disease or wound in the midst of the movements and collision of war, and the fight for the life of the soldier which he has to conduct under circumstances of hardship and peril demand the possession of those qualities of intrepidity and true bravery which have in recent years won for so many army doctors the coveted distinction of the Victoria Cross. It is curious to observe that while in this country there is a feeling of jealousy among some military men in high places which would rob the army surgeon of the position and title of a soldier and reduce him to the anomalous place of an attached civilian?a sort of glorified camp-follower?another description of jealousy in India among civil practitioners, clamours for the deprivation of all the civil duties which have hitherto been performed so worthily by members of the Indian Medical Service, when their presence with the army is not required, and the allotment of these to a purely civil service. This scheme of spoliation does not rest on any allegation of failure in the past. On the contrary, it has never been asserted, and cannot be asserted that the Indian Medical
353
Service has not creditably and often brilliantly fulfilled every one of the multifarious duties which have been entrusted to it. Nor can the economical argument be seriously advanced because two services must of necessity be more costly than one; civil medical appointments are certainly not overpaid in India, and the services of equally good men could not be obtained for less money, especially in these days of the depreciated rupee. The contention that educated Indians should be employed in and for India is entitled to sympathy and encouragement, but the medical door is now open to such of them as are able to enter it, and the development of the country must in time open other doors which may enable those unable to effect an entrance into the public service through the present portals to render useful and honourable service to their native land. The Civil Medical Service of India calls for qualifications of a very high order, and I have no hesitation in stating my strong belief that a system of recruitment similar to the old *' uncovenanted system will never supply the article which the requirements of the case demand. To relieve the Indian Medical Service of its civil duties would, in short, seriously damage and lower it; and the arrangements proposed to substitute it would not procure an equally efficient executive for the money. I am glad to observe that the British Medical Journal has taken up the question of abbreviating and recasting those wonderful arithmetical compilations which pass for sanitary reports in India. It cannot be too strongly represented that arithmetic is not statistics. Even if the figures were correct, which in most cases they are not, the prolix elaboration of them by means of the elementary rules of arithmetic does not "
contribute to sanitary enlightenment or progress ?rather the reverse. Plain practical sanitary and statistical lessons are hopelessly immersed in the ocean of numerals by which they are engulfed and concealed. A General or Commanding Officer cannot from the report of the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of India discover what the morbidity or mortality of his division or regiment has been during past or recent years. Statistics ought for useful ends to indicate facts appertaining to communities and administrations. Fanciful groupings determined by considerations of latitude, longitude, and elevation, with a little vague geography and geology thrown in, may appear to be more scientific than totals of administrative areas, but while we would not condemn attempts to realize that most difficult
thing?statistical geography?statistics
dominant purpose, to for the sanitation of and of several communities communities single associated under a single Government. It may be urged that that is the function of current returns rather than compiled reports; but the deliberate
ought,
as
a
inform those
main and
responsible
INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE.
354
compilations relating to past times ought to be capable of easy comparison with the figured presentations of the present time. There is no task so appalling in prospect or repellent in performance or barren in result as the perusal of an average Indian sanitary report. The pith of it may be put in a nutshell; and if only the compilers would set themselves seriously and
resolutely to erase every useless or unreliable figure and computation and retain only those
which support a sound conclusion, or point a useful lesson, or convey a promising suggestion, the saving of time and temper, cost and confusion, would be immense. Let the figures be collected and tabulated by all means and retained for record and reference in Indian offices, but why scatter them broadcast for the obfuscation of humanity at large ? 12th
July
1895.
[?ErT.
1395.
THE
The London School of Medicine for Women have presented a petition to the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, praying that women medical students might be admitted to the examinations at the College. The matter has been referred to a Committee of the Council for consideration and report. The decision of the Council on the subject will be looked forward to with no little interest. LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS TO THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE FOR THE YEAR 1894. Medical Service ... Madras Medical Service ... Bombay Medical Service... Army Medical Staff Assistant Surgeons
Bengal
...
76 8 8 5 11
66
Others
is expected, supplies by far the Bengal, largest number of contributors and shows a marked increase over each year's numbers. The sister Presidencies also show an increase over last year's number, but is still not represented as they ought to be; the same remark applies to the Array Medical Staff from whom we should be glad to get more help. We observe with pleasure the increase in the number of Assistant Surgeon contributors. There are a large number of medical men in Burma who subscribe to the Journal, and we should be glad to have the benefit of their experiences to a greater extent than at present. as
LONDON LETTER. The
country
is at
present
in the throes of
a
General Election, and great is the excitement in
consequence in town and country. You will be kept thoroughly informed of the progress of this eventful contest which, however noisy in its incidents, does not materially disturb the even flow of life and industry of this great country. The principal interest which the struggle possesses from a medical point of view, consists in the effect which the new War Office arrangements will exercise upon the medical services. Sir H. Campbell Bannerman announced on the which ended his regime at the fatal
evening
Srpt.
1895.]
LONDON LETTER.
War Office that the Duke of Cambridge was about to resign, and that the arrangements for the government of the Army were to undergo considerable modification in the future. The office of Commander-in-Chief is to be retained, but it is to be shorn of much of the power which has hitherto attached to it. Still the new Commander-inChief must of necessity have a strong voice in the ordering of army arrangements; and it is a question of much anxiety to the Army Medical " Department who is to succeed The Duke." Rumour allots the succession to either Lord Wolseley or Lord Roberts. The former is known to be inimical to the Department as an integral part of the military organization, and to be desirous to reduce it to the status of a civil adjunct to the army. Lord Roberts, on the other hand, is believed to be favourable to the aspirations of the service, and to be willing to accord to it that assured position in the army which, most people believe, is necessary to efficiency and hearty work. In a series of papers which recently appeared in the Times on the subject of Military Administration, army doctors were referred to as " officials" and not as " officers." These papers are understood to have emanated from Lord Wolseley, and the tone of them as affecting the medical staff accords with his previous deliverances on the subject. The history of recent campaigns in India ought to give an emphatic quietus to all such views, and to demonstrate finally, if such demonstration were needful, how imperative it is that the army his comrades in all surgeon who has to succour battle should be and of march the eventualities I am not among those who admire a soldier. the fighting doctor in the sense of an assumption of the functions of a combatant; but the army disabled by surgeon has to render aid to those disease or wound in the midst of the movements and collision of war, and the fight for the life of the soldier which he has to conduct under circumstances of hardship and peril demand the possession of those qualities of intrepidity and true bravery which have in recent years won for so many army doctors the coveted distinction of the Victoria Cross. It is curious to observe that while in this country there is a feeling of jealousy among some military men in high places which would rob the army surgeon of the position and title of a soldier and reduce him to the anomalous place of an attached civilian?a sort of glorified camp-follower?another description of jealousy in India among civil practitioners, clamours for the deprivation of all the civil duties which have hitherto been performed so worthily by members of the Indian Medical Service, when their presence with the army is not required, and the allotment of these to a purely civil service. This scheme of spoliation does not rest on any allegation of failure in the past. On the contrary, it has never been asserted, and cannot be asserted that the Indian Medical
353
Service has not creditably and often brilliantly fulfilled every one of the multifarious duties which have been entrusted to it. Nor can the economical argument be seriously advanced because two services must of necessity be more costly than one; civil medical appointments are certainly not overpaid in India, and the services of equally good men could not be obtained for less money, especially in these days of the depreciated rupee. The contention that educated Indians should be employed in and for India is entitled to sympathy and encouragement, but the medical door is now open to such of them as are able to enter it, and the development of the country must in time open other doors which may enable those unable to effect an entrance into the public service through the present portals to render useful and honourable service to their native land. The Civil Medical Service of India calls for qualifications of a very high order, and I have no hesitation in stating my strong belief that a system of recruitment similar to the old *' uncovenanted system will never supply the article which the requirements of the case demand. To relieve the Indian Medical Service of its civil duties would, in short, seriously damage and lower it; and the arrangements proposed to substitute it would not procure an equally efficient executive for the money. I am glad to observe that the British Medical Journal has taken up the question of abbreviating and recasting those wonderful arithmetical compilations which pass for sanitary reports in India. It cannot be too strongly represented that arithmetic is not statistics. Even if the figures were correct, which in most cases they are not, the prolix elaboration of them by means of the elementary rules of arithmetic does not "
contribute to sanitary enlightenment or progress ?rather the reverse. Plain practical sanitary and statistical lessons are hopelessly immersed in the ocean of numerals by which they are engulfed and concealed. A General or Commanding Officer cannot from the report of the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of India discover what the morbidity or mortality of his division or regiment has been during past or recent years. Statistics ought for useful ends to indicate facts appertaining to communities and administrations. Fanciful groupings determined by considerations of latitude, longitude, and elevation, with a little vague geography and geology thrown in, may appear to be more scientific than totals of administrative areas, but while we would not condemn attempts to realize that most difficult
thing?statistical geography?statistics
dominant purpose, to for the sanitation of and of several communities communities single associated under a single Government. It may be urged that that is the function of current returns rather than compiled reports; but the deliberate
ought,
as
a
inform those
main and
responsible
INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE.
354
compilations relating to past times ought to be capable of easy comparison with the figured presentations of the present time. There is no task so appalling in prospect or repellent in performance or barren in result as the perusal of an average Indian sanitary report. The pith of it may be put in a nutshell; and if only the compilers would set themselves seriously and
resolutely to erase every useless or unreliable figure and computation and retain only those
which support a sound conclusion, or point a useful lesson, or convey a promising suggestion, the saving of time and temper, cost and confusion, would be immense. Let the figures be collected and tabulated by all means and retained for record and reference in Indian offices, but why scatter them broadcast for the obfuscation of humanity at large ? 12th
July
1895.
[?ErT.
1395.
