Hospital reform : revised report of a speech, delivered at the general meeting of the Medico-Political Association, held in Birmingham, April 17, 1868 / by Sampson Gamgee.

  • Gamgee, Sampson, 1828-1886.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hospital reform : revised report of a speech, delivered at the general meeting of the Medico-Political Association, held in Birmingham, April 17, 1868 / by Sampson Gamgee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    forgetfulness are convenient. To military officers who know by experience the slowness and heavy pecuniary cost of promotion, the idea of selection for superior rank by merit can never be agreeable. Members of our pro- fession are after all but human. The rise into position is a very tedious affair, and, once in it, the disposition is natural to enjoy it as comfortably as possible. Checks to progress generally conduce to the comfort of men in possession; innovators are proverbially importunate and enthusiastic, not rarely very troublesome; and however much the occupants of virtually irresponsible offices may differ on many questions, they are at one as to the desirability of resisting change. One of the worst effects of this state of things is the influence it exercises over the aspirants who have the foremost chance of place ; instinct soon teaches them that they are nearly as safe from the stimulus of emulation as the actual holders of office, provided they make no attempt at disturbing the conditions; and hence it is that in the profession of medicine we so often find men ultra- conservatives at thirty, just when in a healthy state their mental powers would begin to be available for vigorous action; and this in a profession which, having nature for its study, example, and pursuit, should be, above all other callings, unfettered and ceaselessly progressive. Locally the illustrations of this state of things are peculiarly striking. Our students generally draft off into practice as soon as they obtain their diplomas, and the House Physicians and Surgeons are not appointed after the plan common in London and Edinburgh; but those offices are advertised with a salary of one hun- dred a year and board. The appointment rests in most