Notes of a short address to the candidates at the opening of the Army Medical School at Netley, April 1st, 1875 / by J. Fayrer.

  • Fayrer, Joseph, Sir, 1824-1907.
Date:
[1875]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes of a short address to the candidates at the opening of the Army Medical School at Netley, April 1st, 1875 / by J. Fayrer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    NOTES OF A SHORT ADDRESS TO THE CANDIDATES AT THE OPENING OF THE i ARMY MEDICAL SCHOOL AT NETLEY, APRIL ist, 1875. j By J. FAYRER, M.D., C.S.I., 1 President of the Indian Medical Board; Member of the Senate. Gentlemen,—By permission of Dr. Fraser and the Senate, I propose to make a few remarks on this occasion of the commencement of another session of the Army Medical School. My reason for doing so is, that I think a few words from one who has been long engaged in the work you are commencing may not be out of place. They will be the result of some experience, and you may accept them as a token of j the interest I take in your future career. No position in which I have been placed has afforded me more satis- faction than that I now occupy as a member of the Senate of this School; for it places me in relation with the rising generation of me- dical officers, and enables me to feel that I may still in some degree further that which has always deeply interested me—medical education. 1 It is more than a quarter of a century, though it seems but as yesterday, since I was, as you now are, commencing my career as a medical j officer; but how great are your advantages, compared with those of the date to which I look back! How much has been done to promote your interests and improve the means of fitting you for your work! Since the Crimean war, great changes have taken place in the constitu- tion of the medical services, and in the duties and responsibilities of the medical officers. The sciences of military hygiene and medicine have made rapid progress. The medical officer is no longer regarded merely as the physician or surgeon to treat disease or wound; he is the guardian of the health of armies and fleets. In some cases, and espe- cially in India, he holds the same position in regard to the civil popu- lation. It is a fact, that officers in the Indian Medical Service, as sanitary commissioners, are the guardians of the health of two hundred millions of people. Your duties will be of a varied character, and you must be well pre- pared to discharge them efficiently. Prevention of disease and pre- servation of health are very essential; but they must not occupy your attention to the exclusion of the study of disease itself, which you must I be prepared to treat in every form, and as it occurs in epidemic and endemic visitations. You must be general practitioners in the widest sense of the term, equally prepared to perform a surgical operation, treat disease, lay down the sanitary conditions for the proper construc- tion of a barrack or hospital, analyse a doubtful potable water, detect an obscure poison, or deal with an impending or present visitation of fholera or other epidemic disease. Where you are going, there will be no room for specialisation. Admirable as the specialist may be in great cities, he would be of little use in a field-hospital or ironclad during an action, or in a cholera or fever camp in India or the tropics. In some services, the medical officers have substantive military rank. ! The Medical Director-General of the United States army is a general. The reports of his department contain papers by majors and captains, who are the surgeons and assistant-surgeons of regiments. Such is not the case with us; and you must bear in mind that, though your position is as good as that of other officers, your relative rank gives you no title to assume the duties or offices of the combatant branch. I need hardly hint at the bad taste of assuming anything to which you are not entitled, especially that to which your own position as members of a learned profession should make you indifferent. But still you are soldiers; and it may happen, as it has done before, to devolve on you, in emergen- cies, to act as such. You have many brilliant examples of the medical taking the place of the combatant officer. Should it fall to your lot, be ready to show that you are as ready for this as for any other duty. Let me advise you not to forget that you are medical at the same time as you are military men. Let there be a due combination of each element. Keep to your own distinct sphere of duty, and you will exercise great influence for good. Overstep it, and you will not only