A letter to the Commissioners of Military Enquiry : containing animadversions on some parts of their fifth report ; and an examination of the principles on which the medical department of armies ought to be formed / by Edward Nathaniel Bancroft.
- Date:
- 1808
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A letter to the Commissioners of Military Enquiry : containing animadversions on some parts of their fifth report ; and an examination of the principles on which the medical department of armies ought to be formed / by Edward Nathaniel Bancroft. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![[ 33 ] M, Hayes at Southampton.* Even Dr. Jackfon, (to whofe authority I refer fo frequently, only becaufe you rely fo much upon it) is far from fuppofing, with all his partiality for furgeons, that they have ever generally given adequate proofs of theirJitnefs for that ftation. He tells us at p. 389 of his Outline of the Hiftory and Cure of Fever, that inftead of the vague examinations and inadequate proofs of qualifications, upon which young men are appointed to the office of furgeon in armies, iefis of corre6f morals, of aBual knowIedgCy and more particularly of the capacity of improving in know- ledge, ought to be produced openly and publicly, be- fore an office of fuch importance be bellowed —And as a farther illuflration of the confequences of admit- ting unfit medical perfons into the army, Dr. Borland, * Almoft equal difficulty in procuring hofpital mates pro- perly qualified, has ever fince continued to fubfift. The army medical board, in a letter to the deputy-fecretary at war, dated March 6th, 1806, and figned by Sir L. Pepys, Mr. Keate, and Mr. Knight, fay, we have met with un- expected difficulties in raifing our medical recruits, and if the continental war had proceeded, we fiiuuld have founcf ourfelves unequal to the neceffary fupply. The late amelio- ration of pay has certainly induced a better drfcription of c^a- racfm to enter, but the more extended pay and allowances ' lately held out to navy-furgeons, have been a great check on our expectations of a more abundant offer of army-candi- dates,” and on the 13thof October, 1807, Mr. Knight being interrogated by the commiffioners, (fee Report, p. 125.) ref- peCting the continuance of thefe difficulties, anfwcred, “ the fame difficulties (till exift, and rather in a greater degree than before, as we Avere unable to furnifh more than one third of the requifition for hofpital mates for the lalt expe- dition under General Beresford.’’](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21928526_0030.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
