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

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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$C ] I fefcertain, the returns of the general hofpitals in tlie Weft Indies during the late war generally exhibited from 20 to 40 medical for one furgical patient. But as nothing will probably afford fo much conviflion to your minds as Dr. Jackfon’s authority, I will again refer to his publication of 1803, p. 15. where, after re- prefenting the late Mr. Hunter as remarking “ that perfons denominated furgeons of regiments adl in tw'o capacities,” he adds that they do it “ rarely indeed in ihe furgical for there rarely is occaJion,\m\t{s in aBual\ daily in the medicaf for the regiment is fcarcely ever without a fick lijl. —and again at p. 2g', 1805, he obferves that the duties of medical men in ar- mies “ require more frequently the exercife of the phyfician’s mental talent than the furgeon's manual dexterity.” The proportions, in which regiments want medU cal and furgical aid, will indeed naturally vary accord- ing to the climates, and fituations in which they are employed and the fcrvlces, battles, See. in which they may be engaged. It is however notorious, that even when there is as much of fighting, as commonly occurs in adfivc campaigns, the number of fick will almoft in- variably much exceed that of wounded—and at other times when there are no wounded, as is moft commonly the cafe,the hofpitals contain few cafes ftridlly chirurgi- cal. It will therefore manifeftly follow that great pub- lic benefit might be obtained by an arrangement which would give to regiments the aid of regular phyficiins for all the medical patients,by the appointment in future oiregimentalphy/icians^ and of regular furgeons for thofe only who are properly within the line of furgery, in- ftead of now committing the whole to regimental fur- geons, who can never be duly qualifed to pradice th6 j.f ^wo intricate arts of phyfick and furgery. ■ >$