medicine, upon which must be grounded a knowledge of the hygienic conditions of large populaUpon such knowledge, and upon its application, depend
sciences collateral to sound tions.
the issues of life and death. The novel sphere in which Major Malleson will now find himself, and in which his energies will henceforth be brought into play, is one of paramount importance in relation to everything that affects the health of the general community, and the physical well-being of a population numbering many millions of souls. But any administration must of necessity be imperfect which is based upon an insufficiency of special knowledge. How, we would ask, can a man possibly administrate in
a
matter which has to deal with the deleterious influences
destroy health or life, if he be ignorant of the nature of agencies, and ungrounded in the sciences which bear upon the preservation of health. To cite an illustration : The connection between deadly intermittents and ferruginous soils; that
those
between
and cholcra; between cholera and trap forma-
ozone
tions ; between goitre and the presence of calcareous salts ; between splenic cachexies and low levels, river basins and inundated tracts of land, must present to Major Malleson's mind but a confused and hopeless mass of data; while by the man of
science,
physician, the physiologist, the sanitarian, these recognized as the irrefragable exponents of tlio diseases which tend to impair the happiness of
the
very data are cause
of
thousands of men, and to shorten their career of usefulness. The duties of even
a
selves for such
THE PRESIDENT OF THE SANITARY COMMISSION. "
by Lord Herbert of Lea that to apply the principles of sanitary science either to individuals or communities, demands a considerable portion of that special knowledge which appertains to the physician, physiologist, geologist, meteorologist, topographist, chemist, engineer, and mechanic." We quote this opinion (of one who appreciated the importance and difficulties of the subject he was writing about) in connection with the appointment of Major G-. B. Malleson as Head of the Sanitary Department of Bengal. As far as Major Malleson's proIt
was
said
motion to
a
more
lucrative
appointment
goes,
we
are
inclined
congratulate him ; but in as far as his appointment bears on the Sanitary interests of the general community and of the Army, we cannot but regret it. Major Malleson has never arrogated to himself qualifications for Sanitary administration, his present advancement therefore would appear to be foreign to all his aspirations and studies. He is a man of ability and of not inconsiderable literary acquirement, his English is exact and idiomatic, and he has a felicitous aptitude for grouping, in a heartily
to
picturesque
manner, historical
facts
connected
with
revolu-
unconquered India. This is all very well in its way ; but surely the subjects which should form the basis of qualification in a Sanitary administrator must be, to Major Malleson, mysteries as profound as the doctrine of Zymotic disease or?the connection between defects of Hygiene and tlio adynamic types of Fever. Sanitation or Hygiene is tionary
France or
sometimes called the Science of take it for
"
Preventive Medicine."
that the Head of the
We
Sanitary Department granted ought to understand this science. To do so, however, must have studied, and made himself familiar with, other
Sanitarian in India must appear
truly difficult carefully and assiduously trained themspeciality. Yet there are those, we say it
to those who have
in
advisedly,
a
the
Indian
this:?men accustomed to
Medical Service
who have
dono
speculate
upon scientific questions of the most varied and abstruse nature, and to draw conclusions from
practical experiences which it has study to accumulate. Major Malleson will woods of Academus.
been now
their
life-long-
have to leave the
We would recommend him at
once
to
capacity, the shambles of Calcutta. Ho will there find an ample field for his utmost administrative energy,?putrescent garbage, decaying animal refuse, and foetid exhalations, poisoning the atmospliero around, and evolving the fomites of disease. He will see all this at a glance, and we hope he will soon rectify it all. The butcheries we allude to are perfectly open to the public gaze. There, children of both sexes pass their time, and become demoralized from their very infancy; there, the famished dogs of the city repair to find a revolting meal. Major Malleson must now, to a certain degree, transfer his devotion, from the pleasant studies of History and Abstract Literature, to the more hard and stern consideration of such questions as the cleansing of the saered Hooghly, now putrid with the decomposing carcases of animals, borne backwards and forwards on its tidal waters, the carrying out of Medical Police, and the averting of pestilential and visit,
in his
official
must now turn from at Maestriclit, rewounded Fontenoy, Lally triumphant treating at Madras, and led to ignominious execution by the France he served with such constant bravery. Instead of
epidemic
His
influences.
thoughts
at
may now have Lectures on the the exposure and removal of nuiof drinking water through burial places,
poor determined Lally, cleansing of habitations,
in India
sances, the
he
or
percolation
the varieties of those
we
forbidding emanations which
so
often
THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE.
66
offend the senses, not only in populous neighbourhoods, but amongst the dwellings of the rich in Calcutta. We ourselves enjoyed Major Malleson's lecture on La Bourdonnais, and we have a distinct recollection of his word-painting. We remember the hero failing to establish French power in India; we fancy we see him pining in the Bastille, jotting down his coffee grounds on sentiments with pocket-handkerchiefs rice-water. in steeped All this was very enjoyable in a Lecture. Major Malleson will now have sufficient theme for his pen in describing the sanitary condition of the Port of Calcutta,?a very harvest field of death." One thing is to be said : he has studied the career of Florence Nightingale, whose name has been so honorably associated with general sanitary reforms. As Head of the Sanitary Department of Bengal, however, he will find a field for his own personal observations quite as extensive as that which was afforded to the above-mentioned lady during her connection with Crimean Hospitals. Small-pox, for instance, may thrust itself prominently on his notice,?a pestilence which in a single epidemic, in one country alone, has been known to sweep away three and a half millions of men. There
reputation
many other local causes of death, that we could mention, which obviously fall within the scope of an adminis-
Veritas.
"
are
trator
on Sanitary matters, viz., cholera, intermittents, typhoid fever, dysentery, scurvy, hepatitis, erysipelas, and pyaemia, which annually account for two-thirds of the loss of life in India. We do not care to allude in detail to Major
Malleson's antecedents.
We know that he
is
an
able
com-
masterly essayist. We even believe that he has at times dipped his pen in gall and tried to make it terrible to his masters. It has been whispered to us?with what truth we do not care to analyze?that he even fell under the suspicion of his superiors, for pointing reproach against, and heaping sarcasm and contumely on the Government in the hour of its direst need. It is possible that he added revilings to the troubles piler
of facts and
a
that bent, but could not break, the resolution of the Counsellors of the State. He may, under an incognito, have attacked the
Land,?himself free from the bitter responsibilities this, even if it be correct, must be forgotten. He is now under the iEgis of a Government which,?if popular rumour be true,?has borne the brunt of his literary attacks ; and he is fully in a position to realize the truth of the remark, made by the irost inductive of English philosophers, that in life, as in music, a discord ending in a concord is agreeable. Post prcelia jprcemia. We cannot conclude without mentioning that Mr. Strachey, who retires from the office to which Major Malleson has now been nominated, is possessed of a considerable knowledge of geology, meteorology, vital statistics, and other matters which form the ground-work of Sanitary Science, and he has done no mean service in the cause of Hygiene. His nomination, therefore, was in this respect sufficiently appropriate, the more especially as it is well known that the appointment of a Civilian to the first Presidentship of the Commission was under orders from England, and an essential condition of Kuler of the
of office. Yet all
its formation.
against, sequent
But this neither presents
a
reasonable
argument
believe, has it any reference to, the subselection of a Medical Officer to conduct the Depart,
nor,
as we
ment, which so clearly lies within the scope of his powers and experiences. There is yet one among us who has an established
as
a
[March 1,
Sanitarian,
and who
was an
1866.
author on Sani-
tation years before such Commissions and Secretaries were thought of in India. What will the Medical Press of England say to the familiar in
ignoring
of such
standard works
a
man
as
this,
whoso
of Sanitation in every
name
is
country
Europe ? How discouraging may be the effect of this line policy upon young men hesitating whether they shall enter the Indian Service, there to find a suitable and encouraging field for the exercise of their special scientific qualifications! The gentleman we allude to has large experience in Hygienic matters and a clear judgment. He has often been called to the assistance of Government, with cheerfully yielded if unremunerative toil, to show the way when public health has been imperilled by unguarded Municipal schemes, or, with vigorous pen, to lay bare the sources of pestilence that thin our of of
Sailor
population.
This is the
man we
should like to have seen
selected by that Government, than which we firmly believe there is none swayed by purer motives. We should like to see Major Malleson in a position more in accordance with his no enmity, private or powers and his ambition. We bear him official; very far from it. Amicus Plato, sed magis arnica
sciences collateral to sound tions.
the issues of life and death. The novel sphere in which Major Malleson will now find himself, and in which his energies will henceforth be brought into play, is one of paramount importance in relation to everything that affects the health of the general community, and the physical well-being of a population numbering many millions of souls. But any administration must of necessity be imperfect which is based upon an insufficiency of special knowledge. How, we would ask, can a man possibly administrate in
a
matter which has to deal with the deleterious influences
destroy health or life, if he be ignorant of the nature of agencies, and ungrounded in the sciences which bear upon the preservation of health. To cite an illustration : The connection between deadly intermittents and ferruginous soils; that
those
between
and cholcra; between cholera and trap forma-
ozone
tions ; between goitre and the presence of calcareous salts ; between splenic cachexies and low levels, river basins and inundated tracts of land, must present to Major Malleson's mind but a confused and hopeless mass of data; while by the man of
science,
physician, the physiologist, the sanitarian, these recognized as the irrefragable exponents of tlio diseases which tend to impair the happiness of
the
very data are cause
of
thousands of men, and to shorten their career of usefulness. The duties of even
a
selves for such
THE PRESIDENT OF THE SANITARY COMMISSION. "
by Lord Herbert of Lea that to apply the principles of sanitary science either to individuals or communities, demands a considerable portion of that special knowledge which appertains to the physician, physiologist, geologist, meteorologist, topographist, chemist, engineer, and mechanic." We quote this opinion (of one who appreciated the importance and difficulties of the subject he was writing about) in connection with the appointment of Major G-. B. Malleson as Head of the Sanitary Department of Bengal. As far as Major Malleson's proIt
was
said
motion to
a
more
lucrative
appointment
goes,
we
are
inclined
congratulate him ; but in as far as his appointment bears on the Sanitary interests of the general community and of the Army, we cannot but regret it. Major Malleson has never arrogated to himself qualifications for Sanitary administration, his present advancement therefore would appear to be foreign to all his aspirations and studies. He is a man of ability and of not inconsiderable literary acquirement, his English is exact and idiomatic, and he has a felicitous aptitude for grouping, in a heartily
to
picturesque
manner, historical
facts
connected
with
revolu-
unconquered India. This is all very well in its way ; but surely the subjects which should form the basis of qualification in a Sanitary administrator must be, to Major Malleson, mysteries as profound as the doctrine of Zymotic disease or?the connection between defects of Hygiene and tlio adynamic types of Fever. Sanitation or Hygiene is tionary
France or
sometimes called the Science of take it for
"
Preventive Medicine."
that the Head of the
We
Sanitary Department granted ought to understand this science. To do so, however, must have studied, and made himself familiar with, other
Sanitarian in India must appear
truly difficult carefully and assiduously trained themspeciality. Yet there are those, we say it
to those who have
in
advisedly,
a
the
Indian
this:?men accustomed to
Medical Service
who have
dono
speculate
upon scientific questions of the most varied and abstruse nature, and to draw conclusions from
practical experiences which it has study to accumulate. Major Malleson will woods of Academus.
been now
their
life-long-
have to leave the
We would recommend him at
once
to
capacity, the shambles of Calcutta. Ho will there find an ample field for his utmost administrative energy,?putrescent garbage, decaying animal refuse, and foetid exhalations, poisoning the atmospliero around, and evolving the fomites of disease. He will see all this at a glance, and we hope he will soon rectify it all. The butcheries we allude to are perfectly open to the public gaze. There, children of both sexes pass their time, and become demoralized from their very infancy; there, the famished dogs of the city repair to find a revolting meal. Major Malleson must now, to a certain degree, transfer his devotion, from the pleasant studies of History and Abstract Literature, to the more hard and stern consideration of such questions as the cleansing of the saered Hooghly, now putrid with the decomposing carcases of animals, borne backwards and forwards on its tidal waters, the carrying out of Medical Police, and the averting of pestilential and visit,
in his
official
must now turn from at Maestriclit, rewounded Fontenoy, Lally triumphant treating at Madras, and led to ignominious execution by the France he served with such constant bravery. Instead of
epidemic
His
influences.
thoughts
at
may now have Lectures on the the exposure and removal of nuiof drinking water through burial places,
poor determined Lally, cleansing of habitations,
in India
sances, the
he
or
percolation
the varieties of those
we
forbidding emanations which
so
often
THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE.
66
offend the senses, not only in populous neighbourhoods, but amongst the dwellings of the rich in Calcutta. We ourselves enjoyed Major Malleson's lecture on La Bourdonnais, and we have a distinct recollection of his word-painting. We remember the hero failing to establish French power in India; we fancy we see him pining in the Bastille, jotting down his coffee grounds on sentiments with pocket-handkerchiefs rice-water. in steeped All this was very enjoyable in a Lecture. Major Malleson will now have sufficient theme for his pen in describing the sanitary condition of the Port of Calcutta,?a very harvest field of death." One thing is to be said : he has studied the career of Florence Nightingale, whose name has been so honorably associated with general sanitary reforms. As Head of the Sanitary Department of Bengal, however, he will find a field for his own personal observations quite as extensive as that which was afforded to the above-mentioned lady during her connection with Crimean Hospitals. Small-pox, for instance, may thrust itself prominently on his notice,?a pestilence which in a single epidemic, in one country alone, has been known to sweep away three and a half millions of men. There
reputation
many other local causes of death, that we could mention, which obviously fall within the scope of an adminis-
Veritas.
"
are
trator
on Sanitary matters, viz., cholera, intermittents, typhoid fever, dysentery, scurvy, hepatitis, erysipelas, and pyaemia, which annually account for two-thirds of the loss of life in India. We do not care to allude in detail to Major
Malleson's antecedents.
We know that he
is
an
able
com-
masterly essayist. We even believe that he has at times dipped his pen in gall and tried to make it terrible to his masters. It has been whispered to us?with what truth we do not care to analyze?that he even fell under the suspicion of his superiors, for pointing reproach against, and heaping sarcasm and contumely on the Government in the hour of its direst need. It is possible that he added revilings to the troubles piler
of facts and
a
that bent, but could not break, the resolution of the Counsellors of the State. He may, under an incognito, have attacked the
Land,?himself free from the bitter responsibilities this, even if it be correct, must be forgotten. He is now under the iEgis of a Government which,?if popular rumour be true,?has borne the brunt of his literary attacks ; and he is fully in a position to realize the truth of the remark, made by the irost inductive of English philosophers, that in life, as in music, a discord ending in a concord is agreeable. Post prcelia jprcemia. We cannot conclude without mentioning that Mr. Strachey, who retires from the office to which Major Malleson has now been nominated, is possessed of a considerable knowledge of geology, meteorology, vital statistics, and other matters which form the ground-work of Sanitary Science, and he has done no mean service in the cause of Hygiene. His nomination, therefore, was in this respect sufficiently appropriate, the more especially as it is well known that the appointment of a Civilian to the first Presidentship of the Commission was under orders from England, and an essential condition of Kuler of the
of office. Yet all
its formation.
against, sequent
But this neither presents
a
reasonable
argument
believe, has it any reference to, the subselection of a Medical Officer to conduct the Depart,
nor,
as we
ment, which so clearly lies within the scope of his powers and experiences. There is yet one among us who has an established
as
a
[March 1,
Sanitarian,
and who
was an
1866.
author on Sani-
tation years before such Commissions and Secretaries were thought of in India. What will the Medical Press of England say to the familiar in
ignoring
of such
standard works
a
man
as
this,
whoso
of Sanitation in every
name
is
country
Europe ? How discouraging may be the effect of this line policy upon young men hesitating whether they shall enter the Indian Service, there to find a suitable and encouraging field for the exercise of their special scientific qualifications! The gentleman we allude to has large experience in Hygienic matters and a clear judgment. He has often been called to the assistance of Government, with cheerfully yielded if unremunerative toil, to show the way when public health has been imperilled by unguarded Municipal schemes, or, with vigorous pen, to lay bare the sources of pestilence that thin our of of
Sailor
population.
This is the
man we
should like to have seen
selected by that Government, than which we firmly believe there is none swayed by purer motives. We should like to see Major Malleson in a position more in accordance with his no enmity, private or powers and his ambition. We bear him official; very far from it. Amicus Plato, sed magis arnica
