"
These Commissioners
existing in one form or another during indirectly of the greatest advan-
his tenure of office have been
tage ; they have brought to the notice of the authorities evils ?which had long been unchecked?a state of insanitation affecting as
Europeans
well as Natives.
examination of the
initiated, and this sanitary question
drinking
has
At their
suggestion
a
scientific
water at all the stations has been
already
borno abundant
is now forwarded for their
fruit;* every opinion, and the
fruit of their counsel has been manifested in the decrease of sickness and
alike in the barrack and in the
mortality,
jail,
in
the town, and in the cantonment." It would be
phraseology
from
interesting study
an
of this article
trace
^o
the
characteristic
it to its source.
At present,
would rather concern ourselves with the accuracy of this and similar statements, which have of late been thrust
however,
forward
we
on
the public.
place, let us refer to the instance of Simla, " Imperial Sanitary Officer" Viceroy and his 10th G. 0., (vide September, 1868) have spent a considerable portion of their lives during the past five years. In " 1865, the Sanitary Commissioner reported of Simla that tho sides of the hills are everywhere studded with human excrement ?,?it is not difficult to understand how filth, lying in the beds or on the hill sides, from which the streams are fed, should poison the whole waters of the station." Nevertheless, every year since similar nuisances have been reported and commented on, and yet the present sanitary state of Simla and its drinking water i3 as disgraceful as ever. In the first
where the late
that all contributions to the "Indian Medical may be written as legibly as possible, and only on oxb sidk of each sheet of paper. Technical expressions ought to be so distinct that no possible mistake can be made in printing them. It is
particularly requested
Gazette"
Keglect of these simple rules causes much trouble. Communications should be forwarded as early in the month as possible, else delay must inevitably occur in their publication. Business letters to be forwarded to the Publishers, Messrs. Wyman if Co., and all professional communications to the Editor, direct. Thb
co-opbbatiow
EABNBSTI.V "
tub
op
Pbofession
XHBOBGHorr
India
is
SOLICITED.
path, not of politics, but of science. Among preceded you in it, and in our own particular department, we find some of the brightest ornaments of British history; and I will not do you the injustice of supposing that there is any one among you who would not prefer the reputation of Harvey or the Hunters to that of nineteen-twentieths of the courtiers and politicians of the periods in which they lived."?SIR BENJAMIN BRODIE. You have chosen the
those who have
We have received in reference to
a
letter from Messrs. Thomson aud
number, stating that the iag Dr. Macnamara's filter Thomson
are
Co., drinking water in our last difficulties of cleaning and re-charg-
the article
on
have been much over-rated.
Messrs.
the manufacturers of the
filter, and practically, working than the inventor.
therefore, may be better judges of its They state:?"The filter in the Martiniere has been twice thoroughly cleaned, and set to work in half an hour. The two at the Medical College have given no trouble, those at the Free School have been at work six months, and have not required to be "
touched,
"and the filter used in the 70th
Regiment
at
Agra,
Sir John Lawrence and his Simla resided in Calcutta.
staff when absent from
sanitary
Docs this
single sanipresence? Macpherson, in 1861, pointed out the deadly practices then in existence, but which are to this day perpetrated with regard to the pollution of the Uooghly, &c., &c. Under the municipal system of drainage improvement will doubtless be effected in the course of time; but it only wanted a little executive knowledge and energy on the part of the Sanitary Commissioner to have put ft stop to the most crying evils long ago. tary improvement
to their
city
owe one
Dr.
We have singled out Simla and Calcutta
as
instances in
evidently directly amenable to the influence of the late Viceroy and his Imperial Sanitary Commissioner. If we turn, however, to any other city or cantonment of the Empire, we find a similar state of things. point,
because
they
were
Take the caso of Umritsur ;f witness the exposures that were made of its state during the recent outburst of cholera; who can say that cause and effect were not here strongly marked ? yet the Government of the Punjab is by some means able to
owing
the Government of
India, and to assert system of economy, that sewerage, improvements were not carried out years ago.
throw the whole blame that it is
on
to its false
has been
drainage, and water
In the course of a few
The Sanitary Commission was organized in February, 1864, to give effect to the 39 Articles recommended to be at once introduced by the Royal Commissioners appointed to enquire
tested at
working admirably since April." months, the filter will have been well other stations, and all its qualities proved.
THE SANITARY We copy the
following
COMMISSION remarks from
John Lawrence in Blackwood's
OF BENGAL.
a recent
Magazine:?"
article
on
Sir
He
(Sir John Presidencies of
Lawrence) directed the formation in the three Sanitary Commissioners for the special object of searching abuses, and proposing measures for their reform."
out
into the state of the Army in India in May, 1859; their report in May, 1863. But what becomes of the Sanitary
was
published
Commission's laudation *
Note tho article
of itself and of its voluminous reports,
on
Drinking Water
t See the Report, at page 221,
iu
the last number,
when it can be
stated that not one of these 39 Articles
positively with the
exception of Nos. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, force, yet and 21, relative to the plan and accommodation of the new twostoried barracks, with the designs of which the Commission had in
are
nothing to do, although they certainly were submitted to the Secretary of State with its approval ? When the Secretary of State addressed the Government (No. 14 of the 23rd April, 1868), as to the progress that had been made in sanitary matters in India, the Bengal Sanitary Commission replied by forwarding extracts from their annual reports, showing that many things were doing, but that nothing had been done.
Nevertheless,
if the
officials to comment
country
chooses to entertain
highly-paid
the vital statistics of British troops, we in their hands. There is another view of
on
may leave the
subject question, however, we must consider, entailing, as we believe it does, the gradual destruction, or, at all events, deterioration of the Indian Medical Service, owing to the functions affected by the Imperial Sanitary Commissioner. "We can no longer view this slow but certain decay in silence, and we consider it our duty clearly to express our opinion on the anomalous position assumed by that officer with respect to the Medical Services of this country. The first President of the Sanitary Commission, a distinguished member of the Bengal Civil Service, commenced his sanitary career in 1861, as the presiding officer of the Punjab Cholera Commission. In 1864 he joined the Bengal Sanitary Commission, in 1866 he was promoted to the Government of Oudh, and in 1868 he was transferred to the Supreme Council of India, receiving charge of the Home Office at the same time. It was last year that the emanations from that department began, which appear to us to have been so inimical to the the
interests of the Medical Service.
There has since been many in fact of a steady resolution, to
painful instance of a desire, sanitary above the medical administration; but none, perhaps, of such significant importance as when the Statistical Officer to the Medical Department was rudely withdrawn from it. Under a system of this kind, the Medical Department is almost ignored. Men who, from long experience and intelligence, have been promoted to the administrative ranks, find themselves silenced, their advice neglected, and, in fact, feel themselves comparatively useless for all practical purposes; while the Civil Medical Officers, whose proper position is immediately subordinate to the Medical Department, and who look to it for advice and assistance, are enjoined to report direct to a local Sanitary Commissioner, to obey his instructions and circulars, and it may be even to prepare his reports for him. Indeed, so much has happened of late to the Service which 'afellar can't understand,' that we confess we look with suspicion to a recent order of a
exalt the
Government which
we
which runs as follows "
But
[October 1,
THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE.
214
whatever
should otherwise have welcomed ; and :?
reasons
there
may have been when the a Civilian
Sanitary Department was first established for placing or a Military Officer at its head, those reasons do not
now
exist.
The Governor-General in Council thinks it would tend to facilitate the business of the department if the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of India Officer." * * * This is
should be
a
Medical
complimentary to the Profession, but well nigh destructive to the Service, for this reason : every question, small
1869.
great, medical, administrative, educational, economical, &c., &c., submitted for report to the heads of the British or Indian Medical Departments, is finally sent to the Imperial Sanitary
or
Commissioner for his opinion, before the Supreme Government will act on the of those who ought to be their medi-
judgment
cal advisers.
This
was
objectionable
when
a
Civil
or
Military
presided, and it is but little better when a junior Medical Officer occupies the same post. Practically, the Imperial Sanitary Commissioner has become the head of the Medical Department in India. He can overrule the advice given by the British Inspector-General in all but discipline, and he has still greater power over every branch of the Indian Medical Service. The fallacy of this position must be apparent. The sanitary administration of the country cannot be carried on without the aid and authority of the Medical Department, and the Sanitary Commissioner can only precis, or deal second-hand with, the reports which he requires from it. Moveover no one man in the service, or out of it, however great his talent and tact may be, is capable alone of being Officer
trusted as the
responsible adviser to the Government of India, opposition to the Inspectors-General of the
it may be in direct
British and Indian Medical Services. For these reasons we view with dislike and
separation
that exists between the medical and
distrust the
sanitary adminis-
trations in this country. The enhancement and elevation of the sanitary over the legitimate administrative officers has caused a gap between them which must ever be widening, unless their relative positions are re-arranged; the one is grasping for power, the other is
powerless
to
resist;
and it is the
knowledge that
sanitation cannot exist without the co-operation of the Medical Department, which makes the Service desire they should pull
together, and not be working at variance as at present: weakbeing the inevitable result of want of union. That the sanitary office is a most convenient one to the Government no one can deny. An office created by, perhaps, the first administrator in the Civil Service, is sure to be of utility. It is the repository of sanitary matters throughout India, and it gives publicity to all interesting work in this department which had not previously been placed before the public; nevertheless, this might all have been done in connection with the Medical Department, and not by officers of its own branch acting in opposition to it. But if there must be a separate sanitary department in India for goodness' sake let it be kept to its proper sphere ; keep it to sanitary conservancy, engineering, and inspections, but do not elevate and multiply the duties until it is beyond its power to perform them. If Government have the sanitation of the country really at heart, it should follow the practice pursued in England and every other civilized country in the world, and make its sanitary service a subordinate branch of the medical. Dr. Parkes, no mean authority on these matters, does not consider it compromises hi3 position to work under the medical authorities of the Horse Guards ; but he probably feels, as every right-minded man would do, that his rare talent cannot be better spent than in supporting ness
and
adding
to the influence,
Director-General,
and the
We would add
one
and
thereby strengthening
Department
word more:
to which he
the
belongs.
it is an old but no les3
maxim, and one which no Englishman living can more fully appreciate than our present Governor-General, that all successful rulers, whether civil or military, have achieved great true
October 1, victories,
I860.]
because
they have
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES' ACTS. had the power of gaining the confi-
dence, and, at the same time, of being able, fully and implicitly, to trust those who have served them; without this feeling of mutual confidence between subordinates and their rulers, no great ends can ever be attained; and does this feeling exist at present between the Indian Government and the Indian Medical
Department ?
215