"

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

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