"36 
medical experience, and one in which 
there are not the same difficulties to con- 
tend with, which frequently present 
themselves in private practice. ‘The pa- 
tient and his attendants are equally un- 
der military discipline, which enforces, 
as a duty, whatever mode of treatment 
may be considered as proper. Itis much 
to be lamented, that the »reater number 
of army medical practitioners do not 
possess a portion of that ardour for which 
Dr. Jackson is so much distinguished. 
The habits of life, it is true, which they 
are apt to acquire are by no means ta- 
vourable to. observation and enquiry ; 
and, though this may be considered as 
affording an apology for the want of 
energy in the improvement of their pro- 
fession, which is so often observed, yet it 
is to be regretted that the necessity for 
it so much exists. 
The first part of this wort is onthe 
constitution of the medical department 
of the army. 
Dr. Jackson laments that the army 
medical officer has in general little to 
say oh the means necessary to be pur- 
sued for the prescrvation of health.— 
This, he informs us, generally rests with 
commanding officers, who are little dis- 
posed to consult the medical department, 
except on the immediate subject of dis- 
ease. We have known, however, many 
examples, in which a spirited but deco- 
rous interference has been respectfully 
attended to, and have no doubt, that in 
the greater number of examples the 
mind of a commanding officer is open to 
the suggestions of good sense and phi- 
lanthropy. 
The author represents the elements of 
the British medical department as ex- 
tremely heterogeneous, and as therefore 
by no means adapted to produce an 
arrangement, and union of exertion, 
throughout the whole setvice. Much 
practical experience is required in the 
heads of departments to appreciate ade- 
quately the wants of the service, and the 
qualifications of those to be employed in 
it. - This experience can only be obtain- 
ed by actual observation, in the stations 
which they are to superintend, where 
they will learn the practical difficulties 
which often present themselves in the 
arrangements for the sick, and the means 
to be adopted for obviatingthem. The 
medical board, we are informed, has 
not one member come n it whose 
education or habits had at all given him 
an opportunity of being acquainted with 
MEDICINE, SURGERY, ANATOMY, &e. 
the details of military medical servite 9 
and besides this circumstance, it is ob- 
iected, that the more lucrative engages 
ments of private practice, from which 
it is not attempted to debar them, neces- 
sarily withdraws much of that attention 
which ought to be exclusively devoted 
to the regulation of an important branch 
of the service. ’ 
The author considers it as a material 
disadyantage that the education of army 
surgeons is not uniform, and is off opi- 
nion that an examination, as it is usuaily 
practised, can by no means be regarded 
as a proper test of medical ability. He 
would, therefore, recommend an estab-, 
lishment, such as that of the hospital at 
the military depdét in the Isle of Wight, 
to be fixed upon as a medical seminary, 
where lectures might be given, and every 
candidate for admission into the army in 
a medical capagity obliged to study for 
a certain periods... 
According to the practice in use, when 
Mr. Hunter was surgeon-general, army 
physicians were generally promoted ‘to 
that rank after many years service as 
surgeons. This plan is considered by 
the author as a very proper one, and as 
infinitely better than that which has been 
adopted since his time, in which surgeons 
are precluded from the chance of being 
physicians, and the’ latter rank confined 
to such as are graduates of the English 
universities, or licentiates of the London 
College. He conceives that the whole 
number employed in the various medi- 
cal departments of the army is far 
greater than necessary, and goes so far 
as to entertain no doubt that the nunt- 
ber thus employed is adequate to the 
care of the whole army establishment, 
even if all the individuals composing it 
were actually sick. . 
The second part contains the detail of 
management of the hospital of the army 
depét in the Isle of Wight, in the year 
1801. 
In this chapter the author informs 
us that the hospital was new, slight, 
and by no means commodious ; and that 
the troops at the depdt were “for the 
most part recruits destined for foreign 
service, who were very liable to sickness, 
and frequently brought with them dan- 
gerous fevers, generated during their 
passage from Ireland. In the details 
which are given us of the management 
of the hospital, great vigilance seems 
to have prevailed in every department, 
and at the same time a careful obser- 
