XX LIFE OF DR. ROLLESTON. 



not too strongly of things, nor strongly at all, especially in the 

 way of blame, of men. When you are called upon officially to 

 express opinions, then praise or blame with justice and modera- 

 tion, till then only look, think, and obey cheerfully.' 



The position which Rolleston had taken was one peculiar 

 enough to justify the counsels of Dr. Jeune. The Smyrna 

 Civil Hospital, established at a time when the lessons of 

 disaster were bringing about an improved military adminis- 

 tration, is thus described by Kinglake ('Invasion of the 

 Crimea,' vol. vi. p. 416): 'Amongst our Levantine hospitals, the 

 one formed at Smyrna exhibited the success of a great inno- 

 vation on which Mr. Sidney Herbert had ventured; for the 

 medical officers to whom he entrusted the wards were, all of 

 them, civilians, and these, aided by a well-chosen band of ladies 

 and salaried nurses, made the new institution a model of what 

 can be done for the care of troops sick or wounded.' Such an 

 innovation naturally had its official difficulties. General Sir H. 

 Lefroy, who made two visits to Smyrna in November, 1855, 

 gives some account of Rolleston's position. Colonel (afterwards 

 Sir Henry) Storks was then Commandant, and Dr. Meyer 

 Medical Chief of the British Chief Hospital. On the Medical 

 Staff there were four senior physicians, each in charge of a 

 division. Dr. Meyer found these gentlemen of little use, too old 

 to alter their habits. Many of the } r oung assistants were first- 

 rate men, and conspicuous among them was Mr. Rolleston. 

 The Seniors made endeavour to treat the Juniors as subordinates 

 in a professional sense, to work as clinical clerks under them. 

 This the young men would not submit to, and the good sense 

 and firmness of Dr. Meyer put a veto upon it. He gave them 

 the undivided care of cases, and looked to the Seniors for 

 general assistance only. He found the junior surgeons, he told 

 me, pretty good physicians, and the junior physicians pretty 

 fair surgeons. The division into physicians and surgeons, but 

 with no very rigid demarcation, was found to work well. 



Some of Rolleston's home letters have been kept, which show 

 what his hospital life was to himself, and the recollections of 



