CHAP. II GOES TO CHATHAM 13 



acquiring experience and knowledge such as now presents itself, 

 as every one whose opinion is worth having about here says 

 without doubt it is. I should be very sorry indeed to do any- 

 thing that would give you pain and trouble; but then, if the 

 occupation of a medical ofificer in the Army does so on account 

 of the danger, what is there that I can do that is not attended 

 with danger ? Every time I make a post-mortem, or go into the 

 wards among the patients with fevers, I encounter a certain 

 amount of danger. How can I venture to trust myself in a 

 railway carriage or a steam-boat ? What situation is there in 

 which there is not more or less danger ? And one who is always 

 (^reading it must be miserable indeed ! I might get shot by a 

 Russian cannon-ball, and I might get knocked down and run over 

 by an omnibus in Oxford Street ; the chances of the latter are 

 almost as great as the former, but they do not deter me from 

 walking in the street in question. Edgar might break his neck 

 or his leg out hunting, but I hope that fear of such an accident 

 will never prevent him from enjoying that sport, or make you 

 miserable when he does so, though to pursue it constantly is 

 attended with risks quite as great as mine. The risks that are 

 really tangible are from the climate and disease of the countries, 

 but the greater these are the more advantageous must be the 

 position from a medical point of view. 



The decision once made, very little time was 

 lost. On the 8th April Flower passed the medical 

 examination. Two days later he reported himself 

 to the Principal Medical Ofificer at Fort Pitt, 

 Chatham : — 



Chatham, April lo, 1854. — To-day I have commenced my 

 " Military " life. What a strange thing it seems ! I am beginning 

 to get an insight into what appears quite another branch of 

 human nature; this place certainly abounds with the "quality, 

 pomp, pride, and circumstance of glorious war," and so far is 

 pleasant enough. We live at our own expense, receive no pay, 

 and wear plain clothes, . . . and are carefully supervised by the 



