Sir Joseph Fayrer. Ixvil 
General for the Medical Service of the Navy, for an appointment.” This 
appointment he obtained, went for his famous cruise on the “ Rattlesnake,” 
and made the zoological observations which not only brought him fame, but 
settled his path in life. 
After finishing his medical studies and becoming qualified to practise, 
Fayrer obtained a commission in the Navy, and was sent to the naval hospital 
at Haslar, where one of the assistant-surgeons was Andrew Clark, aiterwards 
President of the Royal College of Physicians. Fayrer had only been a short 
time at the hospital when Lord Mount-Edgcumbe invited him to travel with 
him. They travelled together through Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. 
While they were at Palermo, fighting occurred between the Sicilians and 
Neapolitans. At Rome, he took his degree of M.D., being the first Protestant 
on whom it had been conferred. After his travels were over he did not return 
to the Navy, but obtained a commission in the Artillery and sailed for India 
on June 29, 1850, before his friend Huxley had returned from his voyage on 
the “ Rattlesnake.” In less than two years he was sent to Burmah, where he 
so distinguished himself that Lord Dalhousie appointed him to the post of 
Residency Surgeon at Lucknow, regarding which he says in an autograph 
letter: “I have purposely reserved it, that I might bestow it, as the best 
medical appointment in the gift of the Governor-General, upon the assistant- 
surgeon who should be found to have rendered the most approved services 
during the war with Burmah.” 
The extraordinary energy which had gained Fayrer distinction found 
full scope in the manifold duties of his new office, for, in addition to his work 
as Residency Surgeon, he had to superintend the hospital and other 
institutions, and to fill the office of postmaster. Shortly afterwards, he was 
appointed honorary Assistant-Resident, so that he was obliged to add political 
work and correspondence to his already onerous duties. When the King of 
Oude was deposed, the care of his horses, elephants, camels, wild animals, and 
artillery was thrown, in addition, upon Fayrer’s shoulders. In spite of it all, 
he managed to reorganize the Post Office, and to extend its operations over 
the whole province. When the Indian Mutiny broke out, Fayrer’s house at 
Lucknow was used both as a fortress and hospital, and during the famous 
siege he not only did his share of fighting, but had to prevent sickness from 
overcrowding, and to treat the wounded, among whom were Henry Lawrence, 
Outram, and Napier. 
_ After the Mutiny was over, Fayrer returned to England, broken down in 
health, in March, 1858, but, instead of resting, as most men would have done, 
in order to recuperate, he entered at Edinburgh University as a medical 
student, rubbed up his classics so as to pass the preliminary examination, 
studied chemistry, botany, and anatomy, worked at the hospital, passed a 
special examination, and took his doctor’s degree in March, 1859. A month 
later, in April, 1859, he began work as Professor of Surgery in the Medical 
College Hospital of Calcutta. Here, again, his wonderful energy enabled him 
to do the work of several ordinary men. Besides his lectures at the hospital, 
