EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
707 
rank, and allowances of the medical officers of our army, and that by 
these rules our Commander-in-Chief shall govern himself in recom- 
mending officers for admission, promotion, and retirement. 
u 1. The grades of medical officers in our army shall be four in 
number, viz. : 
“ (I.) Inspector-General of Hospitals. 
“ (2.) Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals. 
“ (3.) Staff or Regimental Surgeon, who, after twenty years’ full pay 
service in any rank, shall be styled Surgeon-Major. 
“ (4.) Staff or Regimental Assistant-Surgeon. 
2. No candidate shall be admitted to the competitive examination 
for a commission in the medical department of our army who does not 
possess such a certificate or certificates as would qualify a civilian to 
practise medicine and surgery ; and no such candidate shall receive a 
commission as assistant -surgeon until he shall have satisfactorily passed 
an examination in military medicine, surgery, and hygiene, after at- 
tending - the authorised courses in a general military hospital. 
“3. No assistant-surgeon shall be eligible for promotion to the rank 
of surgeon until he shall have passed such examination as our principal 
Secretary of State for War may require, and shall have served on full 
pay with the commission of assistant-surgeon for five years, of which 
two shall have been passed in or with a regiment. 
“ 4. A surgeon, whether on the staff or attached to regiments, must 
have served ten years in the army, with a commission on full pay, of 
which two must have been passed, with the rank of surgeon, in or with 
a regiment, before he will be eligible for promotion to the rank of 
deputy inspector-general of hospitals. 
‘*5. A deputy inspector general of hospitals must have served five 
years at home, or three abroad, in that rank, before he shall be eligible 
for promotion to the rank of inspector-general. 
“ In cases, however, of emergency, or when the good of the service 
renders such alteration desirable, it shall be competent for our Secre- 
tary of State for War to shorten the several periods of service above 
mentioned, in such manner as he shall deem fit and expedient. 
“ 6. Assistant-surgeons shall, as a general rule, be promoted to the 
rank of surgeon in the order of their seniority in the service, unless 
unfit for the discharge of their duties from physical or professional 
incompetence or misconduct. In cases of distinguished service, how- 
ever, an assistant-surgeon may be promoted without reference to se- 
niority ; and in such cases, with a view to insure the responsibility 
attaching to an appointment made out of the regular course of promo- 
tion, the recommendation in which the services of the officer shall be 
detailed, shall be published in the General Orders of the Army and in 
the Gazette in which his promotion appears. 
“ 7. All promotion from the rank of surgeon to that of deputy-in- 
spector, and from the rank of deputy-inspector to that of inspector, 
shall be given by selection for ability and merit ; and the grounds for 
such selection shall be stated to us in writing, and recorded in the office 
of our Commander-in-Chief, the selection being made from the whole 
rank of surgeons, whether styled surgeons or surgeons-major. 
“ 8. The rates of pay of the medical officers of our army shall be in 
accordance with the following schedule: 
