Volume 3

Medicina nautica : an essay on the diseases of seamen ... / by Thomas Trotter.

  • Trotter, Thomas, 1760-1832.
Date:
1804
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medicina nautica : an essay on the diseases of seamen ... / by Thomas Trotter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    60/526 (page 48)
    I would alfo recommend two infpectors of health, to correfpond with the Admiralty only; to be conftantly in motion, and to infpeé all hof- pitals, ‘guardfhips, flop-fhips, convalefeent fhips, prifons, and prifon-fhips, fhips fitted for carrying troops, tenders, and all the privaté fick quarters over Great Britain and Ireland. They fhould watch and reoulate the internal economy of health. in all thefe, and make occafional reprefentations io their Lordfhips.- Owing to the want of a qua- lied medical officer for this duty, fuch numerous and dangetous difeafes have been genétated in tenders and guardfhips, as to threaten at different times the health of the whole navy. ° ian voes Government, on fome occafions, have been obliged to profecute furgeons, who aré contractors for private fick quarters, for the moft inordinate extortion. Thefe are appendages to the navy that Commiffioners for Sick and Hurt have never been In the practice of viewing. , and Hurt, a phyfician of a fleet or naval hofpital, to give ad- vice for a guinea, is guilty of fomething that approachés near to bribery, and liable to profecution. If 2 member ef the army medical board, on vifiting a private patient, fhould caft his eyes on a news-paper lying in the fick chamber and read the following paragraph, would he not blufh? London, jan. 6th, 1801, ** We are forry to hear that the yéllow ** fever is again making great ravages at Martinique; the ‘« 68th regiment, in éwo months, has loft 660 privates, and 2g “© officers.” I highly regard the profeffional talents of all thefe gentlemen of both boards, and it grieves me to the heart that they fhould by any means be drawn from public fervice: it is the cuftom that | reprobate, not the individual. _ In the event of a fature war, I would recommend Governs ment to {tation the two medical boards at Blackheath; that their deliberations on the health of our fleets and armies may never be fufpended by the temptation of a fee: there they would learn felf-denial, + From