ON taking a retrospective view of the progress of Nautical Medicine, one cannot help being struck with the rapid improvements which have taken place in Medical Science, within the last forty years, in the Royal Navy.

During the first American war, and down to the beginning of the late French war, Sea-scurvy made such dreadful ravages in our fleets, as frequently to enervate the arm of Power; and it was not uncommon in those days, to find 300 men at once on the sick-list of a line of battle ship; and as many as 250 men have actually died in the short space of one year, by this vailing malady.

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Hence, it was justly observed, by some of the most experienced officers, "that the blockading system of warfare, which annihilated the naval power of France, could never have been carried on, unless sea-scurvy had been subdued; and more than one hundred thousand British seamen have thus been saved to the country, by as many thousand pounds.”

Shortly after this disease was subjected in the royal navy, another very remarkable æra took place in the Medical Department, which considerably changed the character and quality of the naval medical officers: viz. the late Lord Viscount Melville, by his generous interposition with Government, obtained an Order in Council, dated the 23d January, 1805, to give the medical officers of the royal navy the same rank and pay as their brethren in the army; and, from that period, better qualifications were insured, by the candidates undergoing severe examinations at the Royal College of Surgeons, and the then Transport Board; and thus the general cha racter and professional skill of medical officers made rapid advances, under their noble and illustrious patron. Indeed, many, who had been allowed to enter the navy on the spur of necessity, were required to mend their medical and surgical education, or be expelled the naval ser

vice; and those who now offered themselves as candidates for examination, were gentlemen of more extensive information, owing to the rank and respectability which had thus been assigned them in the British navy.

Sea-scurvy, by far the greatest calamity that ever visited the British fleet, had long been on the wane; and, at the beginning of the last French war, made its farewell visit. Since that time, the diseases which have continued to thin our ranks, have been chiefly of the inflammatory kind; viz. fevers, inflammations of the lungs and their membranes, consumptions, &c.

Indeed, the long list of inflammatory complaints had become most formidable in those days, in consequence of the difference of opinion that then existed amongst practitioners, respecting the treatment of such diseases. A small party admitted that bleeding and other antiphlogistic measures were necessary, yet had not sufficient confidence in the means they recommended to carry them into practice; and the more numerous party totally exploded depletion, and trusted to mild cathartics and antimonial remedies.

Such conflicting modes of practice were as painful to the practitioner, as detrimental to his patients; and, what between the cavil of party,

and dilatory measures, great numbers were allowed to be swept off by the powerful arm of inflammatory disease.

Happily, however, for humanity, and for the British navy, one of the present Medical Commissioners* (then the principal Examiner at the Transport Board) saw the magnitude of the evil arising from such contrary and dilatory practice; and from the high public situation he held, was enabled to impress on the minds of the young medical gentlemen, (whose professional tenets were reviewed by him,) the great propriety of early and prompt antiphlogistic means; not only in all the different species of phlegmasia, but, also, in certain types of fever.

Such principles, from their success, as well as from the high authority by which they were stamped, soon became disseminated, and, ultimately, universally adopted; and in the present day, such inflammatory diseases are cured with nearly a mathematical certainty, by almost every surgeon in the navy.

This revolution in the treatment of inflammatory complaints ranks next, in point of consideration, to the subjugation of sea-scurvy; it has already saved some thousands of seamen to

* Dr. Weir.

their country, and ought to be accompanied by a corresponding gratitude to the indefatigable labours of this distinguished individual.

"A wise physician, skill'd our wounds to heal,
"Is more than armies to the Public Weal."

It would be unpardonable to pass unnoticed, even in this short survey, the very popular and scientific works of Dr. James Johnson:-His

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Essay on the Influence of Tropical Climates, more especially the Climate of India, on European Constitutions," &c. stands like a beacon for the direction of the medical officer on oriental service, while his other works are equally important to the home practitioner.

The late preference held out by the Commissioners for Victualling His Majesty's Navy, to such as may have graduated at the different universities, cannot fail to have the most beneficial tendency, by exciting more vigorous exertions on the part of the young medical officer; and, in this the best interests of the navy way,

have been advanced.

In taking, thus, a rapid survey of the revolution which has lately been effected in nautical medicine, it will appear that sea-scurvy has been almost totally exterminated in our fleets; that the treatment of inflammatory diseases is now so well understood, that they are generally soon