104 the INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE. [Apeil 2, 1877.

DESIGNATION OF ARMY MEDICAL OFFICERS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE " INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE."

Sir,?In the June and July Nog. of the Indian Medical

Gazette, 1866, are letters from two correspondents F. and T. on the above subject, and I should have liked to have seen the

nomenclature as proposed by F. (and which obtains in the

American and Turkish armies) introduced by Mr. Hardy into the New Warrant of 1876.

According to the present titles the rank of Medical Officer is not defined, and, therefore, his military status is not known ex- cept by reference to the Army List, and even then by an abstruse calculation. The military rank should be added to the name in the Army List. No one now can tell whether a Sur-

geon ranks with a Lieutenant or Captain, or whether a Surgeon- Major with a Major or Lieutenant-Colonel, &c., and in a country where the order of precedence is so rigidly carvied out as it is in India, the relative Military rank of Medical Officers ought to be as clearly defined as that of their combatant brethren. This would be the case if the " Nomenclature" suggested by F. were carried out, viz., Surgeon-Lieutenant, Surgeon-Captain, Surgeon-Major. Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel, Surgeon-Colonel, and Surgeon-General. Paymasters, who are essentially non-com- batant and seldom or never under fire, have honorary military titles, such as Captain, Major, &c, and they put the same 011 their cards and take their status accordingly, officially and

socially. According to the New "Warrant, a Surgeon-General and De-

puty-Surgeon-General rank relatively as a Major-General, and a Colonel, respectively, instead of their having to serve a certain number of years first, but a Surgeon-Major of 21 years' service ranks with a Lieutenant-Colonel, but junior of-that rank, except for choice of quarters. The effect of this will be to put all

Majors on promotion over the heads of the Medical Officers, no matter what the date of their commissions may be. Every Regimental Surgeon knows how much rank is thought of both by the officers themselves, and the men serving under them, and especially by the latter in a Native Regiment. I think most Medical Officers over 20 years' service woulu prefer Civil to Regi- mental duty, until their position in Regiments is much better; in all public entertainments the Senior Combatant Officer (in the absence of the C. 0.) takes precedence, and he probably would be considerably junior to a Medical Officer over 20 years' service. Unless the rank of a Surgeon is mad & positive, and his position officially and socially defined by this rank, it would be

far better to be a Civilian and take his professional rank, which ?would be more in keeping with the late Warrant, which has severed the lingering bonds of union between the Army and its Surgeons ; and last month's " General Orders" put the finishing stroke to " Regimental position and associations" by exempting Medical Officers from subscriptions to " Messes and bands."

Persevere. February 19th, 1877.