Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/141

 may inspect, yet he is forbidden by standing orders from any official interference in medical duty.

Sepoys are in general very tractable patients, and the best possible subjects for either physic or surgery. Their diseases are fewer than those of European troops, much more manageable, uncomplicated with excess in either eating or drinking. The low state of their constitutions is most favourable for the treatment of bodily injuries, and their recoveries are quite wonderful. They are quiet, orderly men, most temperate in their living, cleanly in their habits, well-formed and well-featured, and far above the standard height of Europeans; respectful to their officers, proud of their profession, but most bigotted to their religion and most intolerant of all interference. The young Surgeon must therefore learn to respect their prejudices and their superstitions, for they are the fundamental principles of their faith, and as sacred in their own eyes as the Ten Commandments are in his. He must even consider himself an unclean being, and not venture to touch with his own hands the medicines he prescribes. Of all things, he must guard against coming near them when cooking. Every man cooks his food with his own hands, generally out of doors; and to guard against contamination, marks out a circle about six feet in diameter, in the centre of which he cooks and eats. Even in the hospital, the