Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/34

 These remarks are penned with no desire to decry the medical service of the Indian army, but with the best intentions of pointing out circumstances that are calculated to lower it in the estimation of the world and to operate against its efficiency. They are written unbiassed by self interest and unprejudiced by any feelings of resentment, and in the hope that the still small voice uttered in this chapter may not be in vain.

12. SUBORDINATE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT.—The "Subordinate Medical Department" is principally intended for European troops, and consists of Apothecaries and Stewards, the former for the compounding and distribution of medicines and minor surgical operations; the latter for the clothing and diet of the hospitals. Most of them are Europeans, some, the sons of European soldiers who have not had the benefit of an education in Europe. They enter the service as hospital apprentices on the pay of thirteen rupees a month, after two years service they may be promoted to assistant apothecaries or assistant stewards on seventy rupees a month, and after about nine years spent in that grade, they are promoted with pay of 120 or 140 a month. To every European regiment there is an apothecary and a steward attached with one or more assistants, and an important part of their duty is to write the very numerous returns required from all such hospitals.