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Advice to Officers in India

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Advice to Officers in India (1856)
by John McCosh
2035440Advice to Officers in India1856John McCosh

ADVICE


TO


OFFICERS IN INDIA.


BY

JOHN McCOSH, M.D.,


GRADUATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH.
MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, EDINBURGH.
MEMBER OF THE PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY, LONDON.
LATE OF THE BENGAL MEDICAL STAFF.



LONDON:
Wm H. ALLEN & CO., 7, LEADENHALL STEEET
1856.



W. Lewis and Son, Printers, 21, Finch Lane, Cornhill



TO

The Most Noble the Marquis of Dalhousie, K.G.,

LATE GOVERNOR GENERAL OF INDIA,

THIS BOOK

IS BY SPECIAL PERMISSION DEDICATED, AS A TRIBUTE

OF RESPECT AND ESTEEM, BY


THE AUTHOR.



Preface


The first edition of this book was published when I was last in England, about fifteen years ago, and many a time since my return to duty, I have been gratified at finding it in the libraries of young officers, as a parting gift from affectionate relations. With a sincere desire to render it still more worthy of confidence and adapt it to the changes of the times, I have added line upon line and precept upon precept, till it is now nearly double its original size.

I have had much experience and seen much service during my career in India; indeed no Surgeon has seen more; and have experienced all its vicissitudes of climate, from the snowy mountains of the Kybur, to the tepid marshes of Burmah. I have performed the duties of various civil stations, and of Professor in the Calcutta Medical College; I have served with Native Infantry and Irregular Cavalry, been Surgeon of a regiment of European Fusiliers, and of a batallion of European Artillery; I was Staff Surgeon to General Gilbert during the Punjaub campaign, and Staff Surgeon to General Godwin during the late Burmese war; I have served throughout four campaigns, been present in nine general actions, received four honorary decorations, viz. Maharajpore, Chilianwalla, Goojerath, Pegu, and twice received the public thanks of the governor General in Council for services in the field.

With such opportunities for observation, and an ambition to benefit a service in which I have spent the best twenty-five years of my life, I have endeavoured to put a useful guide into the hands of Military as well as Medical officers during their years of inexperience; to put a guide into the hands of older officers, to enable them to recover their broken health at some of the numerous sanataria within the Indian limits, (for I also have experienced the blessings of renewed health at such resorts after sickness prolonged beyond hope of recovery,) and I have further ventured to throw out some hints for the consideration of Government, professional as well as extra professional, which may be found worthy of adoption.

I have indeed done my best to render this advice sound and worthy of confidence, in the hope of its being favoured with a welcome reception. Such a compilation must therefore be more or less heterogeneous, but I have endeavoured to avoid the inconveniencies of miscellaneous matter by a careful classification, and an attempt to put the right article into the right place.

J. McCOSH, M.D.

London,
1st July, 1856.



CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
Page.
1. An Outline of India. 2. Government. 3. Civil and Military Establishments. 4. Qualifications and Appointments. 5. Photography. 6. Medical List. 7. Rank. 8. Medical Board. 9. Superintending Surgeon. 10. Surgeons and Assistants. 11. Slowness of Promotion. 12. Subordinate Medical Department. 13. Native Doctors. 14. New Medical College. 15. Native Skill. 16. Medical Literature. 17. Medical Etiquette. 18. Duelling. 19. Pay. 20. Private Practice 1
CHAPTER II.
1. Medical Fund. 2. Military Fund. 3. Orphan Fund. 4. Lawrence Asylum. 5. Lord Clive's Fund. 6. Pensions, Regular. 7. Wound Pensions. 8. Officers Killed in Action. 9. Donation Batta. 10. Investment and Remittance of Money. 11. Debt. 12. Wills and Estates. 13. Furlough. 14. E. I. U. Service Club 25
CHAPTER III.
1. Date of Rank and Pay. 2. Passage. 3. Wardrobe. 4. Instruments. 5. Books. 6. Wife. 7. Embarkation. 8. Pleasures of Exile. 9. Voyage by the Cape of Good Hope. 10. Overland Route. 11. The Peninsular and Oriental Company. 36
CHAPTER IV.
1. Arrival in the Hooghly. 2. Landing at Calcutta. 3. Society. 4. Letters of Introduction.5. Patronage. 6. Servants. 7. General Hospital. 8. Probation of Assistant Surgeons. 9. Ennui and Hypochondriasis. 10. Vis Medicatrix Naturæ. 11.Standard of Health. 12. Indiscretions. 13. Risk of Life 48
CHAPTER V.
1. Climate and Seasons. 2. Of Bengal. 3. Of the N.W. Provinces. 4. Of the Punjaub. 5. Of Burmah. 6. The Rains. 7. Inundation. 8. The Cold Weather 73
CHAPTER VI.
1. Mode of travelling. 2. Boatingon the Ganges. 3. River Steamers. 4. Dawking. 5. Marching. 6. Hotels. 7. Postage. 8. Electric Telegraph 96
CHAPTER VII.
1. Cantonments. 2. European Barracks, 3. Native Barracks. 4. Mode of Life. 5. European Regiment. 6. Soldiers' Gardens. 7. Native Regiment. 8. Importance of Medical Officers. 9. Hospital Attendance. 10. Recruiting. 11. Malingering. 12. General Character of Sepoys. 13. Reliefs  104
CHAPTER VIII.
1. Service in the Field. 2. Rendezvous. 3. Baggage. 4. Line of March. 5. Camp. 6. Foreign Service. 7. Discipline. 8. Routine. 9. Conveyance of Sick. 10. Preparations for Action. 11. Position of Surgeons. 12. Field Hospital. 13. A standing Camp. 14. Exposure of Surgeons. 15. Neglect of Surgeons 126
CHAPTER IX.
1. Economy of Europeans.—Houses. 2. Subterranean Chambers. 3. Effects of Closed Doors. 4. Shrubberies. 5. Furniture. 6. Punkahs. 7. Thermantidotes. 8. Tatties. 9. Fire and Lights. 10. Clothing. 11. Bathing. 12. Diet. 13. Fruits and Vegetables. 14. Drinks. 15. Ice. 16. Smoking. 17. Exercise. 18. Amusements. 19. Domestic Plague. 20. Wild Animals. 21.Earthquakes. 22. Storms and Inundations. 23. Famines. 24. Assassination. 25. Accidents and Offences.—Lightning. 146
CHAPTER X.
1. Civil Stations. 2. Duty and Pay of Civil Surgeons. 3. Prisoners and Jails. 4. Native Character. 5. Education. 6. Seclusion of Females. 7. Worship. 8 Conversion. 9. Easy Circumstances. 10. March of Intellect. 11. Houses. 12. Clothing. 13. Diet. 14. Impure Water. 15. Bathing. 16. Exposure of theDying. 17. Eunuchism. 18. Coolinism. 19. Widowism. 20. Polygamy. 21. Thuggeeism 186
CHAPTER XI.
1. Diseases in General. 2. Catarrh. 3. Calculus. 4, Goitre. 5. Elephantiasis. 6. Leprosy. 7. Cholera. 8. Scurvy. 9. Mahamurry. 10. Predisposing Causes of Disease. 11. Malaria. 12. Marshes. 13. Rice Fields. 14. Tanks, Pools, and Drains. 15. Floating Corpses 214
CHAPTER XII.
1. Sanitaria. 2. The Sick Room. 3. Mental Affections. 4. Love of Change. 5. Medical Certificates. 6. Hill Stations of Bengal. 7. Scenery of the Himalayah. 8. Climate. 9. Darjiling. 10. Nainee-thal. 11. Almorah. 12. Missourie and Landour. 13. Simlah, Subathoo, &c. 14. Murree. 15. Kunawur 235
CHAPTER XIII
1. Neilgherry Hills. 2. Ootacamund. 3. The Lake. 4. Eoutes to Ooty. 5. Climate. 6. Coonoor. 7. Kotagherry. 8. Jackatalla. 9. Mahableshwur Hills. 10. Defects of Hill Climates 265
CHAPTER XIV.
1. Leave to Sea Forms. 2. Precautions. 3. Penang. 4. Malacca. 5. Singapore. 6. Java. 7. Macao. 8. Hong Kong. 9. Canton 276
CHAPTER XV.
1. Ceylon and Mauritius. 2. Mauritius. 3. Cape of Good Hope. 4. Climate and Seasons. 5. Cape Town. 6. Wynberg. 7. Green Point. 8. Kalk Bay. 9. Australia. 10. Syria 289
CHAPTER XVI.
1. The Rail, the Surf, and the Breakwater at Madras 304


This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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