1077

THE SERVICES.

ARMY MEDICAL STAFF.BRIGADE - SURGEON - LIEUTENANT - COLONEL LEWIS A.

IRVING retires on retired pay. Brigade-Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew A. Macrobin retires on retired pay. Surgeon-Lieutenant Browne-Mason and Surgeon-Lieutenant Pennyjoin at Woolwich for duty. Surgeon-Major McCormackembarks for West Africa. Surgeon-Major 0. E. P. Lloyd,V.C., is posted to Maryhill, Glasgow, in charge of theStation Hospital. Surgeon - Lieutenant - Colonel Fenn isordered to Dover for duty. Surgeon-Major James has leftthe Home District for duty at Aldershot.

INDIA AND THE INDIAN MEDICAL SERVICES.The following officers have been transferred: Surgeon-

Major Barry, Civil Surgeon, from Mussorie to Gorakhpur,and Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel Moran, Civil Surgeon, fromGorakhpur to Mussorie. The services of the under -mentioned officers are placed permanently at the disposalof the Government of Bengal: Surgeon - Captain Deare,Surgeon-Captain Oldham, and Surgeon-Captain Bird. Theservices of Surgeon-Colonel Hay (Bombay) are replacedat the disposal of the Military Department. Surgeon-MajorQuayle, Civil Surgeon, Nimar, is placed in Visiting MedicalCharge of Hoshangabad until further orders.

YEOMANRY CAVALRY.

Royal lst Devon: Surgeon-Captain F. Òorgan resigns hisoommission. Herts : John Andrew Turner, M.B. Edin., to beSurgeon-Lieutenant.

VOLUNTEER CORPS.

Artillary: 1st Newcastle-on-Tyne (Western Division,Royal Artillery): Surgeon-Captain A. T. Wear, M.D. Durh.,to be Surgeon-Major. 1st Northumberland (Western Division)Royal Artillery : Surgeon - Lieutenant J. Wreford to be

Surgeon - Captain. Rifle : 1st Volunteer Battalion the

Northamptonshire Regiment : Surgeon-Captain R. Greeneresigns his commission.

CASUALTIES IN MODERN SEA FIGHTS.The report which was read at the Moscow Congress by

Mr. S. Suzuki, fleet-surgeon in the Imperial Japanese Navy,and which was printed at length in THE LANCET of Oct. 16th,1897, contains a great deal of interesting informationabout Wei-hai-wei which now becomes topical and to whichwe refer our readers. When Wei-hai-wei (pronounced way-high-way) was taken in February, 1895, 12 ships of theattacking fleet, which consisted of 25 large vessels besides15 torpedo boats, were struck by 28 projectiles, but theresulting loss was not very great, only 20 of the Japanesehaving been killed and 46 wounded. The percentage of- casualties in each grade was as follows :-Officers, 10’0;non-commissioned officers, 1’0; engineers and stokers, 0’6;bluejackets, 12; non-combatants, 0’6. During the Yaluengagement 125 missiles of various kinds reached the

Japanese ships, the percentage of killed and woundedin this case being officers, 7’8; non-commissioned officers,8’7; engineers and stokers, 26; bluejackets, 9’4; non-

combatants, 9’8. At the beginning of the fight a singleprojectile, 30 centimetres in diameter, killed 30 men onboard the Matsushima and wounded 70 more. On board theHiyei a shot of similar dimensions killed 14 men andwounded 27, without reckoning 10 more who were injuredby splinters. On board the Itsukushima 8 men were killedand 3 wounded by a projectile of 21 centimetres ; 5 stokerswere severely wounded by a 15-centimetre shell whichpenetrated the starboard coal-bunker 3 ft. above the waterline; and a smaller shell, only 5 centimetres in diameter,sufficed to place 10 sailors hors de combat, 4 of themwith mortal wounds. On board the Akitsutshima 5 menwere killed and 9 wounded by a 21-centimetre pro- jectile ; and on the Fusoo 10 men were disabled by the fragments of a shattered chimney-stack. The Saikyo ’,was more fortunate than the above-mentioned vessels, foralthough her hull was penetrated several times by thelargest-sized missiles she nevertheless suffered compara-tively little damage as none of them exploded. The torpedo-boats seem to have gone through both engagements withoutinjury from the enemy with the exception of No. 9, whichwas hit no fewer than thirteen times at Wei-hai-Wei onFeb. 5th. Most of the shots were harmless, but one shellexploded in her boiler and caused the death of eight men by

scalding. The Japanese surgeons one and all treatedtheir wounded antiseptically in the most enlightenedfashion and with the happiest results. One man diedfrom erysipelas, but this was the only preventable complica-tion which occurred. They also practised the most strict con-servatism in their operations, amputations being performedsolely as a last resource in cases where the larger blood-vessels were implicated or where articulations were entirelydisorganised. In many instances joints that had been pene-trated were preserved at the expense of more or less completeankylosis ; 21 per cent. of the total injuries were situated onthe head ; and in the next place the parts affected were theupper and the lower extremities. Then in their order camewounds of the abdomen, the chest, the back, and finally theneck. Several cases of ruptured tympanum were due to theheavy ordnance.

PUBLIC HEALTH OF GIBRALTAR.We have received a copy of the Annual Report on the

Public Health of Gibraltar for 1897 by Surgeon-MajorH. P. G. Elkington, M.R.C.S. Eng., D.P.H., of the ArmyMedical Staff, who is acting as medical officer ofhealth at that station. Although the military populationand the non-residents and persons entering Gibraltaron daily permit are not included in this report thereare several matters of more or less interest to all. Thenature and amount of the water-supply, for example,will always have an interest for the garrison of a

place liable to be attacked and besieged. The civilcommunity in Gibraltar exists under peculiar conditionswhich make it difficult to form an accurate estimateof the population, but the Census returns for 1891show a total civil population of 19,100, composed ofa "fixed" and "resident alien." The death-rate in 1897was 23 56 per 1000 of the total population and 25-43 per 1000of the "fixed" population. These rates were in excess ofthose of the past two years and of the previous quinquennialperiod. The infantile mortality (under one year of age) ishigh-it was 184-9 per 1000 in 1897-and the death-rateamong children under five years of age was equal to 108’11per 1000. The principal causes of death were zymoticand respiratory diseases. Measles, small-pox, diphtheria,diarrhoea, fevers, and respiratory and tuberculous affectionsappear to be the main prevailing diseases at Gibraltar. Thesanitary condition of Gibraltar is improving but much stillremains to be done. There is a good deal of overcrowdingand this still continues to be the great problem to be dealtwith. A bacteriological laboratory was opened at Gibraltarin 1896 and has done good work.

HOSPITAL STOPPAGES.The Broad Arrow states that" in the case of soldiers

(including boys) admitted into hospital on account ofinjuries received when in the execution of their duty orsickness, certified by the medical officer to have been con-tracted as a direct result of their military service, thecircumstances being beyond the soldier’s own control, onehalf of the hospital stoppage may be remitted by thegeneral officer commanding. If any injury has beenreceived when on duty at drill or manoeuvres under circum-stances beyond the soldier’s own control the whole stoppagemay be remitted."

DEATHS IN THE SERVICES.

Surgeon-Captain Edward Corcoran, A.M.S., on March 23rd,at Okuta, in the Hinterland of Lagos, aged twenty-fiveyears. He contracted malarial fever while on field service.He joined the Army in the month of February, 1887, andserved in the Ashanti Expedition of 1895-96 (stax).

THE QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY.It is notified in the London Gazette that « the Queen’s

Birthday will be celebrated in London alone on Saturday,May 21st next, and at all other stations, naval and military,on Tuesday, May 24th next."

BRISTOL ROYAL HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN ANDWOMEN.-The annual meeting of this institution was heldon April 4th, under the presidency of the Bishop of Bristol.The report showed that during 1897 there had been 709children treated as in-patients, and 1069 women and 2602children were attended as out-patimts. The financial state-ment showed an adverse balance o £ 994. Sir W. H. WillsBart, M.P., had iven £ 250 for th’3 convalescent home atWeston-super-Mare in connexion with the hospital.