For Admission and Promotion in the Medical Department of the Navy.

It is prescribed by law that no person shall be appointed in this branch of the service who has not been examined and found qualified by a board of naval surgeons, designated by the Secretary of the Navy, and who is under twenty-one or over twenty-six years of age.

Application for permission to attend the examination for admission to the medical corps of the navy must be addressed to the Secretary of the Navy, stating the age and residence of the applicant, and be accompanied by respectable testimonials of moral character.

The permission will state the time and place of the meeting of the board.

The board rigidly scrutinizes the physical qualifications of each candidate, as well as his mental and professional capacity; requires competent testimony as to his moral fitness, and reports favorably upon no case admitting of a reasonable doubt, as the health and the lives of the officers and men of the navy are objects too important to be intrusted to ignorant or incompetent persons. Scholastic acquirements, especially orthography, geography, and grammar, are rigidly inquired into, and those who know themselves to be deficient upon these points will lose their time and incur useless expense by presenting themselves for examination.

The board reports the relative merit of the candidates as shown by the examination; and appointments will be made in the navy as vacancies may occur, in the order in which they may be reported by the board. Although nothing can take the place of professional qualifica

tion, a knowledge of modern languages, or of any branch of natural history, especially botany, will, other circumstances being equal, give the candidate possessing them a preference in selection or position.

No qualified candidate will be held over for appointment beyond one year; if not appointed within that time, it will be necessary for a candidate to be reëxamined, when he will take position with the class last examined.

Physical examination will precede the professional. No candidate not physically qualified for the active duties of the service will be examined professionally. The board will make a separate report in each case, of the physical condition, direct to the department, to be placed on file with the testimonials of the candidate.

No allowance is made for the expenses of persons undergoing these examinations, as they are indispensable prerequisites to appointment. Assistant surgeons are entitled to an examination for promotion after three years' service in the navy.

In order that the relative position of assistant surgeons of the same date, who shall be examined for promotion at different times, may be more readily determined, a majority of the members of the board will be selected, if practicable, from those who served on the next preceding board.

Assistant surgeons who are candidates for promotion shall present to the board testimonials of correct deportment and habits of industry from the surgeons with whom they have been associated on duty; also a journal of practice, or case-book, in their own handwriting. They are expected to be familiar with all the details of duty specified in the "Instructions for the Government of Medical Officers."

Any assistant surgeon who shall fail to present himself for examination after he has been ordered (unless for reasons which may be satisfactory to the department), shall be dropped from the list of officers of the navy. GEO. M. ROBESON, August, 1876.

Secretary of the Navy.

FORM OF APPLICATION.

187-.

To the Secretary of the Navy:

I respectfully make application for examination as to my qualifications appointment as Assistant Surgeon in the United States Navy. I was

UNITED STATES NAVAL HOSPITAL.

Chelsea.

The hospital is connected with the Navy Yard, but is situated on the opposite bank of Mystic River. It contains 100 beds, and is intended for the treatment of sick and disabled men of the naval service.

The officers of the naval hospital are given above.

United States Marine Hospital Service.

JOHN M. WOODWORTH, M. D., Supervising Surgeon-General, Washington, D. C.

The Marine Hospital Service of the United States, which furnishes medical and surgical relief to the sick and disabled of the American mercantile marine and revenue cutter service, was established by act of Congress, July 16, 1798, and reorganized by acts of Congress June 29, 1870, and March 3, 1875. The service is under the charge of a Supervising Surgeon-General, who is appointed by the Presdent, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and who is charged by law, "under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, with the supervision of all matters connected with the Marine Hospital Service of the United States, and with the disbursement of the fund."

Relief is furnished to seamen at ninety-five ports of the ocean, gulf and inland waters, either in hospitals established and maintained by the government exclusively for seamen, or in private or municipal institutions with which arrangements are made from time to time. About 15,000 sick and disabled seamen thus receive upwards of 400,000 days' relief in hospital annually, besides many out-patients. The service is chiefly supported by a tax of forty cents per month, as "hospital dues," upon the wages of all persons serving upon documented vessels of the United States, engaged in the commerce of the oceans, lakes, and rivers, and upon the officers and men of the revenue cutters. Fishing vessels and canal boats are not included. A sick or dis

abled seaman, to obtain hospital relief, must apply to a surgeon of the Marine Hospital Service, or to a United States collector of customs, and must furnish evidence that he has paid "hospital dues." Relief is not furnished to indigent seamen not sick or disabled, or to seamen who have abandoned their vocation for any other employment. All doubtful cases, and extensions of relief beyond two months are referred to the Washington office for decision.

The regulations for the government of the service, adopted in 1873, provide for the appointment, after examination by a board of surgeons, of surgeons and assistant surgeons, as in the army and navy. The Supervising Surgeon-General has adopted the English provisional nomenclature of diseases as the standard for the medical and surgical returns of the service, and has introduced inexpensive pavilion hospitals in lieu of permanent structures of brick, stone, and iron.

Hospitals of the U. S. Marine Hospital Service in New England.

Chelsea (Port of Boston).

The Marine Hospital for the port of Boston was originally established in Charlestown, in 1802; a second building was erected at Chelsea 1825-27. The present building, which has accommodations for 100 patients, cost $394,424, and was completed and occupied about 1860. Special advantages are offered at this hospital to study the diseases to which sailors are liable, especially those arising from venereal taint, and from exposure to malarial and other influences. Students are allowed to visit the wards every day at 9 o'clock.

Hyannis (Cape Cod District).

The hospital receives seamen from many ports scattered along nearly 200 miles of sea-coast. Upwards of 200 patients are annually treated in the district. The hospital is situated in the village of Hyannis, and has accommodations for ten patients.

Surgeon in Charge - Peter Pineo, M. D.

Vineyard Haven (District of Edgartown).

About 100 patients are annually treated in the hospital at Vineyard Haven, which has accommodations for ten patients.

Surgeon in Charge - William Leach, M. D.

Salem, Mass.

(Seamen are received into the Salem Hospital.)

Portland, Me.

The Marine Hospital at Portland has accommodations for fifty patients. The hospital was commenced in 1852, and completed in 1859, at a cost of $122,837.

patients are annually treated.

About 160

Surgeon in Charge C. S. D. Fessenden, M. D.

Bangor, Me.

Surgeon in Charge― A. C. Hamlin, M. D.

Bath, Me.

Surgeon in Charge — R. D. Bibber, M. D.

New Haven, Conn.

(Seamen are received into the General Hospital.)