ki‘COSH'S ADVICE TO OFFICERS IN INDIA. • IN the form of

particular advice to young Indian officers, Dr. M'Cosh has brought together a large amount of observation, ex- tending from " the snowy mountains of the Kybur to the tepid marshes of Burmah," and of experience reaching over a quarter of a century. Some parts of his book are, no doubt, more practi- cally useful to officers, and especially to medical officers, than to other people. The information, however, which these parts fur- nish as to regulations, appointments, pay, and the like, supply glimpses of the present Anglo-Indian system, indicate with suffi- cient distinctness the prospects of candidates, and contain hints of abuses with the mode of reforming them, in the straightforward remarks of Dr. M'Cosh. The sections most generally interesting are those which refer to the country and the climate ; to the duties of medical and military men in their frequently-changing positions ; to the diseases of the country, and the accounts of the different sanitaria. Under these heads will be found striking pictures of scenery and natural phenomena, incidental sketches of Anglo-Indian military and social life, with information touching disease and regimen, which may be useful to many and is indis- pensable to some. Part of the matter in these various descrip- tions may not be absolutely new to all readers, but it receives an appearance of freshness from its purpose, and from the closeness and vigour of the writer's style, corresponding to the energy which has carried him through four campaigns, nine general ac- tions, and won four decorations, as well as the thanks of the Go- vernor-General on two occasions.

We all know what the English proverb says about the North- east wind. In Persia and the Mediterranean, the South wind is anything but "sweet" In India, the East is the ill wind. In all these cases there seems to be something injurious beyond what the force or temperature would warrant,—and we do not mean temperature as marked by the thermometer, but the feelings. The effects of the Mediterranean sirocco are far beyond the tan- gible qualities of the wind itself ; in this country, the North- east has an unaccountable influence ; .Dr. M'Cosh describes the East of India as operating in a similar way. " Of all winds, the East is the most oppressive when the thermometer stands high, as it is also felt the coldest when the thermometer is low. This is the wind that blows nobody any good, and it must be an ill wind. It has little or no effect in cooling a tattle. Convalescence is retardecLby it, putre- faction hastened by it, and animals as well as vegetables are acutely sensi- tive to its baneful influence. A horse perspires in half the time when at work in an East wind than he would do in any other wind, and the leaves hang flaccid on their stems as if heated by steam. The electric state of the atmosphere has no doubt a great effect upon the constitution, though its mode of action may not be well ascertained. The moon in allcountries is blamed for her evil eye but heat and electricity must exert an equal influ- -ence, and the moon is blamed for all ; predictions of the weather founded upon the phases of the moon are vague and uncertain, and I think that her effects upon public health are equally difficult to be anticipated."

In our new possession the Punjaub, there is the plague of dust and drought, with, as a coincident if not a consequent, the absence of vegetation.

"The dust is something incredible. People in England, or even in the Upper Provinces, will not believe, that for days and weeks together the azure vault of heaven, with not a cloud upon it, is as completely eclipsed by impalpable dust as during the densest London fog ; and when the wind is high, an elephant might pass by unseen only a few yards away. The slightest wind raises it in clouds, a string of camels darkens the horizon, a cavalry parade obscures the whole hemisphere for hours after; once or twice in a month, in a week, or sometimes in a day, a storm of dust takes place that baffles all description. • • • • "The peculiarity of the climate of Lahore, I may say of the Punjaub, is the extraordinary drought that exists throughout the year, so that where artificial means are not used to irrigate the soil, the country becomes a desert, hence the excessive aridity, the dust and heat. It has lately become a speculation whether the absence of vegetation and forest is a cause of drought, or whether in the event of these being increased to a large extent, rain would be more copious. That they stand in the relation of cause and effect, I think most certain, but which takes precedence, I imagine it is very difficult to decide. I have studied the phenomena of clouds and rain in the Himalayah, but have not been able to trace any difference between what fell on a bare range of mountains, and what on a range covered with forest; both seemed to partake of it alike according to their elevation ; the higher the mountain the more cloud and rain ; not the greater the forest the more rain.

"Still we have well authenticated instances where the cutting down of extensive forests greatly reduced the average fall of rain, but we want the counter argument to prove that the extension of forests added to the hu- midity of the climate ; nevertheless, the presumption is that it would, and were it possible to overrun the Punjaub with forest or vegetation, more rain would fall, and the climate would be cooler."

The Punjaub also produces an insect plague worse than even the mosquito.

" Flies, (the common black-fly,) fire-flies, sand-flies, and crickets, swarm in every house. By means of good chicks the house-fly may be kept at bay, but the sand-fly abounds in every room. Though mere phantoms of material creatures, imperceptible to the ear and nearly so to the eye, and best dis- covered by their own shadow on the wall, and so fragile as to be broken into pieces by the stroke of a horse's hair, yet their biters like the prick of a red-hot needle ; and so venomous that the part swells to the size of half a cherry, remaining for days intolerably itchy, and requiring the greatest self-restraint to refrain from tearing it open : without noise, their assaults are unheard ; their size enables them to enter curtains where a mosquito would not penetrate ; and a thin. covering of silk, or cotton or woollen gives no protection, for their fangs penetrate them all. A mosquito is a trifle to it, a bug or a flea easily repelled in comparison. More sleep is lost by this little wretch than by all other domesticplagues put together, and nothing but a punkah gives one a chance of a night's sleep."

The late war has brought out vigorously and distinctly the feeling that rankles so fiercely in the mihtary mind when the undeserving are placed over a veteran's head. It is clear that

• Advice to Officers in India. By John APCosh, 4c. 4c., late of the Bengal Medical Ste. Published by Allen and Co. Ingo had valid grounds of discontent against Othello and Cassio ; nor can there be a greater proof of Shakspere's art than in render- ing the character of the ill-used " ancient " odious even to mar- tial minds, after the provocation he had received in losing his just preferment, through "letter and affection "—that is, " terest " and " favour." Something of this feeling is visible in our au- thor's remarks, especially on the manner in which his own pro- fession is treated. The observations are mostly just enough, but we fear they will hardly remedy the evil, unless medical men bestir themselves, not as practitioners but as politicians. If they brought their votes and other social influences to bear, they would stand a better chance of success than by any reliance on justice whether of cause or complaints.

In the form..of hints or advice, there are some general pictures of the necessary hardships of an army on service, which, had our newspaper correspondents gone through four campaigns, might have modified their notions of the possible in war. The Doctor has been speaking of the regularity and order of an Indian en- campment during home service.

"A campaign, under the above circumstances will appear mere feather- bed work ; but affairs undergo a wonderful change on foreign service, and the tug of war is then felt in real earnest. Every idea of luxury and com- fort must then be left behind, and a new regime must be submitted to con- sistent with the nature otthe country, the seat of war: On board ship, the

be

utmost discomfort is to expected ; such a thing as a cabin is entire y. out

of the question ; room on deck for a chair by day and a mattrass by night, and a seat at the dinner-table, is the utmost accommodation to be looked for. The deck, from stem to stern, is crowded with soldiers, and the very ship heels from side to side with the top weight.

"Government pay liberally, on account of officers embarking on foreiign service. They are not charged for passage, and their table expenses are also in a great measure paid by Government. Great confusion in embarking and disembarking is almost unavoidable ; tents and stores are in the hurry mis- laid, or unapproachable, and on landing are not to be found. Hence, ex- posure to the intense heat of the sun by day and the comparative cold at night ; to wind, and rain, and damp, and malaria ; to hunger and thirst, and great bodily exertion and fatigue in getting into position to meet the enemy. As the army advances into the interior, its difficulties probably in- crease. Carriage may not be procurable, unless for a very limited quantity of essentials, and the means of transporting a tent out of the question. The country may be found desolate and deserted ; the crops destroyed; the cattle ,driven far beyond reach ; the towns burnt to the ground ; the roads broken up, and the bridges broken down ; the wells poisoned by putrid car- casses; the means of subsistence—the rough rations of the commissariat; and the bivouac the only alternative ; and even that disturbed by midnight attacks along the line of outposts.

"Military discipline is as rigidly adhered to, even in the presence of the enemy, as in a cantonment. If a petty theft be committed by a camp-fol- lower, thief, if caught, is immediately punished ; if a soldier be detected plundering, he is liable to be flogged by a provost-sergeant, upon the spot ; if an officer be guilty of any gross breach of duty, he may be brought before a court-martial, and be cashiered ; if even a Cooley be found dead in camp, a court of inquest is immediately assembled, to ascertain the cause of his death. Even divine service is performed when the bugle may summon the congregation to disperse, and stand to their arms; and a funeral party may be hurried from the graves of their comrades that fell in battle, to meet the enemy in another battle equally destructive of life."

Although in reality a new book, Dr. M'Cosh's Advice to Of- ficers in India might nominally be called a second edition. When he was last in England, " about fifteen years ago," the author published a volume on the same subject, which since his return to India he has often. "been gratified at finding in the libraries of youngofficers, as a parting gift from affectionate relations." The work is now nearly double its original size, with much matter evidently derived from the events and experience of the last Mein years, and, we think, with much greater force of style than the original work.