On Sunday mornings I went with him the round of inspection; the sick who were able to be out of hammock were drawn up for review: had he been half as particular with the men under his own charge or with the ship in general as he was with the few sick, there would have been but little disease to treat. Instead of questioning _me_ concerning their treatment, he interrogated the sick themselves, quarrelling with the medicine given, and pooh-pooh-ing my diagnosis. Those in hammocks, who most needed gentleness and comfort, he bullied, blamed for being ill, and rendered generally uneasy. Remonstrance on my part was either taken no notice of, or instantly checked. If men were reported by me for being dirty, giving impudence, or disobeying orders, _he_ became their advocate--an able one too--and _I_ had to retire, sorry I had spoken. But I would not tell the tenth part of what I had to suffer, because such men as he are the _exception_, and because he is dead. A little black baboon of a boy who attended on this lieutenant-commanding had one day incurred his displeasure: "Bo'swain's mate," cried he, "take my boy forward, hoist him on an ordinary seaman's back, and give him a rope's-ending; and," turning to me, "Doctor, you'll go and attend my boy's flogging." I dared not trust myself to reply. With a face like crimson I rushed below to my cabin, and--how could I help it?--made a baby of myself for once; all my pent-up feelings found vent in a long fit of crying. True, I might in this case have written a letter to the service about my treatment; but, as it is not till after twelve months the assistant-surgeon is confirmed, the commander's word would have been taken before mine, and I probably dismissed without a court-martial. That probationary year I consider more than a grievance, it is a _cruel injustice_. Cabins? There is a regulation--of late more strictly enforced by a circular--that every medical officer serving on board his own ship shall have a cabin, and the choice--by rank--of cabin, and he is a fool if he does not enforce it. But it sometimes happens that a sub-lieutenant (who has no cabin) is promoted to lieutenant on a foreign station; he will then rank above the assistant-surgeon, and perhaps, if there is no spare cabin, the poor doctor will have to give up his, and take to a sea-chest and hammock, throwing all his curiosities, however valuable, overboard. It would be the duty of the captain in such a case to build an additional cabin, and if he did not, or would not, a letter to the admiral would make him. Does the combatant officer treat the medical officer with respect? Certainly, unless one or other of the two be a snob: in the one case the respect is not worth having, in the other it can't be expected. In the military branch you shall find many officers belonging to the best English families: these I need hardly say are for the most part gentlemen, and gentle men. However, it is allowed in most messes that