Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, War, Scientific Practitioners, Engineers, Heroism, Status, Nationalism, Government, Politics

    Notes the heroic battlefield work of military surgeons but points out that they are no more honoured than London hospital surgeons. Argues that the English, 'in the serenity of our greatness, rarely vouchsafe to acknowledge the existence of people of science'. Describes the paucity of scientific practitioners in the Court and Government and the fact that military victors are honoured by the state more than Robert Stephenson, whose Britannia Bridge was of 'incalculable' utility. Continues to contrast the ways military warriors and surgeons are honoured.