Ross and the Indian Medical Service, 1881–94

Abstract

When Ross went to St Bartholomew’s Hospital to study medicine it had been his father’s intention that he should become a military doctor. In those days it was customary to refer to military doctors as ‘surgeons’. This was a relic of the days when the role of doctors in the army was seen primarily as responsible for the treatment of battle casualties. By the time Ross completed his medical studies the role of the army doctors had certainly expanded, but the term ‘surgeon’ endured for another thirty years.