During the period described in the first volume of Dr. Keevil's history of the Royal Navy's medical services, the keynote had been one of continuous neglect and ignorance. The care of the sick seaman ashore had been left largely to private charity; at sea he counted for nothing as an individual and the meagre medical and surgical services were intended solely to maintain the efficiency of ships as fighting units or on long voyages. As wars had been comparatively in-frequent and as, until the advent of the East India Company, maritime commerce had been confined largely to individual and unco-ordinated enterprises, it is not surprising that the administration of naval medical services had been nonexistent, or, at best, spasmodic and ill-defined. This second volume by Dr. Keevil reviews the developments under the Commonwealth, the Protectorate, and the later Stuart kings, and, as the story unfolds, it is possible to discern the growth of two new and dominant themes, a spirit of humanity and a continuity of administration. Improvements were slow and haphazard and usually achieved at the cost of bitter experience by the unfortunate sailors, yet by the end of the period a glimpse of the naval medical service as it exists today can be seen for the first time.
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