appears to operate throughout India, (if we except the labours of a few
zealous individuals, among whom, Captain T. Hardwicke, of the Bengal
Artillery; Dr. Roxburgh, Superintendant of the Botanic Garden at
Calcutta; Dr. Bruce, formerly Physician to the Nabob of Oude; and Dr.
William Hunter, of the Bengal Medical Department; are the most
conspicuous,) seems to operate against enquiry into various important
matters relating to the mineral waters; which, I doubt not, would be
found in abundance, were either the cost of research so moderate as to
permit active individuals to explore the vast regions whose very
boundaries are, as yet, scarcely known; or, were the Government of India
to defray the expence of a few capable men, whose time should be wholly
devoted to an enquiry into whatever might appertain to botany,
mineralogy, natural history, and the various branches of knowledge on
which chemistry and physic depend. The disbursement could not be felt;
while, not only would the world at large be benefitted, but, possibly,
some new articles of trade, or for manufacture, might be discovered;
whereby even the Company itself would derive those _solid_ advantages to
which, on most occasions, they direct the attention of their servants.
Such has been the negligence shewn in regard to the hot well at Monghyr,
that, although it stands within two miles of the Ganges, is not more
than three miles from the Fort of Monghyr, (a grand depôt for stores,
garrisoned by upwards of two thousand invalids,) and is in the direct
track from Calcutta to the upper provinces; nay, although the waters of
this well are sent for from all parts of the country, and form,
frequently, a part of the stock of persons, especially ladies, going to
sea; for which purpose it is bottled in very large quantities; yet,
strange to tell, its properties have never been duly analyzed. I have
been in company with various medical men, who differed as to its basis;
some asserting it to be chalybeate, others considering it as impregnated
with soda, while some, I know not why, declared it to possess no
particular impregnation, nor any active principle.
It must be evident, that, in a country whose soil is subject to be
parched during so many months in the year, heavy fogs and miasma must
abound; consequently, during the four months following the cessation of
the annual rains, it frequently happens that the atmosphere is laden
with mists and vapors until a very late hour in the day. In great
cities, the bad effects of these are not so perceptible, on account of
the general fumigation which takes place during the evenings, when the
bulk of the inhabitants, as if by general consent, kindle fires for the
purpose of cooking their victuals; of which they rarely eat at an
earlier hour than six or seven o’clock; the cold remains of the repast
being put by for the morning’s meal. This fortuitous circumstance tends
to purify the air, and obviates a large portion of those evils to which
the villages, which stand more exposed in the midst of the marshy
tracts, are imminently subject. In such, it is common to find a very
large portion of the inhabitants annually laid up with intermittents of
a very obstinate description, but from which they are rescued by their
moderation in regard to diet, and by a few medicinal simples every where
common, and whose application is sufficiently understood. Great numbers
are, however, swept off by the disease itself, or by the obstructions it
generally creates. Those obstructions are ever to be dreaded, even
though a perfect cure should apparently have taken place. It is by no
means uncommon to see persons, especially Europeans, who have, to
appearance, been cured of Jungle, or Hill-fevers, as they are locally
designated, and which correspond exactly with our Marsh-fever, laid up
at either the full or change of the moon, or, possibly, at both, for
years after.
Many have affected to doubt the planetary influence on the human
constitution, but, to me, there appears every reason to accredit the
opinion. I have seen so many instances, among my own most intimate
friends, as well as a thousand ordinary cases among soldiers,
camp-followers, villagers, &c., that my mind was fully made up on the
subject long before I had the opportunity of perusing the treatise of
Dr. Francis Balfour, of the Bengal Medical Establishment; from which I
offer to the consideration of my readers the following interesting
extracts.
OF THE PAROXYSMS OF FEVERS.
‘In Bengal, there is no reason to doubt that the human frame is affected
by the influence connected with the relative situations of the sun and
moon. In certain states of health and vigor, this influence has not
power to shew itself by any obvious effects; and, in such cases, its
existence is often not acknowledged. But, in certain states of debility
and disease, it is able to manifest itself by exciting _febrile
paroxysms_; and the propensity, or aptitude, of the constitution to be
affected with febrile paroxysms in such cases, may be denominated _the
paroxysmal disposition_.’
OF PERFECT TYPES.
‘Febrile paroxysms universally discover a tendency to appear, and to
disappear, in coincidence with those positions of the sun and moon that
regulate the rising and falling of the tides. The diurnal and nocturnal
encrease of sol-lunar power acting on constitutions, in which the
propensity of the paroxysmal disposition is complete and perfect,
produces paroxysms every twelve hours, in coincidence with the periods
of the tides; and constitute types which, on account of this regular
coincide, I denominate perfect.’
OF IMPERFECT TYPES.
‘The diurnal and nocturnal encrease of sol-lunar power acting on
constitutions in which the propensity to paroxysm is incomplete, or
imperfect, has power only to produce paroxysms in coincidence with every
second, third, or fourth, period of the tides, or others, more remote;
constituting _types_, which, on account of this irregular coincidence, I
have called _imperfect_.’
Doctor Balfour states, in a note, that, ‘In several cases of the plague,
recorded by Dr. Patrick Russell, the febrile paroxysms returned
obviously every four hours, in coincidence with the periods of the
tides; and his predecessor and relation, the author of ’_The Natural
History of Aleppo_,‘ asserts positively, that the generality of the
fevers there, and, indeed, in almost all acute cases, are subject to
exacerbations once or twice in twenty-four hours.’
In Cordiner’s Description of Ceylon, I find the following
passage:—‘Medical men have discovered this swelling’ (viz. the
_elephantiasis_) ‘to be an effect of fever, _which returns on the
patients monthly_.’ (Vol. I. page 182.)
The natives, generally in the first instance, have recourse to the
_bit-noben_ or _kala-neemuk_, (_i.e._ black-salt,) a solution of which,
though certainly very disgusting, on account of its taste, strongly
reminding us of the scent of gun washings, or of rotten eggs, proves an
excellent cathartic, and, if duly persisted in, rarely fails to rid the
patient of an immense quantity of bile. That being effected, a strong
decoction of _cherrettah_, a root about the size of slender birch twigs,
but of a redder color, and possessing some of the properties of Peruvian
bark, is frequently taken. But, the best medicine in the catalogue of
Indian simples certainly is the _lotah_, or _kaut-kullaigee_, which is
the kernel taken from the pod of a creeping kind of cow-itch. This
kernel is extremely bitter, and possesses all the virtues of the bark;
but with this advantage, that, in lieu of binding, it commonly proves
very mildly aperient when taken to the amount of two or three nuts
daily. I have often given it, with great success, during the paroxysms
of an ague; having previously cleared the stomach and intestines by
suitable means, such as ipecacuanha and calomel.
That we are absolutely in a state of ignorance regarding the medical
properties of various plants, highly appreciated by the natives, cannot
be denied; we must not, however, yield an implicit belief to the many
marvellous stories related throughout Hindostan, of the extraordinary
cures performed by their aid: many disproofs of such fables are publicly
extant, and teach us to view the objects so highly extolled through the
medium of a _minifying_ glass; thereby to reduce their virtues to the
proper standard of estimation. So fully was that learned, and zealous
president of the Asiatic Society, Sir William Jones, impressed with an
opinion of our overlooking many of the most valuable of nature’s
vegetable productions, that, shortly after the formation of that
excellent institution, he expressed a wish, an earnest one, indeed, for
early framing a code of the botany of Hindostan in particular; and, in a
short address to the society, urged, that a ‘Treatise on the Plants of
India’ should be diligently and carefully drawn up. In that address, Sir
William says, ‘Some hundreds of plants which are yet imperfectly known
to European botanists, and, with the virtues of which we are wholly
unacquainted, grow wild on the plains, and in the forests, of India. The
‘_Amarcosh_,’ an excellent vocabulary of the Sanscrit language,
contains, in one chapter, the names of about three hundred medicinal
vegetables; the ‘_Medini_’ may comprize as many more; and the
‘_Dravyabidana_,’ or, ‘Dictionary of Natural Productions,’ includes, I
believe, a far greater number; the properties of which are distinctly
related in medical tracts of approved authority.’
Here I must beg leave to enter my protest against the too ready
acceptance of what the books above quoted may tender to our medical
repositories; and that for the following reason; namely, although the
natives may be sufficiently acquainted with certain properties of
certain plants, yet, owing to a total ignorance of pathology,
phisiology, nosology, and especially of the circulation of the blood,
and of chemistry as applicable to analysis and synthesis, it is utterly
impossible they should be able to act except by rote, and according to
their ideas of specifics; whereby the virtues of the medicines in
question are supposed to be applicable to all the stages, not only of
the same, but of various diseases, totally opposite in their natures. It
surely cannot require to be pointed out, how uncertain the results must
be under such circumstances, even when each simple is administered
separately, and with a patient attention to its operation: but, when we
take into account the known fact, that, on most occasions where the
native _Huckeems_, or _Hakeems_, prescribe, they rely greatly upon
compounds of herbs and minerals; each having its virtues recorded in
some popular distich, to dispute which would be considered an open
avowal of consummate ignorance; I say, under such circumstances, we may
fairly, and, in duty to ourselves should, hesitate to receive
information from so impure a source. It is not my intention to
depreciate the merits of many simples in use among the natives: I argue
against their competency to estimate them; but, at the same time,
entertain no doubt that their several books may lead us to the greatest
advantages, by giving hints, which, being properly, but guardedly
followed up, should enrich our catalogue of valuable remedies. This
cannot be done in a few days, nor even in a few years: whenever it may
be effected, I doubt not that the memory of that president, whose life
was devoted to the service, not only of his existing fellow-creatures,
but of posterity also, will be duly venerated. The Botanic Gardens
established at the several Presidencies, under the care of medical
gentlemen, duly qualified, offer the means of putting much assertion to
the tests of chemistry, and of time: the former have not, as yet, been
properly resorted to, and the latter has not run its due course, to
enable the philosophical world to decide with precision.
In the first volume of the Asiatic Researches, the late Matthew Leslie,
Esq. very sensibly observed, that ‘there are in our Indian provinces
many animals, and many hundreds of medicinal plants, which have either
not been described at all, or, what is worse, ill described, by the
naturalists of Europe.’ In this remark there is much truth; but a
certain portion of the very extensive meaning of Mr. Leslie, who was,
assuredly, a man of considerable abilities, and who had much opportunity
for research, will be received with caution, from the consideration of
his avowed partiality towards native physicians; who, as I have just
stated, are by no means competent to guide us through the mazes of
botanical research. The state of medicine throughout India, (I mean
among the natives,) is not such as to induce the belief that we shall
obtain any valuable information among the _Huckeems_; of whom, full
ninety-nine in the hundred are self-taught, as well as self-sufficient.
What, then, is to be expected among persons thus practising a
profession, to which the old adage of ‘_ars longa, vita brevis_’ so
admirably applies, when we see not even one didactic page to which they
can resort; no public institution where knowledge is either bestowed or
received; no liberal, enlightened, patron, under whose auspices genius
may be enabled to penetrate into the mines of science? This being the
fact, shall we refrain from smiling at those of our countrymen who,
quitting the aid and guidance of their well-informed medical friends,
resort to such quacks, whose reputation they thus unjustly raise among
the gaping crowd, and who have the art to propagate the most unbounded
reliance on their nostrums? That, here and there, a simple of peculiar
efficacy may be in use among such persons, I shall not deny; but must
appeal to our more enlightened medical societies, whether, in the hands
of an ignorant man, brought up in vanity, and regardless of the minutiæ
of physical causes and of physical effects, even the most simple
medicine can be safely entrusted? The greatest part of the burlesque is,
that these highly renowned physicians, to a man, rely upon proper
conjunctions of the planets, lucky hours, &c., not only for the culling,
but for the mixing, and administration of their medicines, without
regard to those critical moments of which our silly disciples of
Hippocrates and Galen are so very watchful!
We must, however, do the natives the justice to allow, that the
refrigerating principle lately adopted by some of our leading
physicians, owes its origin solely to the ancient practice of the
_Brahmans_, or Hindu priests; of whom the generality affect to be deeply
versed in pharmacy. I believe, that, if taken in time, few fevers would
be found to degenerate into _typhus_, and that very seldom any
determination towards the liver from acute cases would occur, were the
refrigerating course to be adopted. Often have I known my servants, when
attacked with fever, to drink cold water in abundance, and to apply wet
cloths to their heads, with great success; the former has generally
lowered the pulse considerably, by throwing out a strong perspiration,
while the latter has given immediate local relief.
Were it not that _cast_ (_i.e._ sect) opposes a formidable barrier to
the more extensive practice of European physicians among the natives in
general, the native doctors would speedily be consigned to their merited
contempt: but such are the prejudices arising from religious tenets,
among the Hindus in particular, that, even when at the last extremity,
many would rather die than suffer any medicine prepared, or perhaps of
which the liquid part had been barely touched, by one not of their own
_cast_, to enter their mouths! Where such infatuation prevails,
ignorance will maintain her empire, until, by the gradual abolition of
vulgar errors, the light of science, and of reason, may begin to glimmer
among the people at large. It will not suffice, that a few skilful
European professors should be seen, and be admired, by a grateful few:
that has already happened; but the dread of religious anathema, and of
domestic excommunication, are too forcibly opposed to such weak
demonstrations. Unhappily, we aimed at a reform, in this particular, at
that very point to which it should have had only a remote tendency: we
peremptorily attacked the very existence of full a tenth of the whole
population, that is, of the Brahmans, or Hindu priests; and we excited,
among the people at large, suspicions such as have given scope to our
enemies for inculcating, that we are intent on subjecting their minds,
as well as their bodies.
From this dilemma, I understand, with pleasure, we are gradually
extricating ourselves; by withdrawing those noxious publications, which,
in a moment of unguarded zeal, we had allowed our clergy to introduce to
the notice of the people of Hindostan. With respect to the motive, that
is out of the question: I am not considering the merits of one religion
opposed to another, but simply the fact, as it relates to our political
connection with the East, and the diffusion of true philosophy over that
vast region. Nor am I here censuring the measure in a religious sense;
though, on reference to history, and to my own experience of the
dispositions of the Hindus, I feel surprized that fanaticism should have
been allowed to meddle with a country over which we, in truth, have not
an efficient control, and among a race whose tenets are by no means
obnoxious to humanity; among whom apostacy is a mortal sin, who disclaim
all interference with the doctrines of other sects, and who have most
amply proved their title, at least to toleration, if not to protection.
I have said, that we began at the wrong end; and this surely will appear
to be the case when the matter is properly understood. In lieu of
attacking that which carries with it no offence against ourselves, and
instead of endeavoring to force upon them our creed, we should have
studied to render the natives acquainted with whatever could tend to
their worldly comfort, and to the removal of errors often pregnant with
destruction. Let us suppose, for instance, that, in various parts of the
country, the Company were to establish schools, where youths of every
description might be instructed in the mathematics, botany, chemistry,
surgery, pharmacy, agriculture, mechanics, &c.; and that valuable
premiums should, at certain periods, be presented to such as might merit
the distinction. The obvious consequence would be, that, in due time, an
infinity of absurdities would vanish, and that, in proportion as science
should expand among them, the superior circles would begin to estimate
our value as an enlightened people. They would then look up to us as
their superiors; in lieu of rating us, as they now do, very low indeed
on the scale of degradation. Such a system would not only give an
effectual shake to the basis of priest-craft, but cause all the literary
stores, and the natural productions of the soil, to be laid open to our
examination: then, indeed, our medical men might enjoy a high reputation
in every quarter of the East, and the world might be benefitted, both by
the correction of many errors, and by the acquisition of most important
novelties in medicine, and in the various arts on which commerce is
dependant. Then should we have no occasion to goad the Hindus towards
Christianity: they would thirst for knowledge, and pant to be rid of
those fetters imposed upon their minds by their artful clergy.
I have heard it said ‘the natives have no disposition for the sciences.’
This is imposing a cruel sentence on a hundred millions of people! Allow
it to be true; and look back to the state of Britain while under the
control, in a certain measure, of the Druids; who are now well
ascertained to have been the same, in their days, as the Brahmans of
Bengal, &c., are at this time. Who can fail to admire the change? Who
could suppose it possible that such a change could have been effected
among a people, who, if we are to give credit to Cæsar, and to other
authorities, were completely barbarous, and ‘who shewed no disposition
for the sciences?’ In opposition to so absurd, and so malicious an
assertion, let me state a few facts. When Mr. Reuben Burrow was in
India, as head of the mathematical department, he was solicited by
several of the natives to instruct them in astronomy, algebra, &c.
Unhappily, although possessing pre-eminent talents, Mr. Burrow was not
exactly calculated to conciliate the good will, nor to excite the
admiration, of persons who did not, like himself, blaze at the spark of
science: in fact, he partook greatly of the character of the celebrated
Doctor Samuel Johnson, and might be termed ‘a mathematical Hottentot!’
This important deficiency of suavity caused the natives to quit; indeed,
it tended to disgust those of his countrymen who, being compelled by
their avocations to attend his lectures, were subjected to his caprices
and gross manners. However, one native, of mediocre opulence, was not to
be scared by what appeared a trifle, when compared with the acquirements
he hoped to possess: he bent to the storm, and, by unremitting
application, speedily rendered himself competent to converse with Mr.
Burrow on his usual topic. In time, the student became a favorite, and
was allowed to attend his preceptor when the latter was deputed on a
survey of considerable extent, and to measure a degree of latitude in
the western districts. Such was the progress made by this native under
the auspices of Mr. Burrow, that, in a few years, he qualified himself
to instruct others in the ordinary courses of the higher mathematics.
What became of him I know not; but apprehend that many others must have
derived some little benefit from his learning: unless, indeed, his
priests found a pretext for upholding him as unworthy of imitation, and
threatened to place all who might consider him to be thus ‘_civilized_,’
or improved, under the bar of ecclesiastical censure. When I say
‘_civilized_,’ it is in deference to a British divine, who has been
pleased to represent the people of Bengal in such terms as might lead
persons who never visited India to set them down for a cruel, barbarous,
ignorant, vindictive, senseless, and sanguinary race; whose
_civilization_ is ‘devoutly to be wished.’ How far they merit such a
character, may be understood from their forbearing to massacre all the
Europeans in India; a work that might be effected by only one in
thousands of their population striking the deadly blow!
Setting whatever relates to religion apart, and viewing our intercourse
with India as a matter merely of _meum_ and _tuum_, it is self-evident,
that to whatever extent we may instruct the natives to analyze the
produce of their soil, and to present it to us in a marketable shape, so
much must Britain be benefitted by the extension of her commerce, and by
the possession of a territory whose value would be thereby
proportionally raised. This is said with the view to encourage the
researches of our medical men; who, from their general knowledge of
chemistry, and perhaps of botany, are certainly best qualified to pursue
them with national effect. Under the present very limitted establishment
of physicians and surgeons, as well as from the _præter nihil_ benefits
derived from the Botanical Garden, when seen in this point of view, we
are not authorized to be very sanguine in our hopes that any important
advantages will result in that direction. While the Company can barely
afford a surgeon and two assistants to a regiment of 2000 men, it is not
to be supposed they could form such establishments of the above
description, as might give us a thorough command over the mineral and
vegetable productions of their territory, or tend to create a spirit of
enquiry among the natives.