TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 97 
_ Buddhist and Hindoo authorities have indeed left prodigious monuments of their wealth, 
_. of their power, of their perseverance, and of their religious enthusiasm, in their mighty 
cave-temples, and vast religious edifices. The Mahomedans, too, have studded the 
lands with their magnificent mausolea, testifying rather to their pride than their piety. 
And what have the British done? I say that we have raised greater and more lasting 
monuments than all these. One small extract from a report of a native sub-assistant 
surgeon shall justify my assertion. Chimman Loll, of Delhi, says— 
‘1st August 1841.—One boy, about twelve years of age, who had been blind from 
cataract in both eyes from the age of two years, was operated on by couch- 
ing, and restored to sight.’ 
“ The faculty given to a single native to perform the godlike office of restoring the 
blind of his countrymen to sight, is a more glorious monument than all the works of 
art that human pride or human ambition have ever burthened the earth with; but 
when we find scores of such individuals endued with such a faculty, and thousands, 
nay tens of thousands possibly, the recipients of the blessing they can confer; when 
we find the medical board of the Bengal government reporting to government on the 
22d August 1843, ‘ We have every reason to believe that the benevolent intentions 
of government in founding these institutions (the dispensaries) have been fully realized; 
and we feel confident that future annual results will add to the intrinsic value of the 
dispensaries, which are so well adapted, by their internal ceconomy, to obtain the con- 
fidence of the native inhabitants. Many have had their sight restored, others have 
been cured of hydrocele, and relieved when in the last stage of dropsy. Several also 
have derived effectual relief from the successful operations for stone in the bladder; 
a few have been saved from a miserable death by the amputation of diseased mem- 
bers; and large tumours have been removed. Such operations could not have been 
achieved by native practitioners without producing an impression on the minds of the 
most apathetic natives; and they must tend to spread far and wide the value of the 
government dispensaries.’ Then, I say, and with a thorough conviction of the truth 
of my assertions, in case the seeds of knowledge we have thus sown fructify to a gene- 
ral and luxuriant harvest, that we shall have left a monument, compared with which 
those of Ashoca, Chandra Gupta and Shah Jehan, or of any other Indian potentate, 
will sink into insignificance, and their names shall fall on men’s ears unheeded; while 
those of Lord Auckland, as projector, and of Goodeve and Mouatt and others as zealous 
promoters of scientific native medical education, shall remain embalmed in the me- 
mory of a grateful Indian posterity.” 
Colonel Sykes only cursorily noticed the charitable dispensaries under the Madras 
and Bombay governments, in consequence of the absence of detailed reports. 
On the Medical Relief to the Parochial Poor of Scotland under the 
Old Poor Law. By Prof. Arison, M.D. 
It was stated that as the objections made by Dr. Chalmers and others to establishing 
a legal and adequate provision for the poor in Scotland did not apply to medical 
relief, the efficiency of that relief, under the old Scottish law, would be a fair test 
of the efficacy of the voluntary system of charity. An association of medical prac- 
| titioners was formed at Edinburgh, in November 1845, to collect information on this 
subject. It appeared that in Edinburgh there was no provision for medical relief 
_ from the poor-funds, except for the indoor paupers in the charity workhouse. Previous 
to 1815 no assistance was given by any institution to the sick poor at home; and though 
since that period the duty had been gratuitously undertaken by the officers of several 
dispensaries, it had not been effectually or regularly performed. In the Canongate, the 
dispensary aid to the poor came to a sudden close in the midst of the late epidemic 
fever, in consequence of the death of one of the medical officers who had acted as 
' treasurer. By the recent Act ten duly qualified and paid officers have been appointed 
- to take charge of the sick paupers in the different districts; but Dr. Alison lamented 
that the provision had been abandoned which compelled the parishes to combine in 
iving relief, as in Edinburgh the rich congregate at one extremity of the city and 
_ the poor at the other. In Glasgow relief has been given by paid medical attendants 
for some years.’ Returns were obtained from forty towns, exclusive of Edinburgh 
and Glasgow ;—from which it appeared that in sixteen of these towns there was 
1846. H 
