BUCHANAN. 



739 



useful, by showing people what is in their own power, 

 both with respect to the prevention and cure of 

 diseases : chiefly calculated to recommend a proper 

 attention to regimen and simple medicines." This 

 work, which had been much indebted, in respect of 

 its composition, to the ingenious William Smellie, was 

 published at Edinburgh, at the price of six shillings ; 

 and such was its success, that " the first edition," says 

 the author, " of 5,000 copies, was entirely sold off in 

 a corner of Britain, before another could be got 

 ready." The second edition appeared in 1772. The 

 Domestic Medicine is constructed on a plan similar to 

 that adopted by Tissot" in his Avis au Peuple. It 

 appealed to the wants and wishes of so large a class 

 of the community, that, considering it to have been 

 the first work of the kind published in Britain, there 

 Is no wonder that it should have attained such success. 

 Before the death of the author, in 1S05, nineteen 

 large editions had been sold, by which the publishers 

 were supposed to realize annually about 700, being 

 exactly the sum which they are said to have given at 

 first for the copyright. The learned Duplanil of Paris, 

 physician to the count d'Artois (Charles X.) published 

 an elegant translation in five volumes, with some ex- 

 cellent notes, which rendered the work so popular on 

 the continent, that in a short time no language in 

 Christendom, not even the Russian, wanted its trans- 

 lation. It would almost appear that the work met 

 with more undivided applause on the continent than in 

 Britain. While many English and Scottish physicians 

 conceived that it was as apt to generate as to cure or 

 prevent diseases, by inspiring the minds of readers 

 with hypochondriacal notions, those of other countries 

 entertained no such suspicions. Among the testimo- 

 nies of approbation which Dr Buchan received from 

 abroad, was a huge gold medallion, sent by the em- 

 press Catherine of Russia, with a complimentary let- 

 ter. The work is said to have become more popular 

 in America and the West Indies than in the elder 

 hemisphere. The reputation which the author thus 

 acquired, induced him to remove to London, where 

 for many years he enjoyed a lucrative practice, though 

 not so great as it might have been made by a more 

 prudent man. It was his custom to resort daily to 

 the chapter coffee-house, near St Paul's, where he 

 partly spent his time in conversation with literary and 

 eminent men, and partly in giving advice to patients, 

 who here resorted to him in great numbers, exactly 

 as if it had been his own house. At one time he de- 

 livered lectures on natural philosophy, which he illus- 

 trated by an excellent apparatus, the property of his 

 deceased friend James Ferguson. And in this capa- 

 city he is said to have manifested as respectable abi- 

 lities as in his character of a physician. He died in 

 1805. Besides the above, he published two other 

 works : 1. A Treatise on Gonorrhea : 2. An Advice 

 to Mothers on the subject of their own health, and on 

 the means of promoting the health, strength, and 

 beauty of their offspring. Each in one volume, 8vo. 

 BUCHANAN, Claudius, D. D., a clergyman who dis- 

 tinguished himself as a missionary in India, was born 

 at Cambuslang, a village in Scotland, in 1766, and 

 was educated at the university of Glasgow. When 

 about twenty years of age, he was struck with the 

 idea of making a tour of Europe on foot. He seems 

 to have been highly delighted with Dr Goldsmith's 

 poetry, and particularly with his Traveller. Having 

 perused some accounts of Goldsmith's adventures, he 

 became inspired with a wish to attempt something of 

 the same kind. He could not, like the poet of Au- 

 burn, play on the flute, but he was a tolerable per- 

 former on the fiddle ; and with this slender recom- 

 mendation, and hardly any other provision against 

 want, he determined to sally forth. He went, how- 

 t'vcr, only as far as London. There, after suffering 



much privation, he obtained a situation as clerk, and 

 there he got acquainted with the Rev. John Newton 

 of St Mary's, Woolnoth, London, the friend of Cow - 

 per, who introduced him to Henry Thornton. As 

 Mr Buchanan had formed the resolution of becoming 

 a clergyman, Mr Thornton generously sent him to 

 Queen's college, Cambridge, where he completed his 

 education. In 1795 he was regularly ordained dea- 

 con of the church of England, and admitted curate to 

 Mr Newton, which was his first appointment. On 

 30th March, 1796, he was appointed chaplain to the 

 East India company, through the interest of the di- 

 rector, Mr Charles Grant, who continued to patronise 

 him through life. In the month of May he went to 

 Scotland, in order to take leave of his relations before 

 setting out for India. He immediately returned to 

 England, and left Portsmouth for Bengal, llth Au- 

 gust, 1796. Landing at Calcutta, he was soon sent 

 into the interior to Barrackpore, where he resided for 

 some time. He was afterwards appointed professor 

 of the Greek, Latin, and English classics, at the col- 

 lege of Fort-William. The translation of the original 

 Scriptures from the originals into modern languages 

 had always been with him a favourite scheme. On 

 this subject he proposed prizes to be competed for by 

 the universities, and some of the public schools in 

 the United Kingdom. These were afterwards more 

 fully explained in a memoir by him, in 1805. A 

 translation of the bible into the Chinese language was 

 also patronised by him. In the course of the same 

 year he wrote an account of the college of Fort-Wil- 

 liam, and the university of Glasgow conferred upon 

 him the degree of D. D. In May, 1806, he under- 

 took a journey to the coast of Malabar, and returned 

 to Calcutta in 1807. He paid a second visit to Mala- 

 bar, and powerfully assisted in procuring a version of 

 the Scriptures into Malayalim. In March, 1808, he 

 undertook a voyage to Europe. Second prizes of 

 500 each were offered by him to Oxford and Cam- 

 bridge; and, in pursuance .of his proposals, sermons 

 were preached at both universities. In September, 

 1808, Dr Buchanan undertook a journey into Scot- 

 land, where he had the gratification of finding his 

 mother in good health. He preached in the episco- 

 pal chapel at Glasgow, and mentions that the 

 people came in crowds to hear him, " notwithstanding 

 the organ.'" In spring, 1809, he spent some days at 

 Oxford, collating oriental versions of the bible. He 

 next paid a visit to Cambridge, where he deposited 

 some valuable biblical manuscripts, which he had 

 collected in India. The university honoured him 

 with the degree of D. D. About this period he 

 preached regularly for some time in Wilbeck chapel, 

 London, after which he retired to Kirby Hall, in 

 Yorkshire, the seat of his father-in-law, Henry 

 Thompson, Esq. His health now began to decline, 

 and as he was advised by his physicians to study less 

 unremittingly, he formed the idea of uniting the re- 

 covery of his health and some share of continued 

 usefulness, by travelling to the Holy Land, and en- 

 deavouring to re-establish the gospel on its native 

 ground. This design, however, he never executed. 

 Various paralytic affections, which, one after another, 

 fell upon his frame, admonished him that the day of 

 active exertion with him was past. He was never- 

 theless able, within the course of a few years, to 

 publish the following works : 1. Three Jubilee Ser- 

 mons; 2. Annual Missionary Sermon, before the 

 Church Missionary Society, June 12, 1810; 3. Com- 

 mencement Sermons at Cambridge ; 4. Christian Re- 

 searches in Asia; 5. Sketch of an Ecclesiastical 

 Establishment for British India ; 6. Colonial Ecclesi- 

 astical Establishment. He ultimately went to reside 

 at Cheshnnt in Hertfordshire, to superintend a Syriac 

 edition of the New Testament. Here he died, Febru- 



