INFLUENCE IN THE FEVERS OF INDIA, &C. 21 



me to inform you, that the expense of your publica- 

 tion, entitled " a Treatise on Sol-lunar Influence," 

 will be defrayed bv government. 



&' 



You will therefore be pleased to circulate copies 

 of this work to the different parts of the country 

 where you think it will be useful; and likewise 

 transmit twenty copies to this office, to be for- 

 warded to the Honorable Court of Directors. 



I am, Sir, &c. 



(Signed) C. SHAKESPEAR, Sub-Secret ari/. 



Calcutta, Council Chamber, 

 the Tth April, 1794, 



To accumulate testimonies of the remarkable ef- 

 fects of sol-lunar influence in India is now almost 

 superfluous. In the western parts o\' India it is no 

 less generally acknowledged than in Bengal: and 

 I shall conclude this article with an extract from a 

 letter which I received some months ago, from a 

 gentleman high in the medical line at Bombay ; 

 and no less so in the opinion of the public. His 

 name however I forbear to publish, not having 

 previously asked for his permission, 



"Bombay, 6th May, 1801. 



" The influence of the moon on the human body, 

 *' has been observed in this part of India by every 

 " medical practitioner. It is universally acknow- 

 ** ledged by the doctors of all colours, of all casts, 

 *' and of all countries. The people are taught to 

 *' believe it in their infancv ; and as thev sjrow up. 

 *' they acknowledge it from experience. I sup- 

 *' pose that in the northern latitudes this power of 

 " the moOn is far less sensible than in Indian and 

 ■* perhaps less so in Bengal than in our neiglibour- 

 *' hood. We here universally think that the state 



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