431 



practice among the natives, yet in a few instances I should give a 

 preference to their remedies, particularly in the ophthalmia, or sore- 

 eye of India. The inflammation frequently runs so high that the 

 sight is destroyed, unless by some active means the affection, so 

 deeply rooted, can be removed. This I think is best done by an 

 early application of what is called at Madras the " country re- 

 medy;" which is a thin paste, made by burning a little alum on a 

 hot iron, and mixing it with lime juice by a spatula into a paste. 

 This is applied over both eye-lids, to the extent of the circle of the 

 orbit, at going to rest, and washed off in the morning with a decoc- 

 tion of tamarind leaves. This I consider the best and most cer- 

 tain remedy for a disease that so repeatedly causes blindness ; a 

 surprising number of the natives are entirely blind, especially 

 among the poor. 



" I have often seen a Mahomedan practitioner perform the 

 operation of removing a cataract. He made a small puncture 

 with the point of a lancet, immediately behind the iris, into which 

 he introduced a particular instrument, so guided as to depress the 

 cataract. This operation I prefer to any other mode yet practised, 

 as it occasions less injury to the eye." 



The preceding appears to be a clear and brief statement of 

 medical and surgical practice among the natives of Coromandel ; 

 and I believe the same system is generally, or nearly, adopted 

 throughout Hindostan. When with the Mahratta arm}' during 

 Ragobah's campaign in Guzerat, I had frequent opportunities of 

 knowing the high estimation in which the English physicians were 

 held both by Hindoos and Mahomedans, when they thought them- 

 selves seriously ill, or wished to procure their advice even for their 



