David Douglas Cunningham. xvii 



By December 1879 the amalgamation of the Medical and the Sanitary 

 departments had taken effect and Lewis on his return remained the only 

 special assistant in the combined department. In 1883, however, Lewis was 

 recalled to England to fill the post of Assistant Professor of Pathology in the 

 Army Medical School at Netley. Prom the date on which Lewis departed 

 till 1897 Cunningham occupied the position of secretary to the Surgeon-General 

 in the Sanitary branch of the Medical department, and in this capacity, until 

 he left India, performed the duties that had been entrusted to Lewis, in 

 addition to those connected with the professorship of physiology. 



During the few years of intermission in Cunningham's pathological and 

 hygienic investigations the Bengal Government availed themselves of his 

 services in other ways. Thus in 1879, when the late Dr. (afterwards Sir) 

 G. King, F.K.S., was deputed to enquire into the organisation of the Cinchona 

 department in Java, Cunningham was appointed to act as superintendent of 

 cinchona cultivation in Bengal in addition to his college duties. Again in 

 1880, when the same officer was on leave, Cunningham was once more 

 appointed to take charge of the Cinchona department and to act besides as 

 superintendent of the Calcutta Boyal Botanic Garden. 



When Cunningham resumed his official pathological work in 1883 a suitable 

 laboratory, built according to his design, was provided for the purpose in the 

 grounds of the Calcutta Presidency General Hospital. Here during the next 

 14 years, save for a break of several months when he served as naturalist with 

 the Tibet mission of 1886, and during two brief visits to Europe — one of these 

 as a representative of the Indian Government at a convention held in Eome 

 to consider international regulations as to quarantine — Cunningham prosecuted 

 with success these enquiries into tropical diseases which had already proved 

 of such public value. 



His duties at the Medical College compelled Cunningham to make Calcutta, 

 with its trying conditions, his research-centre. These conditions were the 

 more severe because his official investigations involved almost unbroken 

 residence and deprived him of the opportunities of change of scene which 

 college vacations are meant to provide. As a consequence his constitution 

 became gradually undermined and in 1897 a severe illness, induced and 

 aggravated by the climate of the Gangetic delta, led to Cunningham being 

 invalided to Europe. His life, which had been in danger, was thereby saved. 

 But his health was permanently impaired, his return to the Tropics was for- 

 bidden, and in June 1898 he had to relinquish his Indian career. Later in 

 the same year he settled at Torquay, where, as an invalid, he devoted the rest 

 of his life to his garden and his books. 



When the value of Cunningham's official work is considered, account has to 

 be taken of the circumstances which conditioned it and the object which 

 underlay it, as well as the manner in which it was performed. It took, of 

 necessity, the form of studies in applied pathology, unconcerned with clinical 

 needs, but intended to provide a scientific basis for sanitary administration. 

 These studies served their special purpose well and their utility was largely 



