September i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
167 
o£ new and interesting information that he justly 
resolved to publish in the first line a book about 
Garcia, that under notice, being a very acceptable 
introduction to the Goloquios which are to follow. 
Count Ficalho has not succeeded in discovering 
any information about the family of Garcia, nor 
of the date of his birth, but he shows that Garcia 
was a native of Elvas, in the upper (or eastern) 
part of the Portuguese province of Alemtejo (not 
far from the Spanish place of Badajoz), where he 
was born, in all probability, towards the end of the 
fifteenth century. 
It is provod that Garcia devoted himself to the 
study of medicine in the Spanish universities of 
Salamanca and Alcala dc Henares, near Madrid. 
Particulars on Garoia's personal work in those 
high schools are wanting ; the author, as he ex- 
pressly states in the very title of his book: " Garcia 
da Orta and his century," or time, attempts, on 
the other hand, to afford an attractive picture of 
the way in which the Spanish " Estudante " of the 
sixteenth century satisfied his thirst of science. In 
Salamanca, where the number of students frequently 
exceeded 0,000 or even nearly reached 1-1,000, the 
study of medicine was based as well on the old 
Greek and Latin classical books as on their Arab- 
ic followers, some of which were translated in 
Salamanca. In the old Roman town of Complutum, 
now Alcala dc Henares, Hippocrates would appear 
to have been prevailing ; this university had been 
established in 1198, nearly two centuries later 
than that of Salamanca, in a period when the 
splendour of Arabic science and rule was on the 
decline. Garcia himself states in one of his Colo- 
quios that in Salamanca he was acquainted with 
a Dominican friar, Domingo de Baltanas, and in 
Alealo with Tordclaguna, originally a pharmacist, 
but subsequently a student of medicine. As this 
man is stated by Garcia to have possessed some 
knowledge of Arabic, as well as of botany, he 
may perhaps have encouraged Garcia in extending 
his studies in those directions too. That is absol- 
utely all we know about the few years spent by 
Garcia in the two Spanish universities, no other 
trace of his stay there has been discovered, not 
even in the records of either Salamanca or Alcala. 
In the second chapter : " Castello de Vide 
and Lisbon," the author is happy enough to intro- 
duce two documents of the 5th and 10th of April 
1520, one of which had not been printed before. 
In these charters the lecenceado Gracia dorta or 
Guarcia dorta, then an inhabitant of the town of 
Castello de Vide, a small place south of the 
region where the Tejo enters into the Portuguese 
territory, is stated to have passed his examin- 
ation, and acknowledged to be " sohciemte e 
ydonyo na teorica como na pratica " as a " fisy- 
quo." King Joharrj HI. consequently authorizes 
Garcia to euro throughout the realm of Portugal, 
and even to travel, for that purpose, on horse or 
mule's back. At Cnslcllo de Vide the young medico 
de provincia, Gaicia da Orta, spent six years. 
By what means he succeeded in making his name 
known to the scientific body of the metropolis 
cannot be traced, sullice it to say that Garcia 
was callod, in 1532, to a professorship in the 
University of Lisbon. But strange enough, yet 
quite in accordance with the views of that time 
which ruled all the universities of the Peninsula, 
Garcia's loetnrea were devoted not to medicine, 
hut to tho •' Suiamulii' logicalcs," an abstract of 
scholastic logics. Count I'icalho explains that tho 
niodiiovnl sontence : " Dialectica est ars artium, 
scii ntia soicntianuu," waa not yet overthrown by the 
evolution of those sciences which now are holding 
the prominent place in human exertion throughout 
llie Qivilised world. 
Garcia happily occupied his philosophical chair 
in Lisbon only from January, 1532, to February 
or March, 1531; nothing more is recorded as to 
his other occupations there, neither by himself 
nor by any contemporary writer. It was a brilliant 
period of Portuguese story, that of the admirable 
discovery of and success in India, when Garcia lived 
in Lisbon. 
He appears to have been early acquainted with 
the great and noble family de Souza, who partly 
resided in Alemtejo, the native province of 
Garcia. Dom Martim Affonso de Souza, one of 
the distinguished navigators of Portugal, being 
appointed chief admiral, " capitao mor do mar," 
for India, chose Garcia his physician. He had, 
in all probability, been honoured for a long time 
already by Dom Martim Arfonso's friendship, so at 
least Count Ficalho shows it to be probable. In the 
Coloquios, Garcia mentioned the admiral in high 
terms of real affection, and dedicated the book to 
Dom Martim, 
When the admiral's squadron arrived in Goa, 
in the fall of the year 1534, the Portuguese 
possessions were governed by Nuno da Cunha. 
a worthy successor to the great men who had 
established in India the power of their nation. 
Great things remained still to be done in order 
to settle ultimately the Portuguese dominion, 
and the admiral, Dom Martim Alfonso, had 
to perform several expeditions and surveys in 
the interest of his country. Doctor Garcia, 
who accompanied him, no doubt took great 
interest in these explorations along the 
coasts of India, and availed himself diligently of 
the excellent occasions for procuring exact in- 
formation on several drugs ; he also visited the 
famous temple of Elephanta ; the ohapter iv,, 
" Baeaini e Diu" gives the interesting narrative 
of those campaigns to the north-western coasts. 
In the year 1530, the governor or viceroy, Nuno 
da Cunha, ordered Dom Martini Affonso de Souza 
to the coast of Malabar, where a struggle was en- 
gaged between the Eajahs of Calicut and Cochim, 
This expedition, which Garcia accompanied as a 
military surgeon, also afforded him the invalu- 
able opportunity of examining in loco the most 
important medicinal plants and drugs ; he spent 
the end of the year 1537 in the port of Cochim, 
then a very great emporium of spices and drugs. 
In 1538, a similar expedition of the Portuguese 
ileet under command of Dom Martim Affonso being 
directed to Ceylon, Doctor Garcia da Orta probably 
paid a short visit to that island, but we are not 
sure of the fact. In his Coloquies he speaks of 
the productions of Ceylon so exactly as to suggest 
that he made a stay there ; thus, for instance, 
Garcia displays a good knowledge of the precious 
stones for which the island has always been famous. 
Very likely he had acquired some mineralogic 
notions during his university studies in Spain. 
In 1538, Dom Martim Affonso was called back 
to Portugal, but Garcia appears to have been 
settled at Goa quite satisfactorily, so that he con- 
tinued there and was again rejoined by Martim 
Alfonso, when this nobleman returned to Goa, and 
occupied, from 1512 to 1545, the high post of 
governor-general of the Portuguese possessions. 
Count Ficalho skilfully collected every kind of 
informati n relating to tho way of living, to the 
commercial and intellectual resources ol that 
Portuguese colony in which Garcia da Orta spent 
his life in useful work, both as a medical pract- 
itioner and an investigator of the natural productions 
of the F.ast ; the splendid metropolis of Goa no 
doubt was an excellent place to a man like Garcia, 
lie was also appreciated in Portugal, (or in one o( 
the Coloquios, in speaking of another c°vcruox pi 
