( 46 ) 
incurable in Europe, were cured in a week in Ceylon. 
Bibeyro also alludes to the prevalence of smallpox 
■which the natives called "ankaria," or an affair with 
■God, because it appears as if only a miracle can cure it. 
Kibeyro speaks of the habit of betel chewiog among 
the natives Portuguese and Dutch, and thinks it a 
wholesome practice which purifies the breath, strength- 
ens the gums and cleanses the bowels. The Sinhalese 
at that time attributed their long and healthy lives to 
its use, and he confirms it by saying that men and 
women are seen in Ceylon who have not lost a single 
tooth. We unfortunately know that the practice of 
betel chewing has another side to the picture, it pro- 
duces " betel-chewer's cancer." 
Dutch Period. — The Leper Asylum at Hendala is 
perhaps the only monument of the medical history 
of Ceylon during the Dutch period which is left to 
us. There is no authentic record of its foundation 
beyond an inscription on a stone, ''Anno 1708," and 
a monogram, scarcely decipherable, indicative perhaps 
of date of building and of the original owner of the 
property on which the institution stands. It is gener- 
ally believed, on traditional authority that it owes its 
origin' to a philanthropic Dutch lady daughter of a 
Dutch Governor who unfortunately was herself a leper, 
and at her death left the property to the Govern- 
ments, in trust for the pauper lepers of the Colony. 
In a memorandum made by Governor Van ImhofiE 
in 1740 he commends this institution to the care of his 
successor.* Although frequent search was made among 
the archives of the Government Record office for docu- 
ments, or information relating to the transfer, none 
has been discovered as to how the Government became 
possessed of a property 16 acres in extent and occu- 
pying one of the most beautiful sites in the neighbour- 
hood of Colombo at the mouth of the Kelani river, 
admirably adapted, from its situation, isolation, and 
distance from town, for the segregation and treat- 
ment of lepers. This hospital is certainly the first 
in the Colony founded by private benevolence, 
since paralleled by the foundation of other charita- 
ble institutions, especially by the De Soyza family. 
There is no certain information available with re- 
fard to the state of medical practice in this island 
uring the Dutch period extending from 1656 to 1795. 
It is reasonable to suppose that there were Army Sur- 
geons among the Dutch, as under the British, and 
that some of these were probably regularly qualified 
men from the Colleges of Amsterdam, Utrecht, and 
Leyden, — with the latter of which the name of the 
great Boerhaave, will ever be connected. It is 
also interesting to note that the first European 
writer on tropical diseases was a Dutchman named 
Bontius. There are no records extant to show that 
any effort was made by the Dutch to teach the 
science of medicine systematically to the natives 
but it appears that the Kings of Kandy often 
requested through the Government, the medical 
aid of Dutch doctors, which the Dutch Governor of 
Colombo complied with. The mission of Dr. Danielsz 
and his apprentice to the court of Kandy in 1739, to 
cure the King Raja Singha of a bad leg, as recounted 
in his journal, is replete with interest. The late Dr. 
Koch, in his introductory lecture delivered at the 
opening of the session of the medical School in 1872, 
thus recounts the particulars of that memorable visit : 
"Dr. Danielsz went, accompanied by his apprentice, 
but all he could see of his Royal patient was the 
ailing limb. Under such circumstances it was im- 
possible he could adopt any other course of treatment 
but what consisted of outward dressings. These he 
tried without any satisfactory results, and alarmed at 
the consequences of failure, he insisted on his Majesty 
taking a course of tonics. The decoction was prepared, 
but the King found it so bitter that he emptied the 
cup into the royal spittoon, suggesting that the 
Doctor should employ the more agreeable article of 
arrack for the conveying of the nauseous potion. Dr. 
Danielsz hereupon brewed two bottles of bitters, but 
he prescribed so small a dose of it at a time, (he 
calls it a small beer-glassful), that His Majesty de- 
manded either a donble-dose or to be allowed extra 
liquor over the bitters. After a good deal of resistance 
the Doctor was at last compelled to yield, and as he 
said, he himself was in the habit of taking a " echnap" 
before meals, bis patient also might, but positively not 
beyond the third day. In the meantime the leg was 
not improving, and the regimen was becoming intoler- 
able, and so Dr. Danielsz was bid prepare to leave 
Kandy ; and if he could not congratulate himself on 
his professional success, we may yyt suppose he was 
glad enough to escape the atten'."ious of his patient, 
which now began to assume a form slightly more 
imperative than was altogether pleasant, and so Dr. 
Danielsz and his apprentice returned to Colombo, and 
continued, no doubt, to adorn the profession till the 
natural close of his not uneventful life." 
British Period.— Mr. Henry Marshall, Surgeon to 
the Forces, who served here from 1808 to 1821 has 
given us a valuable work on the " Medical Topography 
of Ceylon, and on the health of the troops employed, 
in the Kandyan Provinces from 1815 to 1820, with brief 
remarks on the prevailing diseases." Prom this work 
I have gathered some interesting passages. The 
troops employed during the early British occupation 
consisted of Earopeans, Kafiirs, Malays, and Natives of 
India. Marshall eays that the individuals of each 
class preserved a strong physical and moral resem- 
blance, using the same food, having similar wants, 
undergoing the same labor, and suffering the same 
privations. Each class had particular prevailing di- 
seases according to the effect of the climate, exposure to 
malarious influence and variations in their food supply. 
TheEuropeans suffered from the endemic intermittent 
and remittent fevers, abscess of the iiver,and dysentery, 
but they were greatly exempted from many diseases to' 
which they are liable in their own conntrv. It was 
deplorable, says Bertalocci, to see the numerous chil- 
dren of the Ceylonese families reduced and emaciated 
for want of food, and depending upon parents who 
were in no way able to provide "for their large 
families. No substitute could be found for the 
staple article of diet for the native troops, and con- 
sequently privation and exposure led to much 
suffering. At Minery, between Kandy and Trin- 
comalee, 53 men of the 19th Regiment were at- 
tacked with fever 33 died and 20 recovered, but several 
of them had their constitutions much impaired Of 33 
artillerymen, 11 died. In December 1820 there were 
32 military stations in the interior, tbe chief posts 
being Kandy, Badulla, Allipoot (15 miles east of 
Badulla), Ratnapnra, Fort King (Attapitiya) and 
Kurunegala, all of which were hospital-stations. The 
Rev Mr Cordiner records that a small outpost in 1803 
Kottadeniya (13 miles from Kurunegala), was so un- 
healthy, that of 70 men of the 65th Regiment who 
marched to it, every one was seized with fever, and 
within a month Lieutenant Hntchings and two privates 
were the only persons of the party who remained 
alive. 
The number vaccinated between 1802 and 1812 was 
221,082 and it is stated that the efforts of the British 
Government, to eradicate small-pox by means of 
vaccination, were so successful that for eleven years 
the disease did not occur in Ceylon. The lowcountry 
Sinhalese when they found by experience the pro- 
tective benefits of vaccination crowded in the British 
settlements to derive its benefits, but the Kandians 
or natives of the hillcountry, who had been at enmity 
with the Portuguese, Dutch and British still kept 
aloof from communication with the maritime districts- 
but, though they did not, nor would not, derive the 
direct benefits of vaccination they were free from the 
disease when it had been eradicated by the proph- 
lactic in the lowcountry. They used to drive their 
small-pox patient into the jungles of the lowcountry. 
The administration oftheRt. Hon. Stewart Mack- 
enzie, and the year 1839, was marked in Medical An- 
nals, by the first mention in His Excellency's speech 
to Council of a Medical School for Ceylon, and of cer- 
tain measures to be adopted by Government which 
