( 98^ ) 
Tennysoti took delif^ht in reading aloud to him 
the interesting letters which every mail brought 
him from his artiat son, Val Prinsep, whilst the 
latter was en^af.'ed on his large painting of the 
"Proclamation of the Queen as Empress of 
India." 
DAYS OF OLD IN CEYLON. 
(By a retired Medico.) 
REMINISCENCES OF MR. AND MRS. 
C. H. CAMERON AND DR. JACKSON. 
We have received a long and interesting 
letter from Dr James Loos, one of the ablest 
and most esteemed medical ofBcers who 
ever served the Ceylon Government and 
public, and who writes with wonderful 
clearness and vigour, though now (like his 
confc'fere and friend Dr. P, D. Anthonisz, 
c.M.G.) over four score years. We venture to 
quote from Dr. Loos's letter as follows : — 
"I have often read with interest references in the 
Ceylon Observer to the late Mr. and Mrs. 0 H 
Cameron ; but I was more deeply touched by 
what was said in a foot-note appended to your 
article * Dimbula and the A'^ras revisited,' pub- 
lished in the issue of the I6th of this month. I 
made up my mind to write to you at ouce, but my 
infirm condition and the trying weather, wbich has 
been prevailing, prevented me from readily putting 
pen to paper. I have no vvjsh, nowever, to omin 
the task ; for I cm express my own feelings and 
state matters vhieh may interest you. You 
commence by observing that while at Dimbula 
you were asked how it came about that tlie re- 
mains of the late Mr. C H Cameron were interred 
in Bogawantalawa. The Hon. Mr. H H Cameron 
solved the ditiiculty by explaining that the re- 
mains were brought to Bogawantalawa to be 
interred by the side of the dead body of Mrs. C H 
Cameron. 1 was present at the death of Mrs. 
Cameron and was near her bedside at the time. 
I am now in a very weak state of health and for 
many months have been confined to the house. 
I have not seen or visited the Hon. H H Cameron 
for a considerable time now ; but I have not 
forgotten his kindly feelings towards me and I 
trust and believe on his part they are unchanged. 
"The way I became known to the late Mr, and 
Mrs. C H Cameron is a long story ; but my 
acquaintance with them is a noteworthy part of 
my life. In 1838 (a little more than sixty years 
ago) I was one of the first batch of students sent 
by the Ceylon Government for education in the 
newly-established Medical College of Calcutta. 
There were at first five students, all selected from 
the Colombo Academy, but four afterwards joined 
us, two from Galle and two from Jaffna, and two 
more were again added. So that there were 
eleven of us, and all of us, after passing through 
the curricula ni of four years, were examined and 
granted licenses for medical practice. All the 
eleven returned to Ci'ylon in Jann.xry, 1843, and 
received wppointiiienls in tlie Civil Medical De- 
pstrtment. The "uly survivors of the eleven are 
my dear fris^nd Peter Daniel Anthonisz and my- 
self. We were not long in Calcutta when one of 
our professors (Dr. O'Shaughnessy, afterwards Sir 
"William Brooke O'Shaughnessy who introduced 
the electric telegraph system into India) told 
that a high functionary had expressed some interest 
in the students from Ceylon and that ha woald 
visit us. He came, and this was the Hon. C H 
Cameron one of the Law Commissioners. He not 
only spoke kindly, but said he would give us an 
annual prize, 
" You refer to Mr. Cameron as having been the 
proprietor of a cofiee estate in the ' days of old.' 
This was, perhaps, the reason for his coming to 
Cejlon towards the close of 'the forties' or the 
beginning of 'the fifiies.' (I have no note of the 
year, although long in the habit of journalising.) 
No sooner did we hear of Mr. Cameron being in 
Ceylon, than four of the eleven stationed in Colombo 
— Anthonisz, Dickman, Wambeck and myself — 
wrote to him that we were anxious to wait upon 
him and pay our respects. Mr. Cameron was at 
the time the guest of Sir Anthony Oliphant (to 
whom we were not entirely unknown as we had 
given medical evidence before him) and an in- 
vitation came to us to bieakfast. We were 
received kindly both by Mr. Cameron and Sir 
Anthony Oliphant. Lady Oliphant was gracious 
and the soul of the party. My seat was next to 
that of Mr. Lawrence Oliphant , 
" The interest shown by Mr. Cameron in the 
Ceylon students (as we were termed in the 
College) was no doubt a stimulus to exertion ; 
but a more direct and constant influence was 
exercised upon us when some, time afterwards, Or. 
John Jackson, the brother-in-law of Mr. Cameron, 
becanne the Professor of Medicine in the College 
and one of the Physicians of the Hospital. Mr. 
Pattle, the Nestor of the East India Co,'s Cove- 
nanted Set vice, had daughters who were greatly 
admired, and the leaders of Society in Calcutta. 
The eldest married Mr. C H Cameron. Another 
married Mr H T Piinsep (whose name is in my 
diploma as Principal of the Council of Education), 
and one married Dr. John Jackson, an eminent 
Physician, practising in Calcutta and a profound 
scholar. All our Professors were men of high 
culture, not only distinguished for their medical 
skill and attainments, but more than one was 
noted for literary contributions. The only 
graduate of an English University was Dr Jack- 
son, whose medical degiee was from Cambridge. 
I was on a visit to Calcutta in 1890, and met 
with much kindness from Dr. Coates, then Princi- 
pal and Professor of Medicine in the College, He 
accompanied me round the College and Hospital 
and all the connected buildings. We had a talk 
about the state of the old College, the site of the 
few buildings, and the names of the Professors. 
Dr. Coates remarked that it was said that Dr 
Jackson was fond of quoting Latin. The remark 
struck me at the time, and in reading Sir George 
Trevelyan's ' Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay,' 
I came upon a passage in which Sir George says 
that Lord Maeaulay^writing to his mother, men- 
tioned that a clever Physician came to him and 
that ' he must have quoted Horace and Virgil six 
times at least d propos of his medical inquiries. 
The r'em,:uk of Dr. Coates came to my mind. 
Anyliow ihere was no tincture of pedantry in Dr. 
Jiickson, and he would not have ' east his pearls 
bL'tore pivine.' He bad gauged my slight know- 
ledge of Latin shortly after he joined the College 
and as I was for a long time his clerical clerk, 
his apt quotations impressed maay important 
lessons upon me. 
"The interest felt in the Ceylon students by Dr 
Jackson showed itself in a practical way. One of 
the questions he asked us was whether we were 
in the habit of attending Church. We were all sadly 
