GOVERNMENT PHARMACY IN INDIA. 
469 
few medicines whose action I know well, to elaborating wonderful prescriptions in very 
had Latin of newly-invented drugs. But few medicines as I generally use, I was fairly 
astonished on entering the service at the poverty of the “surgery.” It was not so much 
the poverty that astonished me as the poverty and riches intermixed. The numerous 
half-gallon bottles of quinine contrast most curiously with the shabby array of “ prsepa- 
rata ex ferro.” Citrate of iron, sesquioxide of iron, and sulphate of iron are all the 
martial preparations,—three salts of iron, including a preparation of red ochre. At 
least one would think that the pharmacopceial preparations would be allowed, con¬ 
sidering the facilities at home for procuring them. But such is not the case. I re¬ 
member at Fort Pitt, the head-quarters of the medical stores, prescribing some linimen- 
tum geruginis in a gargle. The prescription was returned ; I endeavoured to adapt it 
to the resources of the establishment by substituting for the pharmacopceial liniment a 
prescription of verdigris, vinegar, and honey. That was as unsuccessful; there was no 
Krugo in store 3 thus I was obliged to renounce in disgust any prescription more far¬ 
fetched than a black draught, or a dose of castor-oil. At the same time quack medi¬ 
cines, such as Warburg’s Tincture, Browne’s Chlorodyne, Boudauit’s Pepsine, could be 
had in any quantity, and the value of the quinine used exceeded that of all the other 
drugs put together. 
One thing, however, I must say for the Home Service, that the instruments are 
generally of very good quality. Would that I could say the same of those supplied to 
India! 
My agreeable surprise on seeing the first page of an Indian indent for medicines was 
rather tempered on coming to the end by finding that liberality in the number of medi¬ 
cines was amply compensated by the small number of useful medicines ; and I found, 
before I had been long in India, that small as is the number of useful medicines allowed, 
smaller still will it have dwindled by the time the indent has passed the purging of the 
Division Office and the Medical Stores. I have watched the fate of the different medi¬ 
cines in the indent, and on comparing my indent with the Medical Storekeeper’s invoice, 
the missing drugs are numerous indeed. Curiously enough, pepsine, quinine, chloro¬ 
dyne, copaiba, pil. hydrarg. seem to have charmed lives, while the fatal red-ink dash 
and the black “ none in store,” fall heavily on the salts, the iron, and the opium. Of 
course regulations must be abided by, and extravagance should be checked; still an im¬ 
partial examination of the indent shows that a very few ounces of quinine would have 
paid for many of the pennyworths so ruthlessly expurgated. 
There is a 12 oz. bottle of quinine in my surgery ; the cork has been untouched for 
months, and shall remain untouched as long as it is under my care. Its value is at least 
30 rupees, yet I would willingly exchange it for 4 annas worth of nitre. Of what use 
is the valerianate of zinc, the pepsine, and other drugs, as expensive as their value is 
dubious, when I cannot get the drugs to relieve a common case of fever. However, 
such is the case. A certain permanent settlement seems to have been made in the 
drug department, under which every medical officer is expected to find every year, in 
every corps, the same diseases, and to treat them in the same manner. 
So much for the system of indenting for medicines. What shall I say of the instru¬ 
ments ? The less said the better; but between certain instruments which might be 
mistaken for the “ apparatus” of Frere Corne or Paracelsus, did they not bear the name 
of Evans, Old Change, and those of Savigny, there is really nothing to choose. I can 
only say that Savigny, or his successors, Whicker and Blaise, would not dare to show 
in their shop the vile instruments sent out to India. 
The contemplation of a case of tooth instruments marked with V. R. I. excites feelings 
of the profoundest sympathy for the wretched men whose jaws are to be tortured by 
these brutal instruments. 
Three patterns of cases seem to he extant; I have all three, and will describe them. 
A common feature pervades all,—the multiplicity of keys and claws, and the paucity of 
forceps. On opening my capital case, I find a powerful key provided with three claws, 
two elevators of fearful construction, and two mis-shapen pieces of iron intended for 
forceps. The jaws of one are straight, in the other they are crooked, otherwise they 
possess the common character of simply terminating in three jagged points, roughened 
like a carpenter’s pincers. No word can express their utter inaptitude for any purpose. 
In the other cases there is a greater number of instruments, but no more variety. The 
number of keys and claws is greater, but the forceps are of very similar construction. 
