August 13, 1870.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
135 
three weeks befoie the Annual Meeting. The subjects 
will then be extensively advertised, and thus full in¬ 
terest be secured. 
Members disposed to accept any of the unaccepted 
subjects suggested for investigation in the list sent to 
them in the early part of the year; work on any subject 
suggested by themselves; propose any subject for in¬ 
vestigation by others; forward for analysis specimens 
of drugs and chemicals whose examination might tend 
to throw light on the question of adulterations and im¬ 
purities ; propose the recognition of any Pharmaceutical 
Association and reception of its delegates by the Con¬ 
ference ; nominate gentlemen for membership, or make 
any suggestions or propositions, are requested to advise 
the Secretaries. 
The objects of this Association of Pharmacologists 
and chemists and druggists are:— 
(1) To increase the common stock of pharmaceutical 
knowledge, and 
(2) To promote community of interests among those 
engaged in pharmacy. 
In addition to the existing means of attaining these 
ends, the Committee will in future issue to members an 
Annual Report on the progress of pharmacy,—a Year- 
Book, containing notices of all pharmaceutical papers, 
formulae, etc., published in the various scientific journals 
of Europe and America. For the annual subscription of 
5 s., each member will thus receive a tangible quid pro 
quo in addition to the yearly volume of ‘ Proceedings.’ 
The necessary funds for accomplishing this object can 
probably be obtained without making any charge in ad¬ 
dition to the present subscription, if five hundred new 
members be added to the ranks. 
The Executive Committee call on every chemist and 
druggist to offer his name for election, and on every 
member to make an effort to obtain more members. 
Nominations will be received by either of the officers. 
Copies of letters of invitation to membership will be 
sent to any member willing to sign and forward them 
to friends interested in pharmacy. 
HUNTERIAN MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
August 3. 
At a Special Meeting held in the Theatre of the Lon¬ 
don Institution, Baboo Gopaul Chunder Roy delivered a 
lecture on the state of medicine in India prior to the 
British rule. The President of the Society, Mr. Jonathan 
Hutchinsion, introduced the lecturer, who stated that he 
had come to England as a candidate for an appointment 
in the India medical service, but had found, on his ar¬ 
rival, that no examination was to take place. He then 
referred to the high state of civilization which existed in 
Eastern countries in very early ages. There was good 
reason for believing that astronomy had its origin in 
India, and in that country medicine attained, at an early 
period, a high degree of development. An advance, how¬ 
ever, was arrested by the Mohammedan conquests; and 
therefore Hindoo science, remaining as it did at the 
point where it was centuries ago, presented a strange 
contrast with modern science. The physicians of India 
had sprung from two of the castes—the Brahmins, who 
were the most highly educated and from whom the 
priests were chosen, and the Boyshos or traders, who 
were not allowed to learn Sanskrit or to reach the higher 
education of the Brahmins. Medicine and surgery were 
distinct; the latter being entrusted to barbers, whose 
operative skill was very limited. Medicine was from 
very ancient times divided into anatomy, materia medica 
and the treatment of diseases. The study of anatomy 
was very imperfect, in consequence of the prejudices 
against handling dead bodies. "What knowledge of ana¬ 
tomy the Hindoo possessed, was gained from the dis¬ 
section of goats; and an acquaintance with the human 
skeleton was obtained by allowing bodies to remain in 
water till the bones and ligaments alone were left. The 
umbilicus was supposed to be the centre of the vascular 
system. The blood was regarded as a mixture of hu¬ 
mours. The materia medica attracted attention at an 
early period; and the articles were described with a view 
to their dietetic as well as to their therapeutic properties. 
Mercury, arsenic, iron, and several other mineral re¬ 
medies were known in Hindoo medicine many centuries 
ago. Gold dust entered very extensively into the for¬ 
mula ; perhaps not so much for the sake of increasing 
the therapeutic value of the medicines as their cost. 
Sesquioxide of iron was the chief basis of tonic remedies. 
Arsenic had been long used in the treatment of inter¬ 
mittent fever. There were a large number of remedies 
belonging to the vegetable kingdom in use in India from 
remote ages, some of which, as bael, chirayta, etc., had 
been adopted in the ‘British Pharmacopoeia.’ Baboo 
Chunder Roy recommended a careful investigation of 
Indian medicinal plants; believing it probable that 
among them would be found some valuable remedies for 
the prevalent diseases of the country. In works on the 
practice of medicine, the description of symptoms was 
very exact, but the treatment was empirical. In fevers, 
low diet was enjoined; the patient was kept for forty- 
eight hours without medicine; then bitters and purga¬ 
tives were administered; and then, if the fever persisted, 
arsenic in divided doses. This treatment rarely failed 
to arrest the disease in ten days; but it left the patient’s 
constitution in an impaired state. Surgery was in old 
times entrusted to barbers, whose practice was limited 
mostly to the treatment of ulcers, abscesses, etc. But 
for ages there had been persons who performed the ope¬ 
ration for depression of cataract, cupping (by means of 
cow’s horns), bleeding (in the calves of the legs), etc. 
Hygiene had long held a place in the Hindoo system, 
being mixed up with religious rites. Washing in the 
Ganges was thus made a religious ceremony. The flesh 
of the ox was forbidden, on account of the use of the ani¬ 
mal in agriculture, and of the cow in yielding milk; and 
that of the pig on account of the filthy habits of the 
animal. Dry earth had been long used for removing 
offensive smells. Change of climate, in the form of pil¬ 
grimages to distant lands, had long been a remedy in 
chronic diseases. With all this, there was ignorance of 
some of the fundamental principles of hygiene. Poison 
and pure air were in the same category; and a Hindoo 
sick-room was rigidly closed at all points. Turning, 
next, to the British rule, the lecturer referred to the in¬ 
fluence of a surgeon, Mr. Broughton, in establishing the 
East India Company in India in the last century. The 
idea of founding an English medical university in Cal¬ 
cutta arose in 1836. At first there was great difficulty, 
on account of the religious prejudices, in obtaining stu¬ 
dents ; and goats and dry bones were for some time the 
only objects on which anatomy could be studied. The 
necessity for dissection was at last strongly felt; and it 
was a memorable event when Baboo Modoosudun Gupto 
first broke through the prejudices of his race, and dis¬ 
sected a human body. From this time, medicine ad¬ 
vanced ; a hospital was founded; and degrees were given 
by the University. Baboo Chunder Roy complained that 
the degrees in Medicine of the Indian Universities were 
not recognized in England. They were obtained only 
after stringent examination; and in not one instance 
where the native holders of them had come to England 
to undergo the competitive examinations for the Indian 
Medical Service, had there been a failure. It had been 
said that the preliminary training was deficient; but it 
should be remembered that Sanskrit stood in India in 
the place of Latin, and that English itself was a foreign 
tongue to the Hindoos. He complained of the low esti¬ 
mate in which the native graduates of the Indian Colleges 
were held, and trusted that means would be taken to re¬ 
move the stigma of inferiority which was attached to 
them. 
