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THE INDIAN MUSEUM: 3814—1914. 
NATHANIEL WALLICH, 
First Superintendent of the Asiatic Society's Museum. 
Nathaniel or—as styled in Danish state documents— 
Nathan Wallich was born of Jewish parentage at Copenhagen 
on 28th January, 1786. He was educated in the city of his 
birth and prepared for the medical profession. He displayed 
a strong bent for natural science and studied various branches 
under Wiborg, Vahl, Schumacher and Hornemann. In 1806 
Wallich passed the examinations and obtained the diploma of 
the Royal Academy of Surgeons at Copenhagen. About the 
end of that same year he was appointed surgeon to the 
Danish Settlement at Frederichsnagor—the name given by 
the Danes to what is now known as Serampore—on the 
Hughli river in Bengal. 
Wallich sailed for India in April, 1807 and arrived at 
Serampore in the following November, after a round-about 
voyage that included a visit to the east coast of South 
America. Meanwhile war had broken out between England 
and Denmark, and in January, 1808 Serampore was captured 
by the English and retained by them until 1815. 
Wallich was soon released from his parole as a prisoner 
of war and remained on as surgeon to the Settlement subject 
to the orders of the English East India Company. He 
speedily became acquainted with Carey, the celebrated mis¬ 
sionary of Serampore, with Roxburgh, the Superintendent of 
the Calcutta Botanic Garden, and other distinguished men 
interested in the cultivation of the natural sciences. For a 
short period during 1809 Wallich resided with Roxburgh in 
the Botanic Garden with a view to becoming his official 
assistant. This plan, however, failed to mature and Wallich 
returned to his surgeon’s post at Serampore, and rem.ained 
there until 1813, except for some six months during which he 
made a voyage to Mauritius. 
Meanwhile efforts were being made by Wallich’s friends 
to obtain for him an assistant-surgeon’s post on the regular 
establishment of the Honourable East India Company, but 
for various reasons—one of them being a fresh outbreak of 
war between England and Denmark—these efforts were fruit- 
