SELECTIONS FROM THE ASIATIC JOURNAL.

Vol. II, July to December, 1816.

REPLY TO THE CONTRAST; OR, OPINIONS ON INDIA.

To the Editor of the Asiatic Journal.

SIR,-I was infinitely amused by an article which appeared in your last number, entitled, "The Contrast, or Opinions on India;" and was the more struck with it, as it forcibly reminded me of a like discussion which passed in my hearing, some time back, at a friend's house (an old Qui Hui), at the other end of the town. Having a perfect recollection of the heads of that conversation, I have endeavoured to recall to my memory, as near as possible, its general substance.

Major-General Cayenne has passed his five-and-twenty years, and somewhat more, in India; and has amassed just enough fortune to be puzzled to know what to do with it. After two years' deliberation, he resolved to save; and accordingly gave out, he had grown poor, and walked into the city every day. Having successfully set to sleep the once fervent anticipations of his affectionate brothers and sisters (for the General was a widower, and had never mustered any immediate heirs), he found himself hardly pressed by his youngest sister but three, and her three daughters (now on the point of coming out), as to the eligibility of a matrimonial excursion over the Atlantic; and it was on this occasion, that I was present at the following discussion, which passed at the General's breakfast-table. Present, the General, Mrs., and myself. Mrs. Good morning, brother; you look but so-so to-day.

The Gen. My looks, sister, are the consequences of a toilsome residence in India, and are incurable. Pray, did you ever know any one return from India, either looking well, or being well?

Mrs. There are different opinions on that score, brother. India is generally reckoned a fine country, and were I as young as my Evelina or Indiana, I would not hesitate on taking a voyage.

The Gen. Half a century's experience has not been lost upon me, although my opinion seems to have but little weight with you. I solemnly declare I would not send my dog to India; and, as to a female's going, it is indelicate, monstrous, and vulgar.

Mrs. Vulgar! nay, brother, every one remarks the elegant manners of females who have married in India.

The Gen. Psha! the practice is on a par with Smithfield bargains, and the manners of English females in India would disgrace a French corps-de-ballet. When young women go out to India, it is with no other notion than getting married; the reserve, so amiable in the sex, is openly thrown aside; every look, gesture, and act, has written upon it, to be married, or, more properly speaking, to be sold. This is understood, from the captain to the lowest-rated man on the voyage, as well as to the old civilian, and the dissipated occupant of Writer's Buildings, who crowd the strand to catch the first news from England, and the first glimpse of her who is to put herself to public exhibition for one month, and be married the next.

The Gen. If you have given your daughters the romantic names of Evelina, Indiana, and Angelica, with any idea of showing off for husbands in India, I am sorry for it; it shall never have my sanction,

Mrs. Always talking in this sweeping style, brother! is there no medium? Is it a sin for parents to send for children, or brothers for sisters? Does every lady who goes out to India, answer the description you give? The Gen. I hope not; but it is generally true. Who can you send my nieces to? They have neither fathers nor brothers in India.

Mrs. collector of

Oh brother! do you forget your intimate friend, Mr., the rich -pore, who, Col. D. says, is the wealthiest man at the presidency and there is Col. and Mrs. A. and Col. C., who sent you a pipe of Madeira, and my girls their black shawls, and who always said he was eternally obliged to you, and wrote me such an elegant letter, with the pearls,-concluding with, What shall I send more ?"

The Gen. Those kind friends, my dear, have forgotten me. I can serve them no longer; therefore, take you care of your pearls, and your girls of their shawls, and teach them to be content with good plain husbands at home.

一,

Mrs. This may be good theory, brother, but your nieces have neither fortunes, nor, as you say, expectations; and the Qui Huis, as you call them, at home, fight wondrous shy of poor girls. Really, brother, with your connections, I think you might consent to let one out of the three, take her chance. I must confess I never see a splendid party, but my heart aches for my poor girls, who declare, that though they are known by their black shawls, they always wear them, because, poor Indiana says, "it looks elegant and Asiatic." I must confess, I think I should only be acting a good mother's part in seeing them well settled in India. I often think of the admirable panegyric of your friend, Mrs. "India has been the brightest boon that ever Providence dispensed, to remedy the inequalities of fortune. One large united family, where a young female may be well matched, without beauty or fortune, where all prudish searching into character is waived, with a generosity truly noble and touching; she is, from the moment of her landing, received as one of them, and after taking her turn in enlivening the elegant community of the settlement, she returns with her better-half to their native soil, full of all that can make fashionable life comme il faut, and this cloudy country agreeable; while her magnificent hospitality excites astonishment, even at Carlton House, and the elegant simplicity of her pagods Chinoises laughs in irresistible defiance at the musty mansions of antiquated nobility. And their parties-"

The Gen. In mercy to my nerves, sister, cease this outrageous farago. Maria Graham was all truth to this-I will never consent to my nieces going to an overstocked market, like Alderney cows to Smithfield. [Here the General began to be warm.] Shall it be said, that the niece of Old Cayenne, who put by near a lack of rupees per annum......[Here the General coughed as if the tail of his red-herring had got down his throat, and I really thought it was so; but his sister was much more keensighted, and, notwithstanding the General's groans about those times being past, and stammering about alteration of circumstances, she appeared to conceive no small hopes that he had motives more of policy than necessity for giving out that he was poor; and seemed as little inclined as the General to pursue the subject, and another red-herring coming in, the General took the opportunity of giving an entire change to the conversation.]

I sat all this time, Mr. Editor, sipping my tea, as mum-chance as a poor cross-armed cooley; for I could not, for politeness' sake, oppose the General's sister, although I was inclined to see a good deal of reason in a great part of what he said: on the other hand, too, I could not take her side, for the special reason, that I am a poor sub, and the General makes it a principle never to be contradicted, which it is well for me to attend to, as he has a great deal of interest in Leadenhall-street.

If you think this matter not unworthy of a place in your work, it is much at your service. I am, sir, &c., &c.,

Baker Street, Portman Square, June, 1816.

MILES ASIATICUS.

A GEOLOGICAL PHENOMENON NEAR CALCUTTA.

The revolutions which have taken place on the surface of the earth exhibit interesting phenomena in India as well as elsewhere. A short time since, the Calcutta Naturalists were called upon to assign causes for an interesting phenomenon, which has presented itself at the great tank before the junction of the Chouringhee road, with that of Esplanade Row. The bottom of this great bason being sandy, suffered the water to filter through and escape, so as to leave the tank dry in the hot season. To remedy this evil, it was determined to remove altogether this sandy layer. A number of workmen were employed, and had not dug above four feet, when they came to a group of full-grown trees. These trees were standing perpendicularly at short distances from each other, and had the appearance of trunks lopped off within three or four feet from the roots. In general they were about a foot and a half or two feet in diameter. They were firmly fixed in a dark loamy soil, into which their roots spread in every direction. The elbows where the trunk separated into its roots, were distinctly marked. The substance of these subterraneous growths was of a reddish colour, like soondre, soft and moist, still preserving the grain of the wood. Upon inquiry, it was found that this natural curiosity was by no means singular. About six or eight years ago, a similar appearance offered itself on cleansing the Laldiggy, in Tank Square; and very lately at Dum Dum, not only trunks of trees, but bones and deer's horns were found at a great depth from the surface of the ground, on the occasion of sinking a new, tank. It is even said the body of a boat was dug up under similar circumstances at Garden Reach.

Another notice of this Phenomenon.-The facts stated in the Calcutta Gazette agree exactly with our information on the subject, but we are disposed to think that the particular spot has not sunk, but that agreeable to the theory of Rennel, the whole of the strata above the trees has been deposited during a course of ages after some sudden inundation. The fact of trees being found at that depth is not peculiar to the tank now the object of inquiry. We examined the bottom of a tank three miles distant, and discovered large logs of what we conceived to be Soondre. In the excavation of docks by Mr. Jones the civil engineer, timber of various descriptions has been found. Also in the excavation and clearing of tanks on the opposite side of the river. No appearance of petrifaction appears to have been observed.

ON THE DISEASES OF INDIA, AND THE USE OF THE NITRO-MURIATIC ACID,
BY DR. H. SCOTT.

(From a paper printed in the Journal of Science and the Arts, entitled, "Some Remarks on the Arts of India, &c.")

I mean in the present paper to confine myself chiefly to a detail of some of the effects that I have observed from diluted nitric acid taken internally, and used as a bath for a variety of diseases. The field is far too extensive to be well surveyed by me, or indeed by any one individual, and I must rest satisfied with a very general sketch. Though conscious of being quite unequal to the task, I am carried on by the belief that no other person has yet had the same means of judging, and from the conviction, that by the harmless remedies that I now recommend, much good may be done in some diseases that are acknowledged to be beyond the ordinary means of relief.

It is well known that climate alters much the phenomena and the nature of diseases to which the human body is liable. A great part of my life has been spent between the tropics, where the temperature is generally high; where the vegetable world in its genera and species puts on appearances that are quite new to the inhabitants of Europe; where the animals are generally very different, and where the diseases by which they are afflicted arise from other causes and with different symptoms. I have often thought that it would be curious and useful to mark, from sufficient experience, the peculiar maladies to which

we are subject in a hot climate, as well as those from which we are exempt. If this were done with skill, it might give rise to a number of important conclusions, both for avoiding and curing diseases.

Cancer.

Cancer is nearly unknown within the tropics. During twenty-five years I saw one case of cancer in a person who had brought the rudiments of the disease from Europe. From that case I learned the afflicting truth, that although a hot climate does generally prevent the formation of cancer; yet, when once it is formed, it does not cure it. I saw, in another instance, a cancer arise in India with an European gentleman, from often pulling the hairs from a wart on the skin of the cheek, and which produced at last the most deplorable effects. If such a complaint had appeared in any natives of the country, whatever might have been their caste or condition, I should probably have seen or heard of it.

Pulmonary Consumption.

Phthisis pulmonalis is not common in that climate, although it does occasionally appear. The true Phthisis is certainly a rarer disease there than many European practitioners suppose, for the lungs very often suffer from abscess and affections of the liver; and it is no easy matter to distinguish such complaints from the true Phthisis pulmonalis.

Scrofula.

Scrofula is rare, though particular causes do sometimes produce it. Cold and moisture seem to be the great sources of the scrofulous diathesis, for the children of Indians, and even the ape kind, although free from the disease in their native climate, are very liable to scrofulous affections on being brought to Europe. Would it not appear then, that similar causes have a tendency to produce Phthisis pulmonalis, Scrofula, Schirrhus, and Cancer, and that there is some connection in their origin, and perhaps in their nature?

Biliary Stones.

I never knew an instance of a biliary stone being found in the gall bladder or biliary ducts, in India.

Stone.

The formation of stone in the urinary bladder is nearly unknown between the tropics. I have, indeed, not met with a single instance of it, although I have known some cases where a disease was imported, and not removed by climate. This exemption, however, from those dreadful diseases does not extend through a great extent of latitude; and it should also be remembered that altitude above the sea has similar effects to a more northern latitude. I speak of my experience in a country on a level nearly with the ocean, and having a barrier of ghauts or mountains towards the east. In the northern parts of India the maladies of Europe begin to show themselves. I knew a boy who got a stone in the bladder in Guzurat, for which he had been cut by a native surgeon. The perforation was made in nearly the same place that it is in Europe, and the operation was what is called, I think, by the Gripe.

I may take notice here of a case of stone in the bladder (it cannot be too often mentioned) which was remarkable for the singular mode of cure adopted by Colonel Martine, himself the sufferer. He then resided at Lucknow, but I believe the Colonel had lived in many of the northern parts of Hindoostan. I knew well a surgeon of the Company's service, who was intimate with the Colonel, and visited him at all hours, and often saw him carrying on his process for cure. It consisted in reducing the stone to powder, by a fine saw introduced into the urethra by means of a canula, and he perfectly succeeded in removing the whole of it. The Colonel was an ingenious mechanic. His saw was made of the steel spring of a watch. He introduced the canula till it touched the stone, and then, by changing the position of his body, he pushed

• Mr. Bright.

on the saw till it was, for a little way, in contact with the stone, and then moving it backwards and forwards, he reduced it to powder. My friend often saw him at this work, and occasionally more than once on the same day. The operation gave him no pain whatever; for soft parts, plentifully covered with mucus, are under very different circumstances from hard and resisting bodies, and completely elude the teeth of so fine a saw. Soon after every sawing, he passed, with his urine a quantity of the stone, in the form of a powder. Although a parallel case will not often occur, where the patient is so intelligent and ingenious, and the final success so decisive, yet by long habit, and guided by the feelings known only to the individual, I should hope that a similar mode might sometimes be applied with advantage. No surgeon can effect this for another person. To place the stone and the saw in the proper positions, and to carry on the operation with success, and without pain or injury, can only be done by the patient himself. The hopes of relief, the attentions and observations necessary to attain it, the repeated trials, with all the sources of employment and of comfort to a miserable man, may well reward him, even if the perfect success of Colonel Martine should be unattainable.* Gout.

Although a tropical climate does not at all times prevent the attacks of the gout, yet they certainly are less common and severe than in cold countries. Rheumatism.

Acute rheumatism is rare between the tropics, but cases of it do occasionally occur. In like manner, the chronic kind is sometimes met with in India, and is more easily cured than in Europe.

Liver and Spleen.

While the glands that are the common seat of scrofula are less generally diseased between the tropics than here, other glands suffer there more frequently than in Europe, and, in particular, the liver and spleen. I have fancied at times that I could see mechanical causes for some of the derangements of the liver in a hot climate. The resinous matter of the bile seems to be there more abundant. It appears occasionally to separate from its union with soda, when it stagnates in the liver, and enlarges it, giving rise to all the phenomena of chronic hepatitis. By some means the calces of mercury stimulate that organ, or they give solubility to this resinous matter, which then passes through the ducts to the intestines. Such a bilious discharge, from the use of mercury, is the true signal of relief. When, from long illness, or other means, weakness is produced, with a languid circulation, chronic hepatitis is almost a certain consequence; the vis a tergo in the liver is diminished, depositions take place, and I have seen after death resinous and spermaceti-like matter choking and obstructing the ordinary course of circulation, and greatly enlarging the whole mass. It is said, that in some parts of Germany, the overgrown livers of geese and ducks are esteemed a great delicacy for the table. In order to produce them, they fix the animal by the feet to a board; they keep it motionless in a high temperature, and force it to swallow a great deal of nourishment. This is the case occasionally with our countrymen in India; a high temperature, little motion, with a plentiful diet; and the very same consequences make their appearance. While a very languid circulation of the blood gives birth with certainty to chronic obstructions of the liver, acute hepatitis, on the contrary is produced by all those causes which quicken the circulation beyond its proper rate. Such are violent exercise, fever, and hard drinking, and, I might add, steel and tonics, and bark. From the peculiar structure of the liver, and * Since writing the above, I have conversed with a very intelligent officer of high rank, who knew the Colonel intimately. He tells me that the instrument for reducing the stone to powder was rather a file than a saw, and that it was fixed to the end of a piece of whalebone. It was passed into the bladder through a canula. So accurately from habit could the Colonel judge of every circumstance, that he could tell when any part of the surface of the stone became more elevated than the rest, and could remove that part with the greatest nicety. On speaking to a friend now in town, who also was intimate with the Colonel, he was told, that the filing-part of the instrument was made of a knitting-needle, properly tempered for the purpose.