themselves to display the grounds on which these theories rest we are sure to derive both information and amusement. The arrangement, in a novel form, of old and neglected materials, the placing them in a new light, and the clearing away of error and fiction, from disputed points, are tasks laborious to an author, but cannot fail at once to instruct and gratify his

readers.

As the leading object of this article has been to exhibit some of the hypotheses advanced for the purpose of explaining the origin of the fossil remains of distant periods, if not, as Parkin son terms them, of a former world, and as that portion of Mr. Ranking's work which refers to the West was amply sufficient to illustrate his views on the subject, we have hitherto scarcely alluded to that greater portion of it which regards the East. But our limits now warn us to be brief. We may, therefore only mention that the histories of Genghis Khan, of his successor, Kublai, and of the great conqueror of the East, Tamerlane, are advert d to at considerable length; that the progress of thei conquests, until they became masters of nearly the whole of Asia is carefully traced; that excursive illustrations are given relative to the geographical position, topography, and manne s of many of the countries and cities which successively fell beneath their yoke, from the works of Marco Polo, Rubruquis, and other neglected and partially rejected travellers of the middle ages; and lastly, that the employment of elephants in war and in the pomp of state, the extensive huntings in which whole armies were frequently employed, and the combats of animals conducted with all the magnificence of the East, are particularly noticed and described. Much, in fact, is contained in this department of the wo k which, while it affords amusement to the general reader, will also contribute to the information of the historical and topographical student.

SONNETS ON SHAKSPEARE.

No. 1.-As You Like it.

A leafy rustling fills the sunny air,
And the glad humming of the forest be,

Who o'er sweet wild-flowers wakes her minstrelsy,
An the stream's murmur, makes a music rare,
Soothing the hear, tillevery trace of care
Fades like the furrow from a summer sea.
Who would not live in forests? Doth the pall
Of purple and of golf gleam half so bright
As the blue sky and silver waterfall?

Do kings and courtiers ia rich er ines dight,
'Midst perfumed chambers, feel the pure delight
That the fresh forest breeze here yields to all?
We want but Rosalind-with such a maid
'Twere heaven to dwell beneath the greenwood shade.
BERNARD WYCLIFFE,

IMPROMPTU.

[In Spain, whenever the king travels, and sojourns any where, even for a single night, he allows the innkeeper, or proprietor of the house, if a private dwelling, where he has so lodged, to suspend outside the house an iron chain (Cadena), which is universally done (much as over the gateways of our county gaols) and this marks the king's having honoured it with his presence. On first observing this, an English traveller made an impromptu in Spanish, to the surprise of his fellow travellers in the Diligence, who were not accustomed to such boldness from a stranger. The following is a correct English version of the thought it embodied.]

When monarchs travel, as of late they've done,

Throughout the various realms that own their sway,

A snuff-box, seal, or ring, they're wont anon
To give their hosts in token of their stay;
Far other boon, howe'er, this king bestows,
As on he journeys through the land of Spain-

He gives his friends what others would their foes,
(Fit emblem of his rule !)—an Iron Chain.

P. M. W.

LIBERALITY OF THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT TOWARDS THE NATIVE MEDICAL INSTITUTION OF BENGAL.

THERE are two modes in which the Press exercises a salutary influence on the destinies of mankind:-by encouraging, with due praise, whatever is just, virtuous, and benevolent; and, on the other hand, repressing, by censure, whatever appears injurious to the common weal, and hostile to "the greatest happiness of the greatest number for the greatest length of time." How much shall be devoted to praise and how much to blame does not depend upon the honest and impartial public writer, but on the times in which he lives, and the events by which he happens to be surrounded: since he cannot alter the nature of things, but, if he discharge his duty faithfully, must characterise them as he finds them. If, therefore, in our political disquisitions we have lately felt ourselves too often called upon to raise the voice of blame, we cannot but lament it as a public misfortune that existing circumstances have assigned to us so painful a task; and we rejoice that an opportunity is now afforded us of showing that it is the aspect of the times, and not our own inclination, which makes us so often pursue that cheerless course. We have now the more agreeable duty of bestowing the just meed of praise on Lord Amherst and the other members of the Government of Bengal, for a series of measures which redound highly to their honour, as enabling the Natives of India to enjoy the benefits of medical science, a brief history of which will, we trust, be found interesting as well as useful.

In the year 1822, at the close of Lord Hastings's administration, a school was founded at Calcutta by the Government, under his auspices, for the instruction of Hindoos and Mohammedans in medical knowledge. This new institution was first intrusted to the care Oriental Herald, Vol. 10.

C

of Dr. Jamieson, and, as this gentleman held several other situations at the time, the appointment and the discussions to which these pluralities gave rise, with other circumstances which eventually arose out of them, excited much public attention, and will not soon be forgotten in Bengal. If, amid the distraction necessarily attendant on so many different duties, that gentleman was able to undertake anything of importance for promoting the objects of the institution, his life unfortunately was not prolonged to carry his designs into effect. The severe scrutiny exercised on the propriety of the first appointment may perhaps have had a beneficial influence on the selection of his successor. However this may be, the present superintendent of the Native Medical Institution appears to be highly qualified for his situation, and to be happily endowed with a sufficient quantity of industry to turn his learning and his talents to the best account. At the last annual examination of the College of Fort William the Governor-General observed, "The management of the (Native Medical) Institution had been confided to the zealous and able superintendence of Dr. Breton; and that gentleman has already prepared, in the native languages, various essays and short treatises, calculated not only to promote the instruction of the pupils under his charge, but gradually to disseminate among the Natives of India a highly useful knowledge of the principles of medical science." We have the pleasure to add, that these works have fortunately reached our hands; having been transmitted by the author to the learned Dr. Gilchrist, who has committed them to us for public use. We here subjoin a list, explanatory of their character and contents:

1. A Vocabulary of the Names of the different Parts of the Human Body, and of the Medical and Technical Terms applied to them-in English, Arabic, Persian, Sanscrit, and Hinduwee.

2. Hindoostanee versions of the London Pharmacopoeia in both the Persian and Naguree characters, in two volumes.

3. Treatise on Suspended Animation, from the Effects of Submersion, Hanging, Noxious Air or Lightning, and the Means of Resuscitation; in the Naguree character and in the Hindoostanee language.

4. Substance of a Lecture on the Cholera Morbus, delivered to the Students of the Native Medical Institution; in the Nagurce and Persian characters and in the Hindoostanee language.

5. Introductory Lecture on Anatomy; in the same characters and language as the preceding.

6. Demonstrations of the Brain and its Appendages; also in the same characters and language.

7. Essay on the Venom of Serpents; in the same characters and language. 8. Essay on Intermittent Fever; in the same.

9. Essay on Rheumatism; in the same.

10. Essay on Cataract; in the same.

11. On the Structure of the Eye; in the same.

12. On Osteology; in the same.

13. Demonstration of the Abdominal Viscera; in the same

14. Demonstration of the Thoracic Viscera; in the same.

15. Essay on the Cholera Morbus ; in the Bengalee language.

These works, with three or four others by the same author, are now before us; and we cannot but express our great surprise, as well

as satisfaction, that so much has been done in so short a space of time. The whole have been lithographed at the Government lithographic press at Calcutta, by which means the various forms of the Naguree, Persian, and Roman characters, according to the several languages of which they consist, have been executed with great accuracy and beauty; one of the latest improvements in the art of printing having thus fortunately stepped in to overcome one of the most serious obstacles to the diffusion of knowledge in the Native languages, for representing which on paper, lithography is admirably adapted. The learned Orientalist to whom these works were sent from India having consigned them to us for public use, accompanied with various high testimonials of approbation, we think it a duty we owe to Dr. Breton, as well as to his patrons, the Government of Bengal, to lay them before the British public. Dr. Gilchrist expresses himself in the following terms:

To the Editor of the Oriental Herald.

SIR,-The accompanying works, with a letter from the author, have just reached me from India, and as their contents may prove highly useful to the British Indian public, as well as profitable to their meritorious author, you are at liberty to lay those portions of either before your numerous readers, which you may conceive will be most interesting to them all in both hemispheres. You will also receive a Calcutta newspaper, containing the speech of Lord Amherst at the Annual Examination of the College of Fort William, which, amongst other things touches on the great services of Dr. Breton, who is, I perceive, among the senior medical servants on the Bengal establishment, and highly esteemed there, not only for professional talents, but also as an excellent Orientalist, whose abilities and persevering efforts will yet render the Native Medical Institution, over which he has for some years actively and honourably presided, so efficient that it will soon become a blessing to many millions in our Eastern empire; provided his efforts be countenanced and supported as cordially by the executive at home as he appears to have been patronised by the Bengal Government, from their conviction of the urgent necessity for such an establishment. On this subject, a reference to Dr. Breton's communication to me, and to the judicious comments of the present GovernorGeneral, Lord Amherst, will make any farther detail from myself altogether superfluous on this occasion, except my merely adding that the medical and language department seem to have each been executed with competent skill and fidelity combined; so much so indeed, that I would strongly recommend the whole set of Dr. Breton's faithful versions of his professional treatises as text and school books for all intended British Indian surgeons in future to study at their respective colleges, where Oriental instructors would speedily be procurable, if a fair prospect of employment were once opened for them, without subjecting the Honourable Company to the smallest additional expense on that score, in any way whatever. I presume their present Examining Physician enjoys a salary more than commensurate with the responsible but very easy duties he has to perform in that capacity; it would therefore be no great stretch of industrious zeal on his part were he to qualify himself as an Eastern linguist also, and grant the requisite certificates to candidates for medical appointments in India, previously to their actual nomination by the Directors. This office was originally conferred upon an old and able Bengal surgeon, who had retired perhaps rather prematurely from the service in consequence of bad health, and no doubt there may yet be others equally deserving and similarly situated who would gladly perform the united task of Examiner in local diseases and languages whenever a vacancy in that post should happen, which, comparatively speaking, in its present form (occupying one or two hours only with every probationer out of sixty per annum) is almost a sinecure.

I have already attentively perused Dr. Breton's essay on Cholera Morbus, and, if the others are all as well executed, he certainly deserves whatever lucrative situation his Honourable Masters can bestow upon him either at home or abroad, if they really wish to reward able, old, and faithful servants according to their respective capacities or deserts. In my time, some forty years ago, the cholera morbus, as a fatal epidemic, was hardly known, and I never encountered this formidable malady, in that predic ment, but once, while marching across the country from Bombay to Bengal in the month of January, when the weather was rather cold at night, contrasted with the heat from a cloudless sky all day. An elderly gentleman, then old enough to have been my father, was my colleague as attending Assistant Surgeon at the Detachment General Hospital, into which six or eight patients were brought in rapid succession, and the whole died of the very cholera which has since proved so fatal in various parts of Asia. The first patients were, of course, treated secundùm artem, and every one of them slipped through our hands, under even a cautious expulsion of the peccant matter from the viscera, which we then naturally enough conceived was the sole cause of the disease; but before this could be effected, the poor fellows were thus, legitimately enough, despatched to their long homes. I began to get alarmed, and held a consultation with my reverend senior assistant, lest the Superintending Surgeon might hear of the havoc committed by death or the doctors in the General Hospital, and we might be blamed not only for our imprudent silence but for our baneful prescriptions. I honestly told the old gentleman that we must think and act for ourselves in every subsequent case; for to me it seemed clear we were wrong in practice, however right in the theoretical treatment of our late patients. Taking a hearty pinch of snuff, and casting a significant glance towards the unfortunate creature who had recently expired amidst excruciating evacuations, he said very coolly, "Well, what would you advise?" My reply was short, that we could not do worse than had been done, and it was possible we might at least have better luck were all the ordinary rules laid aside, and some remedies in the Brownonian style immediately tried. To this the grave doctor readily consented, and we desired the Native Assistants to put a quantity of finely powdered bark and cinnamon, with a due proportion of laudanum, into a bottle of Madeira wine, to shake the mixture well, and the moment any person was sent to the Hospital he was to take a wine glassful of the medicine, to be repeated every half hour, until one of ourselves could attend in person. This experiment was tried with the utmost success, for we never afterwards lost another man, and always had leisure enough to apply proper remedies, by having thus in the first instance preserved the vis vitae long enough for that purpose. Those who were affected had been generally exposed, as centinels or bazar people, during the night, to the cold air or dews so common in the winter months of India; but what is very singular, I never again saw the cholera for the space of twenty years afterwards, though for many seasons of late I find it has been a species of plague, traversing the whole Peninsula, and that my random recipe has very often acted as a charm in this terrific complaint, but whether as an accidental specific or a nostrum of ours is more than I can assert. I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,

J. B. GILCHRIST.

To this letter we are fortunately able to add the testimony of various individuals in India, of learned Natives of the country as well as Europeans, whose names are a sufficient guarantee that it is no ordinary merit which has secured such general approbation. In a letter to Mr. Breton, from Rammohun Roy, acknowledging a present of his work, the illustrious Hindoo reformer, who has so long been labouring to turn his countrymen to a better faith, and is alike distinguished by his talents, his learning, and his virtues, thus writes:

I beg you will accept my best thanks for the valuable present of your productions. They are indeed full of instruction, and better calculated to furnish