Mountford Joseph Bramley
W. B. O’Shaughnessy
Henry H. Goodeve
The government order, cited in the previous chapter, which established the CMC contained in its 14th clause – “That the foundation pupils shall be expected to remain at the institution for a period of not less than four years, and not exceeding six years.”[1] But when the first batch of medical students who appeared in the final examination (from 30 October to 9 November, 1838) had studied less than 4 years. Possibly, due to this reason, they were conferred with the degree “Letters Testimonial”, not the Graduate of Bengal Medical College. There were 11 students in the first batch. This certificate was signed by S. Nicolson, J. Grant, J. R. Martin and Duncan Stewart.
Among these eleven, 4 students – Uma Charan Set, Dwarakanath Gupta, Rajkisto Dey (Raj Krshna Dey) and Nabin Chandra Mitra – were unanimously selected to be awarded the degree letters testimonial, “that we consider them competent to practise medicine and surgery … that the conduct of these young men during their conduct of study has been uniformly correct, steady, and satisfactory.”[2] But from other accounts, we will come to see later, there was a fifth student, Shamachurn (Shyama Charan) Dutt, who was granted the same degree. Besides granting the degree only, each of them was also given a set of books “for the purpose of frequent and habitual reference they be supplied before quitting the presidency with the following works:”[3] Besides this set of book, Auckland himself presented Uma Charan Set, first among the students, a golden watch.[4]
Moreover, regarding the ceremony where huge public gathering – comprising both Europeans and Indian elites were present – was held in the Medical College. A Calcutta journal reported, “We attended on Saturday at the medical College, to witness the delivery of diplomas to the students, who have successfully passed their examinations … The attendance, both European and native, was very numerous and of the first respectability.”[5] The certificates were on parchment and bore “the signature of the examiners, the Professors, of Sir Edward Ryan, as President of the Committee of Public Education, and of the Chief Secretary to Government.”[6] Below is a copy of the “letters testimonial” which was awarded to the first batch of the CMC students passing out in 1838.
David Hare wrote (dated 9 March, 1837) to J. C. C. Sutherland, Secretary, General Committee of Public Instruction, with emphasis for the establishment of a clinical hospital to the CMC to be of use for clinical studies by the students.[7] It came to fruition in one year. The benefit accrued from such a hospital, according Hare, was “the most ample opportunities of witnessing disease in every variety should at the same time be furnished to the pupils.”[8] Moreover, the Native Hospital was meant solely for surgical cases, while the General Hospital was, without any exception, for Europeans. But the CMC was at the heart of the burgeoning city. So it would be accessible to all people seeking all kind of medical help from the College. Finally, students would benefit from studying clinically diseases prevalent among Indian patients whom they would primarily treat in future. After Hare’s letter various committees for “Calcutta Fever Hospital and Municipal Enquiry (Grant) Committee 1836-47” were formed. Numerous evidence and depositions from various influential corners, both Indians and Europeans, were taken and the establishment of the fever hospital attached to the CMC was granted.
In 1839, a Calcutta journal reported, “The building attached to the Medical College, and intended to be appropriated as the College Hospital, is nearly completed. It affords accommodation of eighty patients and will be in the charge of some qualified alumni of this noble institution under the immediate supervision of learned professors.”[9] Actually, the small hospital was attached to the College in 1838.
The same issue of the journal reported – “Three young men educated at the new medical college, who have passed their examinations, having been placed at the disposal of the Right Hon’ble the Governor General for employment in the North Western Provinces … Omachurn Set, native doctor at Agra, to be employed under the directions of Mr. R. B. Duncan, the civil assistant surgeon. Rajkisto Dey, native doctor at Delhi, to be employed under directions of doctor J Ranken, the civil surgeon. Shamachurn Dutt, native doctor at Allahabad, to be employed under the directions of Mr. A. Beattle, the civil assistant surgeon.”[10] It appears from the notification that passed-out students were in need of various government vacancies – simply put, education to earn.
Students began to learn medicine in an altogether new way. The journey took a paradigm shift from learning by books to learning at the bed side of the patient. Along with, a new medical cosmology and the mode of medical knowledge production began to emerge. “The history of both the Native and European cases, is to be kept in detail in the same manner … read at the bedside on the admission of each new case, and the books will be inspected every Saturday to ascertain that the cases are carefully kept, proper attention paid to the duly entering of the treatment, and the case being written with neatness and attention to spelling.”[11] It was further clearly mentioned and advised as routine practice that “Each student will be shown how to conduct an examination so as to form his diagnosis, and will be questioned as to the plan of treatment, and why he proposes such and such a course … When the case terminates fatally the body will be examined by the Clinical Clerk (chosen from among the students) before the Professor, the morbid changes noted, and the subject will be taken into the lecture room, and shewn to assembled pupils, who will have the opportunity of observing the whole history of the case, and have admirable means for the study of pathology and morbid anatomy. The subject will never be lost sight of …”[12]
Before we further proceeds on the examination and re-evaluation of the teaching at the CMC, we should better try to know how the intervening period from 1836 to the final examination in 1838 exactly passed on.
The Period in between 1836 to 1838
From Bramley’s report we find an overall plan of how to advance teaching at the College. In 1836, the CMC had definitely structured its curriculum and the arrangement of classes. In “Anatomy and Physiology”, “The present course of lectures on anatomy and physiology will be continued as heretofore on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursday’s, and Fridays, at 1/4 past 12 o’clock precisely till March 31st, when they will be concluded.”[13] In “General Chemistry and Natural Philosophy”, “From April 2d (sic) to July 30th, at 1/4 past 12. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Laboratory course for practical instruction, from June 1st to August 31st, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 to 2. Elements of the Theory and Practice of Physic, with occasional clinical instruction in the Hospital. From May 2d to 31st August. On Tuesdays and Fridays at 3 o’clock p. m.”[14]
Moreover, “Anatomy, Physiology, Demonstrations, and Operations in Surgery. From October 10th to March 31st, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays The first or osteological division of this course will be delivered on the above days at 1/4 past 12 precisely.
The remainder of the course will be delivered on the above days at 9 o’clock a m. precisely. The operations in Surgery will be exhibited as opportunities offer.”[15]
For “Materia Medica and Pharmacy”, “From November 1st to February 28th. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 1/2 past 2 p. m. precisely.” For “Surgery”, “From December 1st to March 31st. On Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1/4 past 12 o’clock.” Hospital practice and attendance at the public dispensaries – “During the recess the pupils will attend regularly at the General Hospital, the Native Hospital, the Eye Infirmary, and the Government and other Dispensaries.”[16]
Regarding examinations, the whole of the course were divided into two sections – “1st, Chemistry, Materia Medica, and Pharmacy.
2d, Anatomy, Surgery, and Medicine
Examinations in the above departments of science will be held alternately on Saturdays at 12 o’clock.” Corbyn, the editor of this esteemed journal made an important observation regarding clinical knowledge and teaching in India –
“the Principal Mr. Bramley, arrived in India in August, 1829, and has had no experience in the diseases of India as they prevail in various situations and in different constitutions. Dr Goodeve did not arrive until April, 1831, and therefore has had less. But Dr. O’Shauglinessy, the other professor, has had least of all, having arrived so late as August, 1833. Now we are willing to admit that each and all of these gentlemen may be thoroughly acquainted with the principles of Cullen; they may be well versed in the arguments and subtleties of Brown and Darwin; endued with the doctrines of revulsions, of Broussais, familiar with French pathology; fresh from the theatre of Anatomy and the laboratory of Chemistry; and may have witnessed the whole of the clinique of Europe: but when they come to India their knowledge is bounded. Here they are to receive and not to afford instruction!
In tropical surgery and diseases they are wanting in practice and experience; these are the defects, and against which alone our commentary is directed.”[17]
What is important in this observation at the very beginning of the CMC is that European authorities of medicine, be it British Cullen or French Broussais, do not properly fit the specific diseases of India. There is a refraction and to an extent mutation in the European/universal medical knowledge to fit to the “local”. Long ago, before the foundation of the CMC, British surgeons like Saunders or Curtis noted, unlike European ones, the difference in disease pattern and post-mortem findings in Indian patients. Saunders found that “in India, the fever and dysentery, which are considered as the endemic of the country, have been found on dissection to be accompanied by diseases of the liver.” Curtis concluded, “Much experience indeed does it require; and many dissections of similar cases, to enable us to judge and distinguish accurately between the causes and effects of disease; and even between the effects of disease, and the effects of death.”[18] In his journal, Corbyn also emphasized on the issue,
“that they may serve as partial guides in Europe, where diseases are so generally understood. But this is not the case in India, where there is such variety of climate, and as great a variety of people as to habits, manners, and customs. We must also take into account that the history and management of tropical disease have not been conveyed through the medium of the press, from individual to individual and from age to age. Hence only those who have seen disease in India in all its various shapes and characters on the Indian constitution, are able to point it out, and to discover remedies for its removal.”[19]
Corbyn was also strongly opposed to the idea that the College “placed entirely under the control of the Education committee – a body of non-professional gentlemen who must be entirely ignorant of the nature of such an institution.”[20]
As for teaching and practical experiments done at the CMC in 1836, it was simply astonishing. Notably, as Gorman gives the account, “Considering the life-time records (not only in the subjects taught), there is an amazing total of 557 books and articles produced, with an average of 31 per professor. All of them wrote articles and only two chose not to write a book. Five became Fellows of the Royal Society and five were founders and/or editors of Indian journals of science or medicine.”[21] A contemporary journal reported, “the chemical department has, within a twelve month [period], reached such a state of organization, and that its studies have been crowned with such eminent success, as to supersede the necessity of any other school of chemistry on the same scale in the colleges in and about Calcutta”.[22] Reporters from outside was “astonished and gratified with which the most difficult questions” were answered by the students.[23] O’Shaughnessy proposed to construct, at the CMC, a galvanic battery of one thousand cups, on Mullin’s principle “for the purpose of exhibiting the extraordinary experiments recently described by Mr. Crosse and others, for carrying on original researches in electro-magnetism and galvanism.”[24] He even undertook to conduct the experiment of “application of galvanism” in case of aneurism.[25] Another report from a contemporary journal will illustrate O’Shaughnessy’s feat –
Dr. O’Shaughnessy was electrifying the higher ranks of Calcutta society with his galvanic battery, and displayed much zeal and intelligence in explaining the science. He had lectured with great éclat at Government House; and his lecture-room in the New Medical College was thronged whenever it opened.[26]
Truly inquisitive, original and scientific-minded scientist-doctors like O’Shaughnessy and Goodeve precisely dwelt on their efforts, “as teachers in a new and experimental institution”. They worked hard to structure the best curricula for CMC students form materials “drawn from attentive examination of all the British and foreign professional journals”.[27] They tried sincerely to bring the level of medical education imparted at the CMC at par with European medical schools. In this regard, O’Shaughnessy is exemplary. He, in his introductory lecture, went to the extent of asserting that,
I look with confidence to the indiginous (sic) materia medica for a substitute even for the inestimable quinine. The enquiry is already proceeding under the most favorable circumstances, and ere long I trust the discovery will be established which would be fraught with inappreciable good to millions of our poor Indian fellow subjects. This once accomplished, we will in India, if a class of native practical chemists be brought into existence, be almost independent of any other country.[28]
O’Shaughnessy had counted the number of medicines then imported from Europe. It amounted to several hundred, all of which, except about eighty, might be prepared or grown in India. Moreover, “For these 80 many efficient substitutes exist in known indigenous productions.”[29] In his book on chemistry for the students of the CMC his idea was about its applied value. He wrote, “To Chemistry again we turn in cases of murder by poisoning, to enable us to detect the substance used, and bring the murderer to justice.”[30] Further, “And, what is perhaps still more pleasing to know, the analyst thus instructed can still more frequently protect innocent persons labouring under false accusations.”[31] In this sense, he should be regarded as a pioneer of modern medical jurisprudence in India.[32]
Arnold comments, “The fruits of O’Shaughnessy’s enquiries, backed by laboratory experiments, post-mortem analyses, conversations with vaids and familiarity with local medical practice as well as metropolitan medical jurisprudence, were incorporated into his Bengal Dispensatory and Bengal Pharmacopoeia.” But government was not receptive to these internationally acclaimed works. They were more interested “in the application of chemistry to the neds of trade and industry (such as assessing the suitability of Indian clays for making firebricks and other ceramic goods currently imported at great cost).”[33] As a result of these meta-scientific works O’Shaugnessy was given the additional title and extra remuneration of the Chemical Examiner in June 1840.[34] The interest and inquisitiveness of a scientific mind and the interests of the state fell apart, as almost always happens historically.
He was also a pioneer of intravenous fluid transfusion for cholera patients.[35] In Calcutta, Dr Stewart half-heartedly tried it for cholera patients, but without any results owing to his defective procedure, as can be deduced.[36] Stewart’s defective procedure can be well understood from the reporting at the meeting of the Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta – “The right ventricle of the heart was distended with fluid blood containing numerous air bubbles, a great part of which gushed out with gurgling noise. The same appearance was observed in the right auricle and superior vena cava.”[37] A committee was also formed “to experiment upon and report on the extent to which injections into the veins may be practiced with safety upon animals…”[38] O’Shaughnessy was selected as the secretary of the committee.[39] It remains unknown how long this committee functioned. Later on, he diverted his attention to the use of Indian plants in the treatment of cholera, and, finally, for the introduction of telegraph in India.[40]
Having made all these observations, we may now go deeper into the “Introductory Addresses” which were usually given by the professors of the new medical college at the beginning of a new session. In a Calcutta journal it was reported under the title “Native Medical College – Principal Bramley’s Address” that
We repaired to the Native Medical College on Thursday morning 17th March, full half an hour before the time appointed for the commencement of the proceedings of the day, but found the Theatre already nearly filled, and eventually we learned about that 580 persons were assembled in it! We observed among the distinguished members of the society present, the Members of Council, of the Law Commission, who were already in the Theatre when we entered it, the Secretaries of Government, &c. &c. and the attendance of the faculty was very full. At about ¼ past 11, the Right Honourable Lord Auckland was ushered into the Theatre by Principal Bramley, attended by Professors Goodeve and O’Shaughnessy; and soon after the worthy Principal Commnced his Address.[41]
Such was the importance of this College that about 600 dignitaries of Calcutta – both Europeans and Indians – including Lord Auckland were present to listen to the introductory addresses. In his address Bramley basically concentrated on the importance of learning anatomy from the beginning of medical education. He also castigated Indian prejudice and social customs and taboo to touch the dead body leading to practice of a nebulous, scholastic and speculative conception of the body and harmful treatments, “Look at the filthy and frightful ulcers that we see frequently in natives, aggravated even to death by inert or injudicious treatment. Look at the vast department of surgery, occupied by whom? By ignorant beings who know not a vein from artery … your materia medica contains many articles of a fantastic, useless, or destructive character, of which further advance in European Science will point out to you the mischief and danger.”[42]
According to hierarchy I am now giving some details about Goodeve’s address before the audience and the students.[43] Importantly, Goodeve clearly stated, “In England, however more especially in London, the separation still exists to a great extent. The Surgeon and the Physician are often separate individuals. This distinction however, for all practical purposes, is extremely absurd and inconvenient. The two branches of the profession blend so insensibly into each other that no fair line of demarkation (sic) can possibly be drawn between them.”[44] What is important is that the separation between the physician and the surgeon was very pronounced in England for some centuries. It was resolved after a protracted historical process and struggle. But from the very beginning, as we can see from Goodeve’s lecture before the students, this distinction was erased – a new species of doctors emerged in whom both physician and surgeon merged into a single entity. In this sense, it was a historical phenomenon too. Goodeve further elaborated, which seemed to be the mantra of hospital medicine –
There is but one school wherein you can hope to succeed in your studies to any great purpose. In the school of experience, it is only at the bed side of the sick by observing closely the symptoms and progress of disease, watching the effect of remedies, and should the termination of the malady prove a fatal one and the death of your patient afford you an opportunity to inspect the body, by carefully noting the changes which have taken place in the various organs. It is only by these means that you can hope to render yourselves worthy and useful members of the profession you have chosen.[45]
Then O’Shaughnessy started his “Lectures on General Chemistry and Natural Philosophy”.[46] During his lecture he performed a number of experiments with the temporary magnet, De La Rives’ apparatus, paper figures, bells etc. and explained by experiment the change of properties caused by the chemical union of various gases. It is very interesting to learn that the students of the Hindu College (now Presidency University) flocked to attend his lecture on chemistry.
(O’Shaugnessy showing his experiments)
At the beginning of his lecture he clarified, “I was called on to teach them, destitute, too, of the apparatus requisite for the illustration of my lectures, commenced my duties under the most painful apprehensions … In the brief course I gave during that period, I found my pupils not only apt and industrious, but literally enthusiastic in the pursuit on which I was leading them … in short I found them possessed of every requisite a teacher could desire.”[47] During the time only 54 elements were discovered, as O’Shaughnessy described in his lecture. His interest about explaining the chemical and physical properties of these elements was directed especially for the natives of this country, and above all, its essential, its vital necessity to the medical student. It was more so because “one of the most valuable, is its peculiar tendency to the formation of habits of sober and philosophical reasoning.”[48] The habit of inculcating “sober and philosophical reasoning” was the benchmark of O’Shaughnessy and most of the teachers’ pedagogy in those early days of the CMC.
He insisted, “We are in India situated in the vicinity of many territories to which Europeans are denied access, and which a scientific eye has never yet explored … He could ascertain the heights of their mountains, the nature of their soils, the character and value of their mineral riches, the composition of their drugs and dye stuffs, and all this with an apparatus not worth one hundred rupees.”[49] Could it be due to his free-thinking, internal Iris spirit that he dreamt of liberating this colonized country India with the aid of learning chemistry innovatively? We do not have any clear-cut answer.
But it becomes apparent that long before Dadabhai Naoroji put forward the ‘drain of wealth’ theory (1867) in which he stated that the Britain was completely draining India, O’Shaughnessy emphatically talked along the same line thought in his lecture.
I might adduce the instance of the Turkey red and of the permanent shawl green in proof of what India loses by her ignorance of the chemistry of the arts. The Turkey red cottons are well known in the markets of Bengal for their fine and permanent color, and their high price, yet though all the materials used in the process are of Indian growth, the skill to apply them does not exist, and the consumer is consequently forced to pay the expences of their exportation to Europe and their return to India, as well as the remuneration of the European dyer … In the manufacture of porcelain, glass and various kinds of pottery, in the production of saltpetre, the cultivation of opium, the growth and purification of drugs and dye stuffs, for the wholesale market, the same wide field exists, in which numbers of young men would find lucrative employment, and would moreover be the source of inestimable benefit to their countrymen by disseminating among them the knowledge of the improved processes by which the value of the manufactures alluded to would be enhanced beyond calculation.[50]
As an aside, it may be recalled that many years later regarding achievements of the CMC it was evaluated,
“Although often unable to maintain a character for in his own line, he is expected to be thoroughly acquainted with all those which diverge from it. He must be skilled as a meteorologist, a geologist, a chemist, a botanist, a mineralogist, and an ichthyologist … an examiner of boys in mathematics and history, a classical oriental scholar, an antiquarian, a sanitary reformer … Notwithstanding all this rigour, professional merit is judged in India by very carelessly fixed standards.”[51]
Additionally, he had to play the role of a homeopath, a hydropathist and a believer in the merits of cod-liver oil, and sarsaparilla. The foundation stone of producing such polymaths were contained in the lecture of O’Shaughnessy. Earlier it was also observed that as a graduate of the CMC,
The Medical College has thus been the nursery of our medical men. It has fed all the dispensaries in the Mofussil. It alumni are also to be found in the army, in charge of jails, in private practice, in railway stations, on board steamers and passenger ships, in the employment of zemindars and planters, and in depots and shops … the College is no longer an experiment, but an accomplished and beneficial triumph.[52]
Coming back to O’Shaughnessy’s 1836 lecture, he clearly stated about his future teaching plan for the next year,
“on the alternate days whenever the subject admits of it, the medical pupils will be instructed in the laboratory in the practical details of chemistry, especially in the making of medical preparations and testing of poisons and analysis of ores and minerals. In this section I shall follow the system adopted in the Ecole Pratique of Paris, the beneficial workings of which I have myself witnessed … The only serious difficulty I anticipate in carrying these designs in execution is in the impossibility of providing all the pupils with the admirable class books of Europe. The only remedy I can devise for this deficiency, is the publication next year of the notes of my lectures in the form of a Manual. This will be of use to the elementary students, while those who distinguish themselves shall not want books to promote their exertions. Of course the success of the plan depends chiefly on the zeal and capacity of the pupils.”[53]
What Gorman summarized regarding the achievements of the teachers and scientific spirit prevailing in the newly founded CMC can be reiterated,
As for their standing as scientists world-wide, one need only quote the statistics of publication of books and of articles in recognized journals. Including the original four there were eighteen basic science professors. Considering the life-time records (not only in the subjects taught), there is an amazing total of 557 books and articles produced, with an average of 31 per professor. All of them wrote articles and only two chose not to write a book. Five became Fellows of the Royal Society and five were founders and/or editors of Indian journals of science or medicine. There were some intangibles which redounded to the benefit of the students and kept morale high throughout this period (except at Bramley’s death). There was a remarkable degree of collegiality among the faculty because they were all dedicated to the concept of science and medicine for Indians. All of them were volunteers. Frequently they took salary cuts and extra duty when the integrity of the curriculum was at stake.[54]
Even in the 21st century’s standards these achievements are laudable too. O’Shaughnessy was so dedicated and zealous in his pursuit for original research works and instilling the spirit among his students that he even discussed about Italian scientists Nobili and Melloni’s theories and explanations regarding “radiant heat” before the audience and his students in the lecture discussed above – “as to heat, the recent researches of Nobili and Melloni on radiant heat would alike defy the intelligence of any student who did not possess extensive and accurate knowledge of the chemistry of the simple substances; in proof of this I may mention that the new and beautiful results they have obtained, can only be demonstrated by an instrument called the thermo-multiplier”[55]. This theory was just discovered in 1831 and applied at CMC in 1836. It seems incredible even at this point of time. Explaining the magic efficacy of this instrument, he described that the instrument, “is now preparing in this laboratory, so delicate in its indications that the heat of a common fly or of a budding flower, even of the moon’s rays, is distinctly shewn by it.”[56]
(Nobili and Melloni’s thermo-multiplier demonstrated at CMC)
On 14 April 1837, on the occasion of Lord Auckland’s fifth scientific party, in presence of Lord Auckland, Dr. O’Shaughnesy made some purely chemical experiments. “Dr. O’Shaughnessy showed the properties of carbonic acid, and its effects on flame and animal life. Carbonic oxide, caburet of hydrogen, and the olenant gases … explained the principles of the new galvanic battery, by Muller.”[57]
Let us now comprehend how O’Shaughnessy planned the structure of his lectures – (1) “In this system I may add, I imitate with slight modifications the plan pursued in the Schools of Chemistry of the Universities of Edinburgh and London. I say with slight modifications”[58]. (2) He planned to teach Galvanism and more extended subjects “next year will, I trust, be followed by one for general students and tradesmen exclusively on the chemistry, of the arts, and in which they will have the benefit of visiting the many manufactories about Calcutta; and by another for the most distinguished of the medical pupils on the minute details of analysis on the peculiar plan followed by Rose, the professor of chemistry at Berlin.”[59] (3) “on the alternate days whenever the subject admits of it, the medical pupils will be instructed in the laboratory in the practical details of chemistry, especially in the making of medical preparations and testing of poisons and analysis of ores and minerals.”[60]
As I have told it earlier that he was confident of finding the proper of substitute of costly Peruvian bark (the source of quinine, then used to treat fevers in India) on Indian soil. I his lecture, he elaborated on this,
But this Peruvian bark and quinine and other similar valuable remedies are only obtainable from Europe or other countries at an expense which renders them unattainable by the poor inhabitants of this country. But I have too firm a faith in the providence of nature not to believe that she has been as bountiful to India as to Peru. Though our jungles and forests exhale miasma, they are doubtless productive of febrifuge vegetables too.[61]
He may also be prudently called the father of toxicology in India, which later in course of time developed into the branch of medicine namely forensic medicine. He insisted in his lecture,
To chemistry again we turn in cases of murder, by poisoning, to enable us to detect the substance used and, bring the murderer to justice. The nicety with which in many cases this science enables us to accomplish this important, end will be judged of when I tell you that a very little practice in the laboratory will enable you to detect 100th part of a grain of arsenic, corrosive sublimate, &c. in any mixture that can be presented to you. And perhaps it will be equally pleasing to you to know that this science will very often enable you to protect persons labouring under false accusations.[62]
It is historically true that medicine is often termed as the “humane face of imperialism”. There are innumerable and invaluable theses and books on this issue. But when Bramley, O’Shaughnessy or Goodeve tried their best to kindle the free spirit of thinking for the emergence of truly inquisitive cognitive pattern, unwillingly or inadvertently or going against the current of colonizing project they were driven by the internal dynamics of science. In the early days of the CMC attaining science and its techniques was gaining momentum over being colonized. However, it had dwindled and disappeared significantly in later years. It revived, for example, with the discoveries of U. N. Brahmachari and S.N. De. From this discussion it becomes discernible that there did exist an inherent contradiction between what the colonial authority desired for and what the teachers aspired for.
Two more important issues we should take into consideration now.
First, most likely as a result of imperial conflict between colonial Indian government and Peru, there was stoppage of importing Peruvian bark which was very much essential to procure quinine to treat various fevers in India. In the August (1838) meeting of Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta it was reported, “Dr. O’Shaughnessy read an extract from the last No. of Johnson’s Medico-Chronological Review, containing the important information, that the Peruvian Government had suspended the exportation of cinchona bark for a period of five years. Dr. O’Shaughnessy then laid before the Society the details of thirty-two cases of remittent and intermitant (sic) fevers treated by narcotine as a substitute for quinine, and of which thirty-one were cured.”[63] In the late 1830s, W. B. O’Shaughnessy made extensive experiments with his newly discovered drug narcotine, supposed to be a substitute of quinine, on patients in the laboratory of the CMC.[64] The trial of narcotine was also reported in an American journal under the title “On Narcotine as a substitute for Quinine in Intermittent Fever”.[65] Besides intermittent fever, the American journal reported, narcotine was also used in ague – “Dr. O’Shaughnessy added that, besides the sixty cases now recorded, more than 100 ague patients had been treated by his pupils and acquaintance with perfect success by this remedy.”[66] It was also further mentioned in the same journal that “In a subsequent number of the Indian journal, the following letter appears, addressed to Dr. O’Shaughnessy, by Mr. Green, Civil Surgeon, Howrah.”[67] The letter, reproduced in the American journal read thus,
I have now employed the narcotine in sixteen cases of remittent fever, and such is my opinion of the efficacy of the remedy, that in instances of fever, intermittents and remittents, in ordinary healthy subjects, and in whom there is no complications of severe organic disease, I give it with the full expectation of arresting the next periodic return of the fever … I consider narcotine a more powerful antiperiodic than quinine. The remedy does not act silently … In short, even from my scanty experience, I consider the remedy an invaluable one.[68]
Narcotine, a cheaper substitute of quinine derived from opium freely available in Indian bazaars, was put into trial by O’Shaughnessy to treat various fevers. It was enthusiastically reported at the meetings of Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta.
Dr. O’Shaughnessy further submitted two cases, treated in his own house among his servants, both of which were cured. Lastly, he communicated fifteen cases extracted from the journals of the medical college hospital. In five of these cases quinine and arsenic had failed, in eleven there was enlargement of the spleen or liver, in one inflammation of the knee joint. Seven of these cases fatal cases one was admitted on the 7th day of violent fever and died next day. In 2d (a child) the spleen, liver, pancreas, and mesenteric glands were immensely enlarged, and the case hopeless upon the beginning.
Dr. O’Shaughnessy added, that besides the sixty cases now recorded over 100 ague patients had been treated by his pupils and acquaintance with perfect success by this remedy. He, therefore , felt warranted in proposing, that, in order to obtain, speedily, conclusive and unbiased evidence on the subject, the members of the Society resident in the most unhealthy parts of the country (and he specified Kyouk Phoo, Akyab, Chittagong, Tumlook, Rungpore) be invited to give the narcotine a trial and to report the results . Dr. O’Shaughnessy offered to place a sufficient quantity of the remedy at the disposal of the Society for the proposed experiments.[69]
But his request to give an extensive trial was unheeded by the government. Though, teachers of the CMC and other eminent doctors at different institutions took active part in this trial.
This trial was published in no other than peer-reviewed and the then most eminent medical journal Lancet too, as I have cited below.
Second, and very important question, was related to preserving secular nature of the CMC. It was reported in the Asiatic Journal that “The foundation-stone of new church, to be built opposite the Hindu College, was to have been laid on the 7th July, the Lord Bishop and the Archdeacon assisting … The Englishmen states, that a representation came from the directors of the college, and another from the council of the Medical College, requesting a considerable eligibility of the proposed site…”[71] A few months after the first dissection, in the second instance of secular self-confidence, seven petitioners – N. Wallich, C. C. Eagerton, H. H. Goodeve, W. B. O’Shaughnessy, David Hare, R. O’Shaughnessy and G. Evans – vehemently objected the proposal for the formation of a new church near Hindu College, which could make a scar on secular principles of the state.[72] They categorically stated –
We regard this measure as one eminently calculated to cause the withdrawal from the Hindu and Medical Colleges, and from the School Society’s eminent seminaries, of many students, who now crowd these successful seats of native education … that a powerful re-action must take place among the Hindu priesthood, and the parents and guardians of these pupils …[73]
Below is the image of the letter sent by the council of the CMC.
It is interesting to note that all the petitioners were teachers and the secretary of the CMC. Moreover, they were unequivocal about their position – “While we deprecate a proceeding, which seems to us untimely and dangerous, we avow our earnest anxiety for the true moral regeneration of the natives of Bengal.”[74]
From Classes to the First Final Examination and Its Assessment
The 1839 GCPI report of the CMC (signed by H. T. Prinsep on 27 February, 1839) was a special report. It was made clear at the outset,
Our report of July, 1837, contained a full narrative of the institution from its foundation, to the death of the late lamented Principal Bramley. As your Honor has called us for Special Report in regard to this College, we shall not on this occasion make our notice of the institution so full and complete, as we otherwise intended … the state of the institution is highly creditable to the exertions of the Professors, and fully justifying the expectation, that in its maturity objects of of the highest public importance will be effected through its means.[75]
On 1 April, 1838, total students were 72 – Foundation students 48, non-stipendiary 21, Apothecary Establishment of the General Hospital students were 3, thus making the total of seventy two. The lectures given were on (1) Anatomy and Physiology, (2) Chemistry, (3) Materia Medica, (4) Practice of Physic, (5) Clinical Instruction, (6) Anatomical Demonstration, (7) Surgery, and (8) Botany.[76]
It was also mentioned that “the annexation of a Clinical Hospital, noticed in our last report as an essential want, and the Institution of Provincial Dispensaries, have received the sanction of your Honor. The other embrace, – the creation of a new grade of Subordinate Medical Officers…”[77].
Importantly, it was for the first time, though did not materialize at that point of time, suggested “the transmission to London of the most proficient pupils, for the observation of Medical Institutions in Europe, and attain diplomas.”[78]
Post-Examination Evaluation of the CMC
Before going deeper into this issue one important achievement by a CMC student can be cited here. “Ramnarain Doss (Ramnarayan Das), a student of the Medical College” who treated a boy with “severe concussion of the brain’ and operated on the boy by the methods available then to him to restore the boy to consciousness, and ultimately to health.[79] It was the “first triumph of the Medical College and must be gratifying to the Professors”.[80] Ramnarayan Dass’s feat was fully described in the British and Foreign Medical Review under the title “A case of concussion of the brain”.[81]
In his letter to H. T. Prinsep, Secretary to the Govt. of India, T. A. Wise, secretary of the GCPI, elaborated on the pre-examination teaching at the CMC – “Each candidate had thus attended three courses of anatomy and physiology, two actual dissection, three of chemistry, one of natural philosophy, two of material medica, two of the practice of physic, and two of general and medical botany, two of the principles and practice of surgery, and one of operative surgery.”[82] Then he detailed on superiority of surgery at the CMC over that of the NMI – about how a patient with a big abscess on the hip joint and a lady after miscarriage were described. Interestingly, here the term “native doctoress” was used.[83] What does the word signify actually? Does mean a dai or any lady doctor of any kind? We do not have any clue to this puzzle. The part of the report containing the word “native doctors” is given below.
It was clearly stated by “the Supreme Government” that though these students had passed through “a very rigid examination” with “diligent application, as well as by the exertion of uncommon ability”, their period of study was less than four years and, hence, should undergo “six months’ probation” to attain the proper degree.[84]
However, the report specifically made it clear that if they student of the CMC had been sent to England for the study of European Medical Science
The young men would learn to think in English, and it is probable that their return thus superiorly qualified could direct the attention of the natives to England, as the best place for obtaining substantial and polished education. The salutary separation of these students from their present habits; their observation of the world under circumstances different from what they have been accustomed to; and their contemplation of the position which the profession they seek to acquire, holds in Europe would tend to form their characters, and give them one of feeling, sentiment, principle and demeanour which it were in vain to expect of imparting here.[85]
They were certain that in this way Macaulay’s dream must come true. Moreover, without hesitation, the report claimed, “The result has proved beyond cavil that the Hindus by proper management may be reconciled to a course of tuition, utterly at variance with his preconceived notions, his prejudices, and his superstitions. It has proved that in capacity of acquirement the Hindus in no way inferior to the Europeans.”[86] And, “It has proved that what holds in other countries, also governs the mind in India, and that the enumeration of educated and uneducated labour must always differ in the ratio of enlightenment, and the claims which knowledge has to a higher rate of wages.”[87]
As a result of all these factors intersecting one another, medical graduates had a secure place in the cities and in the employment world. Education was meaningful in its truest sense to earn. It is tempting here to learn what was an American observation regarding Indian medical graduates and Indian education as well, which is debatable no doubt.
The Indian medical graduate fails to find in the villages an opening similar to that existing in the American rural and village sections. The Indian landed class does not ordinarily send its sons to the University, where they could come in contact with their fellows from the professional and commercial classes, and be moulded by the current social reform movements. Instead these youths, who are later to control the lives of the ryots on their vast estates … One is safe in saying that in India there is almost a complete absence of honorary services and personal interest in educational activities by the wealthier and educated classes, who in America have done so much to foster public education.[88]
In the previous GCPI (1839) report it was specifically mentioned for the first of any kind residential education in any educational institution in India. It reported, “In the propriety of allowing stipends, the Sub-Committee did not concur, but intimated that it was disposed to erect accommodation for the lodging of extra pupils who might be candidates for instruction” and “disposed, however, to allow benefit of. It is free lodging”[89] Specifically speaking, it is stimulating to mention that at that time besides students from Indian Hindu, Muslim and Anglo-Indian community, a number of students belonging to the Armeninan community and from Burma (Myanmar) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) would come to study at the CMC – “Six pupils have arrived at the Medical College from Ceylon. These youths are of European descent, and have received and excellent preliminary education; they are lodged boarded at the College, at the expense of the Government … Another will follow in May next…”[90]
I mentioned above about a medical student Ramanarayan Das’s skill in saving the life of a patient suffering from concussion of brain. Following the patient’s successful recovery European mode of surgery and medicine gained popularity, as can be obviously seen, among Indian people. Das’s skill was further detailed later in the Asiatic Journal.
A native youth, of about twenty, named Radhanath Doss, fell from the verandah of his father’s house, and was apparently killed by the fall. The Cobirajes were sent for, and gave their decree … A charpoy was ready … when Ramnarain Doss, a student of the Medical College, arrived; concluded that there had been a concussion of the brain. The patient was bled by him, and in a few hours, so far recovered, that he could speak; and has since, gradually, got quite well. The occurrence not only shows the benefits conferred by the Medical College, but will tend to loosen the prejudices of the natives generally.[91]
Another incident of importance was the recovery of a rich and influential Parsee havingr undergone European surgery – “Hormasjee Bhicajee, a respectable native merchant and ship-builder, was induced to lay aside prejudice, and submit to the operation of lithotomy performed by Dr. Fogerty … The result of this and other operations has led us to the conclusion, that the natives of the country are daily becoming more and more alive to the benefit derived from the employment of European skill in the treatment of disease.”[92]
Historian C. A. Bayly has commented relevant to colonial medical practice, ““Physicians were, in addition, important information gatherers for the state.”[93] Further, he observed, “The conquerors needed to reach into and manipulate indigenous systems of communication in new colonies.”[94]
It is important to to note at this point, as Bayly observes, medical professionals became a part of information gathering in colonial India. Bio-surveillance and bio-governance, as we can see from innumerable invaluable papers and books of Foucault and others, actually began to take shape increasingly in Europe from late 18th century.
The same process seems to take shape along with the firm establishment, victory and ramifications of European medicine in India, which is sometimes coterminous with the foundation of the CMC and the rise of hospital medicine in India.
[1] Crawford, History, vol. 2, 436.
[2] GCPI, 1839, 77.
[3] Ibid, 78.
[4] O. P. Jaggi, Medicine in India: Modern period (2011), 48.
[5] “The Medical College”, Calcutta Monthly Journal 1839, 3rd Series (Vol. 5): 84.
[6] Ibid.
[7] GCPI, 1837, (Appendix, No. 8): 163-167.
[8] Ibid, 164.
[9] The Calcutta Monthly Journal for the Month of June 1839, Third Series, vol. 5 (XV): 320.
[10] “General Register. Government Notifications &c.”, Ibid, 81.
[11] Third Report of the Committee Appointed by the Right Honourable the Governor of Bengal for the Establishment of Fever Hospital, and for Inquiring into Local Management and Taxation in Calcutta (1847), 30.
[12] Ibid, 30.
[13] The India Journal of Medical and Physical Science, ed. Frederick Corbyn, New Series 1836 (1): 187.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ibid.
[18] For a detailed study on this issue see, Jayanta Bhattacharya, “Anatomical Knowledge and East-West Exchange”, in Medical Encounters in British India, ed. by Deepak Kumar and Raj Sekhar Basu (Oxford University Press, 2013), 40-60 (46).
[19] India Journal of Medical and Physical Science (1836): 188.
[20] Ibid, 189.
[21] Mel Gorman, “Introduction of Western Science into Colonial India: Role of the Calcutta Medical College,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 132. 3 (Sep., 1988): 276-298 (293).
[22] “Native Education,” Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register 23 – New Series.39 (May-August 1837): 12-14 (12).
[23] “Native Medical College”, Calcutta Monthly Journal and General Register of Occurrences throughout the British Dominions in the East Forming an Epitome of the Indian Press. For the Year 1837, Third Series, II (1836): 75-76 (75).
[24] “Medical and Physical Society,” Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register, October 1837, 24 (New Series.94): 64.
[25] O’Bryen Bellingham, Observations on Aneurism, and its Treatment by Compression (London: John Churchill, 1847), 101.
[26] Parbury’s Oriental Herald and Colonial Intelligencer 1.1 (1837): 20.
[27] “The Quarterly Journal of the Calcutta Medical and Physical Society,” Calcutta Monthly Journal, Third Series, III (1837): 16.
[28] India Journal of Medical and Physical Science, May 1, 1836 (vol. 1. New Series No. V): 225-232 (231).
[29] Ibid, 231.
[30] O’Shaughnessy, Manual of Chemistry, Arranged for Native, General and Medical Students, and the Subordinate Medical Department of the Service, 2nd edition (Calcutta, 1842), xxiii.
[31] Ibid, xxiii.
[32] For further nice discussion on this issue see, David Arnold, Toxic Histories: Poison and Pollution in Modern India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016).
[33] David Arnold, Toxic Histories: Poison and Pollution in Modern India (2016), 51.
[34] Ibid.
[35] W. B. O’Shaughnessy, “Proposal of a Kind of Treating the Blue Epidemic Cholera by the Injection of Highly-Oxygenated Salt into the Venous System,” Lancet 1 (1831-32): 366-371.
[36] “Medical and Physical Society,” Calcutta Monthly Journal (August 1836): 312-13.
[37] Ibid, 313
[38] “Medical and Physical Society”, Calcutta Monthly Journal (August 1836): 312-13 (313).
[39] Ibid, 313.
[40] O’Shaughnessy, “On the Preparation of the Indian Hemp, or Gunjah,” Provincial Medical Journal and Retrospect of the Medical Sciences 6.123 (1843): 363-69; Mel Gorman,” Sir William Brooke O’Shaughnessy, F.R.S. (1809-1889), Anglo-Indian Forensic Chemist,” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 39.1 (Sep., 1984): 51- 64; M. Adams, Memoir of Surgeon-Major Sir O’Shaughnessy Brooke in Connection with the Early History of Telegraph in India (Simla: Government Central Printing Press, 1889); Deep Kanta Lahiri Choudhury, “‘Beyond the reach of monkeys and men’’? O’Shaughnessy and the telegraph in India c. 1836-56,” Indian Economic and Social History Review 37.3 (2000): 331-359.
[41] “Native Medical College”, Calcutta Monthly Journal, Third Series, April 1836 (vol. 2): 107-109 (107)
[42] “Introductory Address delivered at the opening of of the Calcutta Medical College, March 17, 1836”, Calcutta Monthly Journal for the year 1836, Third Series (May, vol. II): 1-7 (6)
[43] India Journal of Medical and Physical Science, May 1, 1836 (vol. 1. New Series No. VII): 336-343.
[44] Ibid, 338.
[45] Ibid, 340.
[46] India Journal of Medical and Physical Science, May 1, 1836 – New Series, vol. 1. (No. V): 225-232.
[47] Ibid, 225.
[48] Ibid, 227.
[49] Ibid, 227-228.
[50] Ibid, 228.
[51] “Surgeons in India – Past and Present,” Calcutta Review 1854, 23 (45): 217-254, quotation on 250.
[52] “Hindu Medicine and Medical Education”, Calcutta Review 1866, 42 (83): 106-125, quotation on 120-121.
[53] India Journal of Medical and Physical Science, May 1, 1836 – New Series, vol. 1. (No. V): 225-232.(232).
[54] Mel Gorman, “Introduction of Western Science into Colonial India”, 293.
[55] India Journal of Medical and Physical Science, May 1, 1836 (vol. 1. New Series No. V): 232.
[56] Ibid, 232.
[57] “Lord Auckland’s Fifth Scientic Party,” India Review and Journal of Foreign Science and Arts, 1 (1837), p. 671. [Emphasis added]
[58] India Journal of Medical and Physical Science, May 1, 1836 (vol. 1. New Series No. V): 231.
[59] Ibid. [Italics in original]
[60] Ibid.
[61] Ibid, 231.
[62] Ibid, 231.
[63] Calcutta Monthly Journal 1838, (August, No. XLV): 387-388 (387).
[64] “On Narcotine as a Substitute for Quinine in Intermittent Fever by Dr. O’Shaughnessy,” Lancet, 2 (1839), 606-607.
[65] “On Narcotine as a Substitute for Quinine in Intermittent Fever by Dr. O’Shaughnessy,” Lancet, July20 (1839): 606-607.
[66] “Materia Medica and General Therapeutics”, The American journal of the Medical Sciences XXV (1839): 191-205 (195).
[67] Ibid, 195.
[68] Ibid, 195.
[69] Calcutta Monthly Journal 1838, (August, No. XLV): 387.
[70] Lancet, July20 (1839): 606-607.
[71] “New Church – Proselytism”, The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and Its Dependencies 1838, New Series 27 (107): 140-141 (140)
[72] “The New Church,” Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China, and Australasia (New Series) 27.108 (December 1838): 278-279. The journal commented – “The church, it now appears, is to be erected one mile from the college.” – p. 279
[73] Ibid, p. 278.
[74] Ibid, p. 279. The Asiatic Journal observed the act – “be regarded as one intended for proselytism”. – p. 140. [Emphasis added in all cases]
[75] GCPI (1939), 58.
[76] Ibid, 58-59.
[77] Ibid, 60.
[78] Ibid.
[79] “Medical Student’s Skill,” Calcutta Monthly Journal, Third Series – 1839, 5 (52): 171.
[80] Ibid, 171.
[81] “Half-yearly Reports of the Government Charitable Dispensaries established in the Bengal and North-Western Province, from 1st August 1840, to 31st January 1842,” British and Foreign Medical Review 19 (January-April 1845): 72-78 (76).
[82] GCPI, 1839, Appendix, 72.
[83] Ibid, 82, note. 3.
[84] Ibid, 77.
[85] Ibid, 93-94.
[86] Ibid, 95.
[87] Ibid, 95.
[88] George Allen Odgers, “Education in India”, The Phi Delta Kappan, Oct. 1925, 8 (2): 1-6 (3-4).
[89] GCPI (1839), Appendix, 89.
[90] “Excerpta”, The Asiatic Journal, January-April, 1839 (vol. XXVIII – New Series): 264-265 (265).
[91] “Native Medical Students’’, Asiatic Journal, August 1839, 29 (116): 249.
[92] “Excerpta”, Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register, New Series – November 1838, 27 (107):162.
[93] C. A. Bayly, Empire & Information: Intelligence gathering and social communication in India, 1780-1870 (2007), 265.
[94] Ibid, 6.
Interesting facts
Fantastic collection of authentic processes of the past.
Very well researched.
Thank you