Official report on the medical topography and climate of Calcutta : with brief notices of its prevalent diseases, endemic and epidemic / by James Ranald Martin.

Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Official report on the medical topography and climate of Calcutta : with brief notices of its prevalent diseases, endemic and epidemic / by James Ranald Martin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    Epitaph found on the tombstone of Mr. Hamilton. But little known relating to Calcutta for many years af- ter Mr. Charnoek’s death. munificence, promised to grant any other favor he should ask. Mr. Hamilton, instead of requesting any further reward for himself, besought his Majesty to concede to the English Ambassadors the object of their Mis- sion. The Emperor surpised at Mr. Hamilton’s disinterestedness, pro- mised that as soon as the marriage ceremonies were over, he should take the petition into his serious consideration, and grant the English every indulgence he could, consistent with the dignity of his own Empire.” Thus after a short time, and despite a powerful opposition, was con- firmed to the British the possession of thirty-eight villages; in short, just as the Embassy was about to return hopeless of success, the noble conduct of Hamilton procured for his countrymen the realization of their best hopes, and laid the foundation of that Empire which ere long was destined to extend to the Himala mountains. In clearing away the ground for the foundation of St. John’s Church in Calcutta, upwards of forty years ago, the tombstone of Mr. Hamilton was discovered, which, in addition to an English epitaph, bore a Persian inscription thus translated by Gladwin :—“ William Hamilton, Physician in the service of the English Company, who had accompanied the English Ambassador to the enlightened presence, and having made his own name famous in the four quarters of the earth by the cure of the Emperor, the Asylum of the World, Mohammed Feroksheer the victo- rious ; and with a thousand difficulties, having obtained permission from the Court, which is the refuge of the universe, to return to his country ; by the Divine decree, on the 4th of December, 1717, died in Calcutta, and is buried here.” “ For the honor of the faculty,” says Mr. Hickey, “ be it remember- ed, that this is the second time the Honorable Company were eminently served by that learned body. The memory of Boughton and of Hamilton ought to be a standing toast at the polite tables of Calcutta.” For many years from the death of Job Charnock, little is known of the progress made in his Emporium; indeed in 1717 it remained but a straggling village of mat houses, the whole of the ground south of Cliand- paul Ghaut being thickly covered with jungle and forest trees. Near Tolly’s Nullah there were two villages, the inhabitants of which were