was prominently advocated in our plan for improving the condition of Sub-Assistant Surgeons, by advancing them after special periods of service to higher grades of salary." The absence of a

Museum of Materia Medica.

proper collection of specimens in the Museum of Materia Medica was brought to the notice of Government, with a request that a complete and assorted cabinet might be obtained from the Apothecaries' Company through the Honorable Court of Directors, of drugs used in Europe, and means be taken to secure specimens of indigenous medicines, in sufficient quantities to admit of their properties and uses being subjected to practical examination. Both requests were complied with, and the necessary instructions issued. A Manual of Materia Medica and Pharmacy in Hindustani is under preparation by Dr. William Yates, Vernacular and one of Anatomy, by Dr. Mouat, is also in the press. The latter is to consist of seven parts, each complete in itself, and to be illustrated throughout by Mr. Grant, with marginal drawings containing numerical references to the structures exhibited. It will comprise a complete treatise on the general anatomy of the tissues,—transfated from the last edition of Quain's Anatomy by Sharpey and R. Quain-the bones and ligaments, the muscular, vascular, and nervous systems, the organs of sense and voice, and the viscera of the thorax, abdomen, and pelvis.

Class Books.

The fifth part, containing the brain and nervous system is ready, and the others will issue from the press as rapidly as can be accomplished in the many difficulties inseparable from such an undertaking in this country.

The third and fourth Fasciculi of Dr. Mouat's Atlas of Anatomy, containing the brain and nervous system, with the organs of sense and voice, were published during the past year, the concluding portion of the work is in the press, and will probably be completed within the next six months.

Mr. Daly, Superintendent of the Out-door Dispensary, Out-door Dis- furnished the following report of his pensary Report. department.

"During the past year there have been 40 students of the Military class employed at the Out-door Dispensary as compounders and dressers, for periods varying from two to four months according to the roster of duty. Of this number three have been discharged for misconduct and inattention, one became insane and has been transferred to the Lunatic Asylum, and 22 have been permitted to go up for final examination as qualified for the public service, 14 have been remanded for another year, not having completed the prescribed period of study at the College.

"The general conduct of these lads during the year has been, with a few exceptions, very satisfactory. In addition to the routine of duties detailed in last year's report, they have been kept in daily attendance in the wards of the Hospital during the visiting hours of the Professors of Surgery and Medicine, and had the clinical lectures of each duly explained to them. Advantage was also taken of every suitable occasion, to direct their attention to the symptoms and treatment of every remarkable case in Hospital.

"All the minor surgical operations at the Out-door Dispensary have been performed by them under my own immediate superintendence, and a reference to the return will show that they have been sufficiently numerous and varied, to afford the class a very fair amount of practical instruction."

In consequence of the great difficulty of procuring qualified

Major Bogle's proposal for supplying the province of Arracan with Native Doctors.

Native Doctors to serve in the province of Arracan, it was suggested by the Medical Board that some Natives of the province should be specially educated at the Medical College for employment in the hospitals of their native country. Upon this proposal the following report was submitted to Government by Major A. Bogle, Commissioner of Arracan :

"I beg to observe that this is a plan which I have long had much at heart, and that there are now two young men at the Medical College, one of whom was placed there by me through Dr. Mouat's kindness, nearly two years ago, and the other very recently—and I would long since have increased the number could I have induced more to go so far from their homes, as Calcutta, for any length of time, but they generally object to a protracted absence.

"I am now of opinion that it is most desirable to endeavour to follow out the plan proposed by the Medical Board, and since the receipt of Mr. Grey's letter, I have been searching for youths, who may be inclined to proceed to the Presidency and study at the College, but as yet, even with Government support, I have only been able to hear of three, and for their subsistence some arrangement must first of all be made.

"One great difficulty is now to find lads who can read and write Hindostanee sufficiently well to qualify them for admission to the Native Medical class, although there is no scarcity of those who can speak it; and it was in a great measure with a view to the qualifying of youths of Arracan for entrance at the Medical College, as well as to open to them very many other advantages, that I have always advocated the maintenance of an Oordoo class in our Provincial Schools, from whence students wishing to proceed to Calcutta might be draughted. The length of time which Natives of this province must remain at the Presidency to qualify them for the medical profession is, as I have already noticed, a great obstacle to their going so far away. If to this time is added that which must be devoted to the study of Oordoo, the prospect of their patience being exhausted is augmented, and those who, if previously instructed in Oordoo here, would probably remain at the Medical College long enough to complete a course of study, are not unlikely to give it up too soon, and return to this only half taught.

"The plan I would now pursue is to offer to ten or twelve youths of intelligence, who may be selected as students, five rupees a month for the first year that they are in Calcutta, eight rupees for the second year, and ten rupees per mensem for the third, with free passage in a Steamer up and down; and they should, at the time of selection, be informed that as soon as they are qualified they will be appointed in rotation to whichever Medical situation in the province they may prefer, on a salary of not less than twenty rupees per mensem.

"Should His Honor approve of this plan, it will afford me very great pleasure to put it in operation, and to forward to the Medical College such lads as may be disposed to go, but unless a distinct rule for their care and subsistence is previously laid down, it is not likely that parents will be induced to permit them to quit the province.

"If the measure succeeds, and is hereafter placed on a wider basis, I conceive that it may be attended with inestimable benefits to this province, and the present inefficient condition of the Native Medical Establishment under my authority, would indicate the absolute necessity of adopting some plan wholly different from that which has hitherto been depended on for the supply of Native Doctors."

This plan was submitted to the Council of Education for report, and its adoption was recommended by that body as soon as suitable accommodations can be provided for the lads within the precincts of the College.

A similar experiment upon the same scale is now being carried into effect to supply the province of Assam with Native Doctors, who have been sent down for education by Major Jenkins. In this case the usual preliminary examinations were dispensed with, and although they are not likely, from their limited acquaintance with Hindustani, to pass first rate examinations, there is every reason to believe that they will turn out efficient Native Doctors, and pave the way for the ultimate introduction of a better educated class of men for such appointments.

It is believed that Native Doctors, educated upon a similar plan, are required for service in other parts of India, independently of those attached to the army; the Rajputana States, for instance, would probably furnish candidates for employment in the service of the various independent chiefs in that part of Hindustan. The Council, therefore, in connection with Major Bogle's proposal, solicited the attention of the Government of India to the subject of supplying the existing wants of all parts of the country in this respect. During the past year the following extract from a minute by the Hon'ble Sir T. Herbert Maddock, Deputy Governor of Bengal, was submitted to the Council for report. It relates to the best means

Encouragement to students of the Upper Provinces to study in the Medical College.

of encouraging students from distant parts of the country to enter the Medical College:

"What I should most rejoice to see as the means of increasing and extending the usefulness of the Medical College of Calcutta, is such an encouragement to students from distant parts of the country to become candidates for admission, as might lead to many youths from Upper India sharing in the benefits of the professional education here only in India to be obtained. And it appears to me that for this purpose, youths might be examined in the Colleges of Delhi, Agra, Lucknow, and Benares, in the same books and on the same subjects as are the test in Calcutta, and that their examination papers being submitted to the Council of Education, and subjected to scrutiny and comparison with the examination papers of youths educated in Calcutta, the vacant studentships should be distributed according to merit, without any reference to the place of education of any party in the competition."

The Council suggested the attachment of a special scholarship to each Mofussil institution, tenable for five years in the Medical College,-subject to the reports of progress being favorable as the most eligible means of attracting pupils from distant parts of the country. They did not, however, in existing circumstances, deem even this measure likely to be attended with any great degree of success. In fact, so long as the demand for educated natives in other departments, and the emoluments obtained without professional study continue to be superior to any inducements that can be held out in connection with the medical profession, it is hopeless to expect that young men of extended acquirements will voluntarily undergo the severe course of five years' professional study required, before they can start in life on their own account.

In connection with this subject, the Hon. Mr. Thomason, The Hon. Mr. Thomason's Lieut. Governor of Agra, Circular to the Agra, Delhi, issued the subjoined circular and Benares Colleges. to the Local Committees of Public Instruction at Agra, Delhi, and Benares, offering suitable terms to the holders of Senior Scholarships, who might be willing and qualified to proceed to Calcutta for the purpose of studying medicine:

"The Lieutenant Governor is desirous of doing all that is in his power to promote the resort of educated Natives from the N. W. P. to the Medical College in Calcutta, in order to qualify themselves for the situation of Sub-Assistant Surgeons.

"The Council of Education at the Presidency have lately suggested with a view to this object, that a scholarship should be devoted in each of the Colleges in these provinces, to the purpose in question.

"The Committee are consequently authorized to make the following offer to the present holders of Senior English Scholarships in the College,

as well as to those who may hereafter obtain stipends of that description. If any sufficiently qualified senior scholar is willing to proceed to Calcutta for the purpose of studying medicine in the Medical College at that place, he will be allowed to retain his stipend while so employed, in addition to the usual allowance to the medical student in the College, and for the term of three years from the time of his entry. If at the end of that term, the Council of Education should see cause to recommend that a further period of study be allowed, the continuance of the stipend will be sanctioned for two additional years.

"It must be understood that the indulgence thus offered is conditional upon the progress which the student may make in his new pursuit while in Calcutta. If at any time the Council of Education should see cause to recommend his removal from the Medical College, he will be allowed a sufficient period for his return to his native zillah, and after the expiration of that period his allowance will cease.

"No more than one scholar can at present be allowed these advantages from each College. But if the Committee should find that more are desirous of being admitted to them, they will be pleased to bring the fact to the notice of Government.

"A copy of this letter will be forwarded to the Council of the Medical College, with whom the Committee will be pleased to communicate regarding any candidates who may offer themselves."

Similar proposals were issued to the Hindu, Hooghly, Dacca, and Kishnaghur Colleges, but as yet without effect. In the appendix will be found the general orders, published European Subor- by the Honorable the President in dinate Medical De- Council in the Calcutta Gazette of partment. the 26th June last, containing the terms on which the pupils of the European Subordinate Medical Department are to study in the Medical College.

The College Council was directed to draw up a code of regulations for the students in question, with special reference to their military character and to their future position in the public service, in order that they might not acquire in the institution, those habits of irregularity, dissipation, and insubordination, which the Government of Ceylon complained of, as having rendered some of their subordinate medical officers useless, when drafted to the public service.

The rules drawn up and sanctioned by Government are also contained in Appendix C. In all matters relating to internal economy and discipline, they are placed under the sole military control and superintendence of the Secretary to the Medical College, aided by an European Staff Serjeant from the corps of Artillery, placed at the disposal of that officer by His Excellency the Right Honorable the Commander in Chief.