the utmost benefit; and we conclude the subject by extracting the following remarks from Major Candy's late report: "I would now congratulate the Board on the prospect of usefulness with which the new institution will open. Founded, as it is, by the wisdom of the Board, and, through the liberality of Government, on a broad and comprehensive basis, and furnished with ample provision for the communication of the treasures of English literature and science, for the culture and improvement of the vernacular language of the Deccan and Concan, and for the preservation, study, and practical use of the ancient classical language of India-the venerable Sanskrit, and with a normal department annexed to secure a supply of good schoolmasters, the new College promises to be of great public benefit. May the hopes and expectations of the Board and of Government respecting it be fully realized! To my own mind there are no features of the new College more interesting, or giving greater promise of good, than its vernacular and normal departments. Estimating most highly, as I do, the value and importance of English as a means for the intellectual and moral improvement of India, I yet cannot but see that the masses of its population must be educated through their vernacular tongue. I rejoice, therefore, that through the endowment of a vernacular professorship, of vernacular translation exhibitions, and of normal scholarships, such excellent provision has been made for the improvement of the vernacular tongue of this part of India, for enriching it with translated stores from the English, and for qualifying schoolmasters to use it as a medium for educating their countrymen." GRANT MEDICAL COLLEGE. SESSION 1850-51. Establishment of Professors on 30th April 1851. C. MOREHEAD, Esq., M. D., Principal, and Professor of the JOHN PEET, Esq., Professor of Anatomy and Surgery. R. HAINES, M. D., Acting ditto. R. D. PEELE, Esq., Officiating Professor of Midwifery. W. C. COLES, M. D., Officiating Professor of Medical Jurisprudence. 109. The 5th session commenced on the 15th June last, and was attended throughout by 33 regular students and 15 student apprentices, making a total of 48. On the 12th ultimo, 20 fresh candidates for admission presented themselves, and of this number 9 were found qualified. The 6th session commences on the 15th proximo. 110. In our report of the Elphinstone Institution we had occasion to express our regret at the loss, for a time, of Dr. Giraud's services, as professor of Chemistry and Botany, owing to the impaired state of his health, which rendered a change to the Neilgherry Hills necessary towards the close of the session. In this Institution, as well as at the former one, he has been succeeded temporarily by Dr. Haines. 111. We had the honor, in May last, to submit to your Lordship in Council the annual report by the Superintendent of this College for the session of 1849-50. We now beg to submit Dr. Morehead's report for the session of 1850-51; and in doing so we would remark that we have considered it advisable to change the non-academical term of "Superintendent" for the more appropriate and academical title of Principal. 112. We have repeatedly brought to the notice of your Lordship's Government that the progress of this College has, at all times, afforded us the most unmixed satisfaction. From the first moment of its establishment, at the close of 1845, it has been making its way under the happiest auspices; and though surrounded by difficulties of no slight or ordinary nature, it has successfully surmounted them all, and has lately produced its first-fruits, by giving to the Natives of Western India eight of its earliest graduates. This first examination for diplomas is the most important event of the year; and we cannot allude to it without bearing testimony to the unwearied efforts of all the professors, and to that soundness of judgment which has characterised the Principal in all his arrangements for so many years. 113. The examination was conducted by our colleague, Dr. McLennan, specially nominated by Government as examiner, assisted by Surgeon M. Stovell, Surgeon W. Watkins, and Assistant Surgeon W. Campbell, as assessors. The character and course of the proceedings will be found amply detailed in the report of the examiner addressed to your Lordship in Council. This report, and the reply from Government, will be found in Appendix No. 7. The result was the granting of diplomas to eight graduates, on the 15th ultimo, and six of these have since been nominated by Government Sub-Assistant Surgeons, thus carrying out practically the sanction of the Hon'ble the Court of Directors to the addition of this new class of officers to the medical establishment of this Presidency, for the express and sole benefit of the native community. 114. The report by the Principal enters so fully and minutely into all subjects connected with the College that it seems quite unnecessary for us to make any further remarks, excepting on one or two points. The first and the most pressing is the state of the two important branches of Midwifery and Medical Jurisprudence. In our last report we brought this subject prominently to your Lordship's notice, and we pointed out that not having received the sanction of the Hon'ble the Court of Directors for the establishment of professorships of these branches, instruction in them must of necessity have been omitted, had it not been for the professional zeal of Assistant Surgeons Peele and Coles, who volunteered their services, the former as Professor of Midwifery, the latter of Medical Jurisprudence. These gentlemen have now continued their unremunerated labors through two whole sessions, and the Principal says truly in his report, that "had it not been for their zeal and generosity, the advanced students could not have been qualified to present themselves for the diploma examination, and the object for which the College was endowed would have remained unaccomplished." We brought the subject very fully to your Lordship's notice in August last; and we would beg to be allowed once more to press the subject on your attention. At the same time we have the most perfect confidence that the subject will soon be satisfactorily set at rest, for the Hon'ble the Court of Directors have proved the deep interest they take in the cause of Native medical education, by liberally sanctioning every arrangement that had previously been proposed. In the mean time we would beg again to offer our warm acknowledgements to these two officers for the valuable assistance they have afforded. 115. We would at the same time take this opportunity of alluding to another subject, which we have on former occasions brought forward, viz. the necessity of appointing a Curator to the Museum. This very important department of a medical school is in an unsatisfactory state in this College, and is so of necessity, for each professor's time is so fully occupied that he has no leisure for the preparation and arrangement of specimens of either morbid or normal structure. The subject was brought forward prominently in a Minute by our colleague, Dr. McLennan, which we submitted to your Lordship in Council in August 1848. 116. There is one remaining subject which we now beg to bring forward, for the first time. It originates in a valuable suggestion by Dr. Morehead in his late report. He says, "It is most expedient that instruction in Medical Jurisprudence, as in all other branches of medical education, should, as far as possible, be practical in its nature; and the means of making it so in Bombay are singularly favorable. If the Professor of Medical Jurisprudence was at the same time Surgeon to the Coroner, the Police, the Jail, and House of Correction, and had charge of the cases in the Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy Hospital which involved judicial inquiry, he would have at his command an amount and variety of practical instruction in Medical Jurisprudence and Police, unequalled, I believe, in the same department of any existing medical school." Fully concurring in the soundness of these views, we beg to take the earliest opportunity of bringing them to your Lordship's favorable consideration, in the hope that it may be in the power of Government to make arrangements for effecting this most desirable combination of duties. NATIVE LIBRARIES. 117. During the period now under review, an impulse has been given to the formation of Native libraries in some of the principal zillah towns of this Presidency. The first effort in this direction appears to have been made by Captain French, who succeeded in forming a Native library at Ahmednuggur, as far back as 1838. It was afterwards closed from want of support, but in 1847 it was revived; and it now appears to be in a promising condition. The next effort was made at Baroda by the same officer, in 1849. Subsequently the subject came under our consideration, and we recommended to your Lordship's Government that Native libraries should be encouraged as much as possible. It appeared evident to us that unless these institutions were generally established, our plans for the diffusion of knowledge would be incomplete, as the education of the youths brought up in our schools would otherwise cease on their quitting them. Native libraries, therefore, appeared to us essential aids in the promotion of the cause placed in our hands. We were then requested by your Lordship's Government to state our opinions as to the best method of assisting in their establishment, but we were at the same time reminded that the contributions of Government to Native education were limited to the amount of the annual grant specifically devoted to the purpose. |