on the 8th of July, to the Secretary of the Institute, and in reply he received the following agreeable intelligence : MONSIEUR, Paris, le 21 Juillet, 1846. J'ai reçu votre lettre, en date du 8 de ce mois, et je m'empresse de vous répondre que l'Académie vous a décerné, en effet, une médaille de la valeur de mille francs, à titre d'encouragement pour les importantes recherches que vous avez recueilles dans l'Inde, sur le Cholera. Je suis très heureux, Monsieur, de cette occasion que vous m'offrez, et que je cherchais depuis longtemps en vain (à cause de votre sejour dans l'Inde), de vous transmettre l'expression de la haute estime que vos respectables travaux ont inspirée à l'Académie. Je joins ici, Monsieur, mes felicitations personelles, et l'assurance de ma considération la plus distinguée. A Monsieur le Dr. Annesley, à Londres. FLOURENS, Secrétaire perpétuel de l'Académie pour les Sciences Naturelles. The length of time that had elapsed since the award of the Institute had been made, however, occasioned difficulties with respect to the attainment of the medal; and the following letter arrived in London too late to be seen by him to whom it was addressed. It is, however, satisfactory to be able to place it here upon record as the determination of the Academy. MONSIEUR, Paris, le 6 Decembre, 1847. Je m'empresse de vous informer que, par une déliberation récente, de l'Académie vient de décider que la récompense qui vous a été accordée en 1833, pour les importantes observations que vous avez recueillies dans l'Inde sur le Cholera, se trouve dès ce moment, à votre disposition. Nous n'avez, Monsieur, qu'à le faire réclamer au Secrétaire de l'Académie; elle est de mille francs. Permittez, Monsieur, que je vous renouvelle mes felicitations personelles et l'expression de ma haute considération. A Monsieur le Dr. Annesley, à Londres. FLOURENS. In the second part of the work, of which the first portion is devoted to the all-important subject of Cholera, as just detailed, Mr. Annesley has given Topographical and Statistical Reports of the Diseases most prevalent in the different stations and divisions of the Army under the Madras Presidency. These reports show the prevalence of certain diseases at different periods of the year in each division of the army, the treatment required, and the mortality during certain periods. To these are added, observations on the nature of the climate, and on the comparative effects of the disease upon the constitutions of the Europeans, and the natives of the same military class, subject to the same duties, and exposed to similar vicissitudes. To take the lead in an inquiry of this importance is a matter which deserves high praise-that merit is due to Mr. Annesley. He very properly directed attention to this subject, and urged the necessity of the attempt, upon a large scale, by those who had long had possession of the necessary documents. This appeal was not made in vain.* The ever active mind of Sir James M'Grigor, and his devotion to the service over which he presided, has been proved by the publication of a series of the most important documents of this description that have ever been put forth. Medical officers, upon arriving in a country, to the climate of which they have been personally strangers, will henceforth be enabled to acquire that information upon which a knowledge of disease, and the necessary modes of treatment, must be founded. To Mr. Annesley great praise is due for his attempts to supply the deficiency of which he was so early sensible. The third part of Mr. Annesley's book consists of Practical Observations on the effects of Calomel on the mucous surface and secretions of the Alimentary Canal; and on the use of this Remedy in Disease, more particularly in the Diseases of India. Mr. Annesley set out with a proposition that will See Memoir of Sir James M'Grigor in the Fourth Volume of my "Medical Portrait Gallery." startle many practitioners in this country. He says "When the use of calomel is clearly indicated, it is most beneficial in large doses, generally at not less than twenty-four hours between the administration of each dose." He has quoted, however, largely from ancient authors in confirmation of the propriety and efficacy of his practice; and enlists under his banners the names of Horstius, Sylvius, Wepfer, Freind, Schroder, Juncker, and Geoffroy. Considering the length of time calomel has been employed, and the frequency with which it has been administered, it is not a little remarkable that no experiments should have been made to ascertain the direct effects produced by it upon the intestinal surfaces, and the secretions which emanate from them. Mr. Annesley directed his views to this subject, and by a series of wellcontrived experiments and investigations, clearly demonstrated that the effect of calomel, in large doses, is to diminish the vascularity of the stomach and alimentary canal. In this work he gave drawings of the stomach of the dog, in its healthy condition, when the internal surface exhibits an uniform high red colour; and after a large dose of calomel had been given, when the intensity of the colour is much diminished. It shows the power of the medicine to abate vascular action, and to allay the irritability of the stomach and intestines. Mr. Annesley acknowledged his practice of administering scruple doses of calomel to have arisen from a perusal of the valuable work of the late Dr. James Johnson on tropical diseases; and he employed them with such manifest advantage in some cases of advanced dysentery, that he determined to try their efficacy in other acute diseases common in India, and accompanied with great excitement and irritability of the stomach. He largely adopted this plan for a great number of years; and he assured me, towards the close of his useful life, that his confidence in its propriety had not in the slightest degree abated. The account I have now given of Mr. Annesley's work will have prepared the reader to expect, in a larger publication, a more extended and comprehensive view of the diseases of warm climates generally. In these expectations he will not be disappointed. In 1828, Mr. Annesley published two large quarto volumes, consisting of upwards of 1400 pages: Researches into the Causes, Nature, and Treatment of the more Prevalent Diseases of India, and of Warm Climates generally. The work is illustrated by Forty coloured engravings,* in which are represented all the various appearances offered in a morbid condition of the structure of the parts affected. Admirable as this work is, both in arrangement and execution, and enriched as it is by physiological inquiries of the deepest interest, and cases of the first practical importance, I could not help expressing my regret that it should not have been condensed into a smaller compass. Its utility, I contended, would thereby be greatly increased, and an expenditure both of money and time averted. It appeared to me to be unnecessary to give all the cases in detail; a daily report of them becoming irksome; and the profession would have been equally satisfied with a brief extract of them, and the inferences drawn by the author. Any one who ventured to read but half-a-dozen pages of the work could not fail to be convinced of the candour of the author, and of his fitness, from a most extended experience, to embody the facts which had been presented to his view, and, therefore, not likely to dispute the justice of his deductions. I rejoice to say, that the reasons urged by me, in unison with those of others, whose opinions, from their connection with Indian service and its wants, were even more entitled to attention, prevailed; and that in 1841 this was accomplished, and a second edition published. It was my great pleasure to be engaged in assisting my estimable friend in The collection of drawings, amounting to upwards of 150 in number, from which these admirable engravings were made, forms one of my most highly treasured acquisitions, being valuable not only for their faithful illustration of disease, but interesting to me as having been bequeathed to me by Sir James Annesley as a mark of esteem and great attachment. the revision and curtailment of his great work, and it afforded me the opportunity of witnessing in advanced life, and after several years of retirement from the active duties of his profession, that unabated zeal for the service which had from the commencement of his career so peculiarly distinguished him. His whole soul seemed absorbed in the one great object of omitting nothing that could be of advantage to his fellowcreatures, and of leaving on record the opinions he entertained as the result of the most profound conviction of his mind. The work in its original form presents the results of the experience of twenty-five years' practice over almost every part of India, under all circumstances and situations of intertropical service, in regimental hospitals, moving over various countries and through different climates, amongst Europeans as well as natives, and among men, women, and children, in all classes of the community, public and private. Of the cases he had taken notes of the symptoms, progress, and treatment; and whenever fatal, he added the post mortem appearances, of which, from the most faithful drawings, the plates were engraved. To an observer in this country, the colouring of these appearances may perhaps seem almost too vivid; this indeed was, upon a first view, so expressed to me by the late Sir Astley Cooper, but he was ready afterwards to admit that in India, necroscopic examinations were necessarily made within a few hours of death; and thus the real condition of parts was more distinctly manifested. Mr. Annesley pledged himself to me for the fidelity of the drawings and the accuracy of the colouring. As this Memoir is intended to be prefixed to the condensed edition of this work, I shall not enter upon any analysis of its contents, nor shall I enumerate the various additions made to complete the author's views, as these are amply stated in the preface. It is, however, essential to remark, that the expense |