| Description Of Item | The volume starts with a copy of a letter from Russell to Sir Joseph Banks on tabasheer (tabashir) in which Russell describes the various names of the drug and its uses in the middle east. It is dated 26th October 1788 at Vizagapatam. This is followed by a copy of a letter from Russell to Sir Joseph Banks dated 22nd November 1788 (although received per Manship, director of the East India Company, on 20th June 1789) concerning the snakes of the coastal area and remedies against their poison. It incorporates a copy of a letter from William Duffin dated 5th January 1778 at Vellore which contains a prescription also used against bites from mad dogs; and two further testimonies on the efficacy of Duffin's treatment from James Ramsay, surgeon to the third Regiment of Cavalry, and Eccles Nixon, Colonel Commanding at Vellore.
After the letters is a copy of an article titled 'A Botanical Description of a new Species of Swietenia (Mahogany) with Experiments and Observations on the flowers of its Bark comparing them with those of Peruvian Bark for which it is proposed as a Succedaneum'. No author is given but it is followed by another copied article 'Observations and Cases relative to the Swietenia Febrifuga' by Dr William Roxburgh, received per Manship 8th November 1792, so the previous article may also be by Roxburgh. The second article describes 16 cases in which the swietenia febrifuga bark had been used. It was published in Medical Comment, 1793. It is not known who copied the letters and articles or when. |