rejected them and administered medicine; and five Mahomedan
physicians who seemed to be little superior to the Hindoos. The
doctrines of both are nearly the same, and seem to be founded
on the school of Galen. Those who practice at large make from
10 to 20 rupees a month. They do not keep their recipes or
doctrines secret, but seemed to practice in a liberal manner,
although without having gained a high reputation. A
considerable number are servants, and attend on wealthy
families for a monthly pension. Many of them cannot read. There
is another class of medical practitioners who reject incantations
and exhibit herbs. They have no books, and the greater part
cannot read the vulgar tongue. They have been early instructed
in the use of certain herbs in certain diseases. Dr Buchanan
heard of about 450 of them, but they seemed to be chiefly
confined to the Hindoo divisions of the district, and they are held
in very low estimation. There is also a class of persons who
profess to treat sores, but they are totally illiterate and destitute
of science, nor do they perform any operation. They deal chiefly
in oils. The only practitioner in surgery was an old woman, who
had become reputed for extracting the stone from the bladder,
which she performed after the manner of the ancients.
According to Dr Buchanan the science of the Arabs has
been exceedingly neglected in this district, so that very few even
of the kazis are supposed to understand the Koran or any Arabic
work on grammar, law or metaphysics. He did not hear of one
man who attempted to teach any of these branches of learning,
and he expresses a doubt whether even one man employed in
administering the Mohammedan law and born in the district was
tolerably well-versed in the subject, or so well informed or
liberally educated as the common attornies in a country town of
England.