Page:A brief history of the Hughli district.djvu/7



As the Medical Gazetteer of the Hughli district is the first of a series of such histories in Bengal which it is proposed to publish, the circumstances under which they are being compiled may be described. I prepared a medico-topographical account of Jeypore, in Rajputana, in 1894, and with the approval of the Government of India and of tho Director-General of the Indian Medical Service, Medical Officers in that Province were invited (in the case, however, of Native States, with the concurrence of the Chiefs, who would probably publish the works) to prepare similar histories of their own charges, and I was appointed to edit the series. A number of such accounts has now been published, including a general gazetteer of Rajputana by myself, and the Government of Bengal agreed to the voluntary compilation of similar histories for Bengal districts, the most meritorious of which were to be published under my editorship. A circular letter to Civil Surgeons indicating the objects, scope, and general order in which it was suggested that the different subjects should be treated, was issued in September 1899. The Hughli Gazetteer, which shows considerable research on the part of Lieutenant-Colonel Crawford, is highly creditable to him, because he has been little more than a year in the district and has had a very large amount of professional work to perform. Dr. Crawford wrote for this gazetteer such a voluminous and valuable chapter on the history of the district that it has been decided by Government that it should be published separately, on the further ground, moreover, that it was beyond the scope of a medical account of Hughli. It may, however, be usefully read in connection with most of the special accounts of districts in Lower Bengal.

In some other chapters the author has written on subjects at greater length than was contemplated, but as he is peculiarly qualified to do so and his observations are always of value, they have been retained.

A complete gazetteer of this kind should be of great use in enabling all who are interested in municipal, and especially in sanitary matters, to read in a few pages what has been done in the