A Practical Essay on the History and Treatment of Beriberi: With Observations on Some Forms of Rheumatism Prevailing in India

Reissued here together are two medical works, both published in 1835, by John Grant Malcolmson (1803–44), a British surgeon based in India. His extended essays explore the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of beriberi and rheumatism, conditions which were widespread in Asia at the time. Also describing the contrasting effects that the illnesses had on India's native population and on European colonials, Malcolmson draws on his first-hand experience to speculate on the underlying causes. His...