John Woodall,Surgeon General of the East India Company. Part I: Events Leading to Woodall's Appointment

Abbreviations: Calendar of State Papers, Series Colonial, London, HMSO: re America and West Indies, CSPAWI; re East Indies, CSPEI; DNB, Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

“John Company” was first used in 1784 (in reply to “Jan Company”, nickname of its Dutch rival) and was widely adopted after John Stuart Milne's defence of its preservation of the Indian Empire. Rev Ovington, army chaplain, author of Voyage to Surat (1689) noted deaths of an entire ship's company and 20 out of 24 passengers at Bombay. Wilkinson T. Two Monsoons, London: Duckworth, 1976: 1, 214. Gardner B. The East India Company. London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1971: 122.

Sudden storms and cyclones around the Cape of Good Hope and in the Indian Ocean made conditions treacherous for Company pinnace-type craft dependent on sail. Landström B . Sailing Ships (2nd edn). London: Allen & Unwin, 1978: 162. Wilkinson T. op.cit. note 1: 64.cf. Assurance, sunk in a gust of wind off Woolwich. Samuel Pepys' Diary, 9 December 1659, vol I (14th edn). London: Dent 1936: 114. The “dry stores” supplied in London were for outward and return journeys; cf rations “above three years … so long in salt”, Dampier W. A New Voyage Around the World, vol I (4th edn). London: James Knapton, 1699: 524–5.

Company regulations: establishment of factories around the coasts of the East Indies and India, settlements at Surat and Bombay (part of Queen's dowry acquired from Charles II for loan of £50,000 at 6% and rent £10 p.a.) First record of a Company Governor, Aungier Gerauld (died 1677): Fryer in the late seventeenth century rated survival chances of Europeans in India 20%, in Batavia (E Indies) at 50%. Wilkinson T. op. cit. note 1: 16, 2–3, 7 25. Gardner B. op at note 1: 42.

A portrait of Sir Thomas Smith, Woodall's patron, appears in The Surgions' Mate, followed by an “Epistle Dedicatorie”. There is mention of Woodall's time abroad, “Polonia… I lived there”, “the country of the ArchDuke of Brandenburg”, and of possible service as a ship's surgeon, with mention of difficult fomentations at sea, humiliation of “poore sailors” with dysentery, “short rations and poor quality food”, leisure…on long voyages”. Woodall J. The Surgion's Mate. London: Griffin Edward for Laurence Lisle, 1617: 169, 163, 84, 38, 205–6, 159 313 (Facsimile text Kirkup JR , ed. Bath: Kingsmead Press. 1978).

John, 1569–1643, son of Richard Woodall of Warwick and Mary, daughter of Peirse Ithell (family mentioned in seventeenth century heraldic visitations of Wales). In 1586 he was apprenticed to a London barber surgeon. In 1589 he became surgeon to Lord Willoughby's Regiment In 1591–9 (and 1600–2) he was in medical practice in Europe. In 1599 he became Freeman of the Barber Surgeons of London; in 1603 was in practice at Wood St, London, and treated plague patients. In 1604, he was appointed to Sir Thomas' embassy, and married Sarah Henchpole: they had three sons and a daughter. DNB Vol.XXI: 853–4; Kirkup JR. op.cit. note 4: xii–xiv.

Woodall J. op.cit. note 4: “Epistle Dedicatorie” Foreword, ‘To the Barber-Surgeons” and “To The Benevolent Reader”. In the seventeenth century it appears to have been fashionable to decry one's literary talents. Sir Henry Morgan (Governor of Jamaica) wrote that he was “more used to the pike than the book” (CSPAWI No 1304 Sir Henry Morgan to Lords of Trade, Port Royal, 24 February 1680), but cf Woodall's final words to the reader “if your knowledge is superior to this [of mine] feel free to use it, if not be thankful for this” (Latin freely translated), cf p 199 similar, slightly politer, in English, to surgeon's mate.

Ibid: references to “young surgions” and genuine medicaments, pp 227, 231, 348, 57–8, 143, 228–32, 278. Inquiry into alleged abuses 1624, CSPEI, 1622–4, p 413; DNB vol. XXI: 853–4.

Wilkinson T. op.cit. note 1: 74; Kirkup JR op.cit. note 4: xii. Life was hard for apprentices in the seventeenth century cf Pepys S. op.cit. note 2: 636 (25 September 1665), a “fisherboy…had not been in bed the…7 years of his apprenticeship and he had 2–3 more to serve”. Apparently Woodall did not pay his promised sum to the Virginia project; CSPAWI 1574–1660: 53, 238, 291; DNB, vol. XXI: 853–4.

Pepys S. op.cit. note 2: 343 (27 February 1662)–Pepys attended a lecture in the Surgeons' Hall. Kirkup JR op.cit. note 4: xiv–xvi. Woodall treated plague in Germany and Poland and the London epidemics 1603, 1625, 1636.

Kirkup JR . op.cit. note 4: xii. Woodall J. op.cit. note 4: 224–8 Laudanum, his favourite panacea, was the invention of Swiss Professor of Medicine and Surgery, Philippus Paracelsus (1493–1541), pioneer in experimental chemistry; a diatribe against unworthy surgeons appears on unnumbered pages headed “Office and Duty of the Surgion's Mate”.

Woodall J. op.cit. note 4: 3, 202, 212 (“I consider no disease infectious to me”), dysentery, pp 217–223; lapsus ani, pp 245–6. cf Wilkinson T. op.cit. note 1: 178. The Surgeon General in India in the nineteenth century was shamed into visiting a hospital during a cholera epidemic, but completed the tour in one minute, sniffing ammonia, and gave no help.

Ibid: unnumbered pages headed “Office and Duty of the Surgion's Mate”, 58. cf Pepys S. op.cit. note 2: 560 (8 March 1665)–The London, from Chatham bound for the Hope, suddenly blew up.

Ibid: 155, 221, 234–nostrums were usually for social venereal diseases, one noted was bleeding for prolonged flux. Woodall stresses “no surgeon worth his salt will promise a cure in Iliaca Passio if the patient has scurvy or vomits excrements” misuse of the probe, p 12; lemon, pp 56, 185; women's ills, pp 58, 230, 226. Wilkinson T. op.cit. note 1: 99–100–a few (“gentlewomen and other”) were conveyed gratis to the settlements to prevent marriages with Portuguese women from Goa, and Dutch women from the Cape (a staff holiday resort); the women from England were financed by the Company for one year, until marriage or return.

Ibid: stitching, p 27; bandaging, p 165; foreign bodies, p 11; precipitate action, pp 136–7, 140, 77, 6, 14; trepan, p 6 needed in “1 out of 10 cases”, excessive use labelled the doctor “hateful butcher” probe, p 27; bleeding, p 216+35. cf Pepys S. op.cit. note 2: 482 (16 May 1664)–a doctor and surgeon trying to “let opium” into a dog's leg failed to find a vein “after many trials” small syringe, pp 21–2; speculum ani, p 10; lancet, pp 28–31, 159; denial treatment, p 15; convalescence diet, loblolly/spiced gruel, p 159.

Ibid: 245, 130. Album Graecum/sterus caninum was “an old homely remedy” (dog dung) for dysentery, and mixed with oil was an unguent for piles (“like to cure like”), p 194. “Old bones” powdered were often added. Apothecaries' scale and stibium, pp 37–8.

Ibid: 288–301. Sulphur preparations were not to be rashly used, p 296; Laudanum Opiatum Paracelsi (falsifications), pp 224–32, cf p 106, “fresh mastike…white, splendent,” not brittle.

Mithridatum , famous poison antidote of Mithridates the Great of Pontus, contained over 75 “simples” (Celsus de Medicina V 23. 3&b: III.21.7 Plin N H XXV 26(6), 27: VIIII.30(47). Scrib Larg Conpos 163, 175, 177 name 14 (chiefly herbs, flowers, spices, myrrh, beaver-oil); many were included in Dr Marcianus “Perfect” for the Emperor Augustus). Woodall J. op.cit. note 4: 84, “London Treakell”/Theriaca. Sydenham preferred Venice treacle (50 simples plus opium, or 64 plus vipers' flesh). Brockbank W. Sovereign Remedies. Med Hist 1964; 8: 2, 5. Theriaca, Antiochus of Syria's poison antidote was almost similar to that inscribed in Cos Aesculapium (including aniseed, “very powerful against scorpions' sting”) Plin N H XX 24.100.

Woodall J. op.cit. note 4: stibium, p 37; cantharides and Priapisma (latter named after Priapus Roman phallic deity), p 110; hartshorn commonly substituted for unicorn's horn, p95.

Ibid: arsenicum album caustics and corrosives, pp 312, 27, 155–6.

Ibid: caustic and misuse of tents pp 63–4, 145, 155–6, 12–3, 71; artificial balm, Hipericon oil/St John's wort “cum gummis” gums; pp 104–7, 32; Galen's Basilicon (resin plus lard plus wax plus almond oil).

Ibid: 299–300, 115, sublimate/white mercury (distillation of quicksilver, salt and sulphuric acid): precipitate (distillation of quicksilver in nitric acid), costly lotions of both types sold by quacks as “Turbith material for the Perfect Cure of the Pox” (cf tenth to twelfth century Arabic distillation apparatus in the Science Museum, London): cinnabar (quicksilver and brimstone in equal parts, also natural) “venomous vapours,” deadly medicine, cf pp 304, 212.

Ibid: “Office and Duty of Surgion's Mate” and p 3. Wilkinson T. op.cit. note 1: 74–surgeons and mates were responsible for “cutting the hayer of…saylers…in the Company…ships once every 40 days in a seemly manner”. Sea voyages were notoriously risky, cf Pepys S. op.cit. note 2: 33, (17 March 1660) makes his will before going on a sea trip.

Ibid: knives, pp 1–3 8; saws, pp 7–8; trepan, p 4; razor, p 3; levatory, p 7; nippers, mallet and chisel, p 8.

Ibid: speçulum oris/linguae/ani, pp 6, 8–10.

Ibid: cauterizing irons, pp 10–11. cf Greek doctors in Republican Rome were styled “carnifex” (torturer) for their use.

Ibid: crows' bill forceps and terebellum, p 11. Pepys S. op.cit. note 2: 266 (22 July 1662), “loss of their cables, sayles and masts” (16 November 1665), shifting cargoes “Confusion … pepper … in every chink … cloves and nutmegs up to the knees” p 653; incision shears, p 12; probes, pp 12–3.

Ibid: spatulae and spathula mundani, p 14.

Ibid: dental instruments, pp 15–7 (Celsus, De Medicina: 12.1F, tooth extraction-rhizagra / root remover); “The Lotion” was a special mixture of herbs, alum and honey in “pure water,” p 18; German instruments, “mullets” and “sikes” were not described but sike might be from Latin sicilis (sickle), and mullet from French molette (grinder) or to use with mull/fine surgical muslin.

Ibid: 18–22. Syringes and advice to young surgeons “read, enquire and practise administering enemas”, cf Wellcome Museum, London; A17144 enema syringe in medicine chest (eighteenth century).

Ibid: 23–4; catheter, forceps, p 11.

Ibid: searching candle, p 24; glisterpot, p 19.

Ibid: 161–2, splints and junks (Latin iuncus water–reed/rush); dyet-pot and blood-porringers, pp 35–6 (Pepys S. op.cit. note 2: 243 (4 May 1662) “bled about 16oz…unwell and had to lie down…” paid the operator five shillings, and had his arm bound with black ribbon); cupping-glasses: unguentum album camphoratum anodyne used for burns and scalds and ulcers in the private parts, pp 33–4, 45.

Ibid: 170–2, Commander not illustrated Kirkup JR op.cit. note 4: xx, describes it as a “box of compound pulleys”. Apollonius of Citium (pre-60 BC) devised an apparatus for reduction (later used also in gynaecological treatment, Celsus, VIII 15) which operated on a system of ropes and primitive pulleys worked by the surgeon and assistant Miniature representation of correction to vertebrae, in Commentary on Apollonius, shows weights added (Bibl Florence Ms Laurentine LXXIV.7).

Ibid: close stool with brass pail and bricks, pp 38–9, 205, 211 244–6; bed-pan, p 37; chafing-dish, pp 108, 244; a metal base of a chafing-dish was found among the artefacts of an apothecary (dated 1545) in the excavation of the Mary Rose, Landström op.cit. note 2: 29, 31, 89, 138–shrouds were the stays supporting the main mast, breakehead was the bow (the crew's quarters). Fumigation was much favoured in Graeco-Roman medicine (cf Celsus, De Medicina IV 27: 1D Aetios, Tetrabiblios XVI 15 55 113 122. Paul III Opera 74 VII 3). “Commode/Night-chair” late 16th cent, p 15, plate 4 in Butler R. The Arthur Negus Guide to English Furniture (5th edn). London: Hamlyn, 1983.

Ibid: 37, 188, 193; unguentum Trypharmacon/Nutritum, pp 46 48 167 346 for inflammation, alternative for mel saponis in treating burns/scalds; lixivium-soaked cloths applied to swollen limbs. Culpeper N. Complete Herbal, Ware: Omega Books, 1985: 327– a patient could carry trochees “in his pocket better than to take a gallipot along with him”. Science Museum, London: A654967, pestle, length 80 mm; width 15 mm: A658116, weights.