1. Healing in the Himalayas: Robert Saunders, Surgeon, and the Embassy to Bhutan and Tibet of 1783
- Author:
- Lindsey Valancius and Trevor Lipscombe
- Publication Date:
- 06-2020
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Bhutan Studies
- Institution:
- Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
- Abstract:
- In 1783, Captain Samuel Turner, surveyor Samuel Davis, and surgeon Robert Saunders journeyed from India on an embassy through Bhutan and into Tibet. Saunders, of the Bengal Medical Service, reported his medical observations in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, the leading science journal of its time. In his observations, Saunders provides glimpses into both Bhutanese and British medical practices of the late eighteenth century. Saunders’ description and observations of goiter became widely quoted, helping to forge a path to the elimination of the condition, and his explanation for the causes of snow blindness were confirmed in laboratory experiments more than 100 years later. Saunders not only sought to observe and to teach, but also to learn from the local healers he encountered. His writings show a respect for the Bhutanese and Tibetan peoples and their medical knowledge that is rare in colonial writings.
- Topic:
- Science and Technology, History, Colonialism, and Medicine
- Political Geography:
- Britain, South Asia, Bhutan, and Himalayas