tablish that the existing prevalence and mortality of small-pox is not owing to any failure in the protective powers of the vaccine virus, nor to its wearing out of the system after a certain number of years, but to the neglect of vaccination altogether; and that vaccination affords a greater protection from a fatal termination, should the individual be subsequently attacked with small-pox, than if he had passed through the natural or inoculated small-pox themselves. It is highly desirable that attention should be paid to the facts above stated and to the conclusions drawn from them. From not being aware of these facts, many eminent physicians have by their writings, done much harm by inducing doubts as to the protective powers of the vaccine virus; and as the public at large are very apt to discard altogether what they see learned men regard as only a temporary or doubtful preservative, perhaps no inconsiderable number of the cases of neglect of vaccination may be attributed to their writings being propagated among the public at large. Indeed I firmly believe that all the crude theoretical speculations relative to the supposed inefficacy of vaccination, as a preservative against smallpox, or its supposed wearing out of the system after a certain number of years, arise from ignorance of those very important statistical facts which I have collected together in this paper. 21 Heriot Row, 4th March 1845. ART. VII. On the Period of Puberty in Hindu Women. By JOHN ROBERTON, Manchester. IN common language, Hindostan, the land of the Hindus, is India north of the Vindya mountains, or, less exactly, of the river Nerbudda, (along which this mountain chain runs in about latitude 22° north,) consisting of the basin of the Indus, that of the Ganges, the desert towards the Indus, and the high tract called Central India. All to the south is the Deckan. By the Hindus are meant a people who "speak dialects essentially allied to the Sanskrit, and through it to the great Indo-European family of languages."* Their proper country is as above defined, but they have pushed their colonies towards the north and the south; and they form a part of the population of the Himalayan border, as well as of many countries in the Deckan, where they meet and mingle with the Tamulian race. Until the time of Bishop Heber, it was usual to talk of the Hindus as one people, just as we speak of the Irish or the Portuguese, instead of as forming, what is truly the case, many nations; * Prichard's Researches into the Physical History of Mankind, Vol. iv. page 97. See also the beautiful ethnological map of Asia, in the same volume. differing amongst themselves fully as much as the people of different countries in Europe. The inhabitants of the dry countries in the north, which, in winter, are cold, are comparatively manly and active; the Marattas, inhabiting mountainous and comparatively unfertile regions, are hardy and laborious; while the Bengalese, with a moist climate, and their double crops of rice, where the cocoa-nut tree and the bamboo furnish all the materials for construction unwrought, are more effeminate than any other people in India. But love of repose, though not sufficient to extinguish industry, or repress occasional exertions, may be taken as a characteristic of the whole people.* But even if we confine ourselves to the presidency of Bengal, which, in the number of its inhabitants, far surpasses the most populous European kingdom, we shall find a vast and varied territory, possessing almost every variety of situation, soil, and climate. The Bengal presidency alone in extent of surface more than equals half Europe, and contains a population of not less (probably considerably more) than seventy-five millions, divided into nations as different from each other as Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, England, the Scotch Highlands, Scandinavia, Germany, and Switzerland. The presidency of Madras, and Bombay, and Central India exhibit another list of nations who answer to our Hungarians, Greeks, Poles, Prussians, and various tribes of the Russians. Yet all this is forgotten, or perhaps unknown to most of us, when we speak or write of the people of India.t The Hindus, again, are divided into castes and sects as various as our Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Independents, Methodists, Baptists, Quakers, and numerous others. There is hardly a district in which there does not exist some caste or sect which is hardly known in the neighbouring one, and the tenor of their different religious views has also considerable effect upon their moral and social conduct. It has been shrewdly remarked concerning Mr Ward's elaborate and very learned "Account of the Hindus," that had it been entitled "An Account of the Bengalee Hindus derived from Observations in the Neighbourhood of Sirampoor," it might have been correct enough, but to publish the The History of India by the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone. London, 1841, Vol. i. p. 371. One of the most valuable works on India. I am informed by those who have resided long in the East, that no writer possesses a more accurate knowledge of the races of Hindustan, or evinces a fairer spirit in the treatment of that much contested subject,—the social and moral character of the Hindus. + See Notes on Indian Affairs by the Hon. Frederick John Shore, Judge of the Civil Court and Criminal Sessions of the District of Furrukhabad. London, 1837, Vol. i. page 515. In the slight sketch given in this paper of the physical and social condition of the Hindus, I have leant chiefly on the weighty authority and ample experience of this writer and of Mr Elphinstone. Ward's Account of the History, Literature, and Religion of the Hindus, 4 vols. 1817-20. work as a description of the Hindus in general, as its title would imply, was as unfair as it would be in a Hindu who, after residing some years at Naples, should give the result of his observations there as "An Account of the Christians." As far as relates to the Neapolitan Christians, there might be no fault to find; but the French, Germans, English, and Spanish would hardly allow that the work contained a true delineation of their manners, customs, opinions, and conduct. The physical characters of the different Hindu nations, as might be expected, present considerable varieties. The Hindostanis on the Ganges above Bengal are the tallest, fairest, most warlike, and manly; while the Bengalese, though good looking, are small, black, and effeminate in appearance; remarkable for timidity and superstition, as well as for subtlety and art. Many of the higher orders, especially in the northern provinces, are handsome in their features, having an oval face, and a nose nearly aquiline. Some again are comparatively fair, and others quite black; but a dark-brown complexion is most common, black eyes and hair. In Bengal the greatest number are below the middle stature, very slender in body, and generally inferior to Europeans in muscular strength. It is a mistake to imagine that the Hindus live on rice. The principal food of the people of Central India is wheat; and in the Deckan seeds called jowár and bájra, the former common throughout the Levant under the name of durra. Rice, as a general article of subsistence, is confined to Bengal and part of Bahar, with the low country along the sea all round the coast of the Peninsula. In most parts of India, besides, it is only used as a luxury. In the southern part of the Deckan, the body of the people live on a small and poor grain called ragi. No less erroneous is it to represent the Hindus as living solely on grains and fruits. The majority of the inhabitants of Bengal and Orissa, it is true, do not eat meat, yet almost all of whatever caste have no dislike to fish. There is much singularity and appearance of caprice in regard to the different kinds of animal food consumed in different parts. Thus, in Kumaon they will eat the short-tailed sheep of the hills but not the long-tailed breed. Many of the highest Rajpoots and Brahmins in Northern and Western India will eat venison, goat's and wild hog's flesh, while they shun that of sheep and domestic swine. Others, again, will eat the jungle fowl who would think the touch of a domestic fowl pollution. As a general fact, however, it may be stated that the food of the common people both in the country and in towns is unleavened bread, with boiled vegetables, clarified butter or oil, and spices.* Elphinstone's History, Vol. i. p. 331. Women anciently appear to have been more reserved and retired than they are in this part of the world; but the complete seclusion of them would seem to have come in with the Mahommedans, and it is even now confined to the military classes. The Brahmins do not observe it at all. Women, however, do not join in the society of men, are not admitted to an equality with them, do not eat with them, nor walk with them; the woman always follows the man, even when there is no obstacle to their walking abreast. As a general rule, the Hindu women do not learn to read. Against educating them there appears to exist a strong and deep prejudice, owing to a belief that, however proper an accomplishment reading and writing may be for dancing girls, (who commonly possess some education,) it is neither desirable nor decorous in women of respectable character. By the code of Menu, a girl might be married at eight, and if her father failed to give her a husband for three years after she was marriageable, she was at liberty to choose one for herself. The same infantile age for marriage still obtains. The bride must always be under the age of puberty, and both bridegroom and bride are usually under ten. This may be called the first marriage. There is a second ceremony, when consummation takes place, which happens as soon as ever the female reaches the age of puberty. This custom of early marriage amongst the Hindus is remarked in the earliest historical notices we possess of them by European writers. Indeed, amidst the great diversity of traits which may be observed in the manners of different Hindu tribes and nations, I am not aware that there is any exception to the universal prevalence of infantile marriage, and of consummation of the marriage at the latest on the arrival of the age of puberty. In pursuing my inquiries concerning the alleged influence of climate in different regions of the earth in determining the earlier or later occurrence of female puberty, I naturally directed my attention to the natives of our own imperial possessions in India, but for years without any fruit; those to whom I applied assuring me that it was difficult or impossible for a European to obtain information of this nature. I then bethought me of the Christian missionaries, of such especially as had resided many years in India, and who might be supposed to have access, through the mistresses of mission female schools and in other ways, to the desired information. Hitherto, however, although my applications have been numerous, and supported by influence emanating from the directors of several of the missionary societies, my success in this particular direction has been extremely limited. Nevertheless, I have still hopes of receiving communications in the course of the present year. Last spring I was advised to apply to an accomplished missionary who had been for many years in Madras, and was lately returned in ill-health to England, on the ground that he would probably soon go back to Madras; and that he was very likely, from his philosophical taste and enlightened curiosity, to undertake inquiries for me. The following is this gentleman's reply, dated Malvern, 15th April 1844. I withhold the name, not having obtained permission to publish it. "If I had been on the point of returning to India, I should have had much satisfaction in collecting as I might have been able the information you desire. As it is, I will send your letters to some medical friends, who will, I hope, take the pains to make the needful inquiries. My opinion is that Indian facts will fully confirm your theory. I should say the average at which puberty commences is fourteen years. They have a custom in India (very disgusting to an English mind) of marking this event in a girl's history in the most public manner. The poorer classes wear flowers in the hair at the back of the head; the richer give a feast on the occasion; and, if the girl has been betrothed, she then goes to live at the bridegroom's house, and the marriage is consummated. In general, all young persons are then considered marriageable, and are married as soon after as possible. The average age of the girls whom I have thus seen walking about, I should say was fourteen years. I remember a case in which marriage could not take place, as I was told by the father of the young man, (for the Hindus make no scruple in speaking on these subjects,) because puberty had not commenced in the girl, who was, I should say, fifteen years old. The cause to which it was attributed by him was poverty of living. This is the amount of my present information on the subject, which I send you in the meantime. I trust the letters to India will bring you exact and detailed information of facts.-I remain," &c. Before commenting on this and on other communications which are to follow, I ought to remind the reader what the prevailing opinion in Europe is, concerning the age of puberty in the East, that he may be able to judge how far the opinion referred to is supported or refuted by the facts adduced. According to Baron Haller, whose view has been implicitly and universally adopted and followed ever since he wrote, "In the warm regions of Asia the menses appear from the eighth to the tenth year; in Switzerland, Britain, and other equally temperate regions, at the age of twelve or thirteen; and later the farther we ascend towards the north."* It will be seen from the above letter, that, with these assertions * Elementa Physiol., Tom. vij. Pars ij. p. 140. |