¹ Aage Rasch, Dansk Ostindien, 1777–1845: Storhedstid og hensygnen, vol. 7 of series Vore gamle tropekolonier, ed. Johannes Brøndsted, 8 vols, Copenhagen, Fremad, 1966, pp. 7, 13, 52–3, 170–82.

² Gunnar Olsen, Dansk Ostindien 1616–1732: de ostindiske kompagniers handel på Indien; Kamma Struwe, Dansk Ostindien 1732–1776: Tranquebar under kompagnistyre; and Rasch, op. cit., note 1 above, vols 5, 6 and 7 of Vore gamle tropekolonier.

³ Ole Feldbæk and Ole Justesen, Kolonierne i Asien og Afrika, in series Danmarks historie, ed. Svend Ellehøj and Kristof Glamann, Copenhagen, Politikens Forlag, 1980.

⁴ Anders Nørgaard, Mission und Obrigkeit: die dänisch-hallische Mission in Tranquebar, 1706–1845, Gütersloh, Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 1988.

⁵ Esther Fihl, Tropekolonien Tranquebar, Copenhagen, G E C Gad, 1989; idem, ‘Some theoretical and methodological considerations on the study of Danish colonialism in southeast India’, Folk. Dansk Etnografisk Tidsskrift, 1984, 26: 51–66.

⁶ Niels Brimnes, Constructing the colonial encounter: right and left hand castes in early colonial South India, Richmond, Curzon Press, 1999.

⁷ Niels Brimnes, ‘Coming to terms with the native practitioner: indigenous doctors in colonial service in South India, 1800–1825’, in Sanjoy Bhattacharya (ed.), Imperialism, medicine and South Asia: a socio-political perspective, 1800–1950, Delhi, Orient Longman (forthcoming).

⁸ The Protestant Tamil mission in Tranquebar was a Pietistic mission founded in 1706 by missionaries trained in the Pietist centre of Halle, Germany, and supported by the Danish king Frederick IV (1699–1730).

⁹ The caste name “Nauiden” or “Naviden” is obscure and does not appear in authoritative works such as E Thurston, The castes and tribes of Southern India, 7 vols, Madras, Government Press, 1909.

¹⁰ Rigsarkivet (Danish National Archive), Survey of Inhabitants, Tranquebar 1790 (Folketællinger. Mandtalsliste, Trankebar, 1790).

¹¹ Dominik Wujastyk, ‘Indian medicine’, W F Bynum, and Roy Porter (eds), Companion encyclopedia of the history of medicine, 2 vols, London, Routledge, 1994, vol. 1, pp. 755–78.

¹² Brimnes, op. cit., note 7 above.

¹³ Rasch, op. cit., note 1 above, pp. 88, 90.

¹⁴ Brimnes, op. cit., note 7 above.

¹⁵ Kay Larsen, De Dansk-Ostindiske koloniers historie, 2 vols, Copenhagen, Centralforlaget, 1907–1908, vol. 1, p. 145.

¹⁶ Brimnes, op. cit., note 6 above, see, for instance, pp. 105–24.

¹⁷ Rasch, op., cit., note 1 above, p. 115.

¹⁸ Rigsarkivet, Archive of the University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Medicine, the Royal Academy of Surgeons (Kirurgisk Akademi), Cases of the Deanery (Dekanatssager), 26 May 1801, no. 34.03.04.

¹⁹ Rasch, op. cit., note 1 above, p. 99.

²⁰ Mark Harrison, ‘Medicine and Orientalism: perspectives on Europe's encounter with Indian medical systems’, Biswamoy Pati and Mark Harrison (eds), Health, medicine and empire: perspectives on colonial India, Hyderabad, Orient Longman, 2001, pp. 37–87, on pp. 41, 52–8. See also David Arnold, Colonizing the body: state medicine and epidemic disease in nineteenth-century India, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1993, pp. 44–7.

²¹ Brimnes, op. cit., note 7 above.

²² Kay Larsen, Seddelkatalog over Dansk-Ostindiske Personalia og Data (card catalogue for biographical information and other data from the Danish East Indies), at the Rigsarkivet and the Royal Library, Copenhagen. See also Rigsarkivet, Archive of the University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Medicine, the Royal Academy of Surgeons (Kirurgisk Akademi), Cases of the Deanery (Dekanatssager), 26 May 1801, no. 34.03.04. And: Hof–og Statskalenderen, diverse år (Court and State Calendar, various years), Royal Library, Copenhagen.

²³ T L F Folly, Bemerkungen der von Dr. Roxburgh entdeckten Fieber-Rinde Swietenia Febrifuga, 1792, 18 pages, Rare Manuscripts Collection, Royal Library, Copenhagen, catalogue number: Add. 761a, tillæg 4^o.

²⁴ Samuel Benjamin Cnoll, ‘Titera autographica Tranqvebaria Indorum orientalium Fridericopolim Norvegiæ missæ de borracis artificiali compositione’, Acta Medica Hafniensis, 1753, pp. 64–6.

²⁵ Larsen, op. cit., note 22 above.

²⁶ T L Folly, Nogle Anmærkninger i Anledning af Doctor Kleins forsøg om den Veneriske Syges helbredelse i Ostindien, Tranquebar, 1798, Rare Manuscripts Section, Royal Library, Denmark, catalogue number: Add. 761e 8°.

²⁷ Larsen, op. cit., note 22 above.

²⁸ Ray Desmond, The European discovery of the Indian flora, Oxford, Clarendon Press, and Kew, Royal Botanic Gardens, 1992, p. 39.

²⁹ Johan Gerhard Koenig, ‘Doctor Koenigs reise fra Trankebar til Zeylon’, Videnskabernes Selskabs Skrifter, Copenhagen, 1779, 12th part, pp. 383–402.

³⁰ Desmond, op. cit., note 28 above, p. 40.

³¹ Desmond, op. cit., note 28 above, p. 39. Det Tranquebarske Selskabs Skrifter (Journal of the Tranquebarian Society) 1789, 1.

³² Struwe, op. cit., note 2 above, vol. 6, p. 100.

³³ Desmond, op. cit., note 28 above, pp. 40–41.

³⁴ Larsen, op. cit., note 22 above. Klein's doctoral thesis was titled, De morbi veneri curation in India Orientalis, Hafnia, 1795.

³⁵ Larsen, op. cit., note 22 above.

³⁶ Desmond, op. cit., note 28 above, pp. 41–2.

³⁷ See: http://www.indianmuseum-calcutta.org/wallich.html (accessed, 8 May 2004).

³⁸ Catalogue number of the original manuscript: Add. 761e 4°, and catalogue number of the copy made by the Royal Academy of Surgeons in Copenhagen: Add. 333a Fol.

³⁹ Tamil doctors.

⁴⁰ The word “sciences” is a direct translation of the equivalent Danish word “Videnskaber” used by Folly in the original manuscript. By this word Folly seems to refer to both theoretical knowledge (Danish: “viden”) and practical skill.

⁴¹ A Rapedor is an Indian barber/surgeon.

⁴²“If a woman gives birth to a living child and dies immediately afterwards, relatives and friends come along, wail and cry, and everyone gives the new-born a slap, scolds and curses it, as the cause of the mother's death. If it is a girl she rarely survives unless an old merciful grandmother takes care of her.”

⁴³ Castor oil.

⁴⁴ The island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.

⁴⁵ “Rob Anti-Syphilitique” is French for “anti syphilitic juice” and the inventor was the chemist Sieur Pierre Boyveau-Laffecteur, c.1750–1812, who worked at French naval hospitals for thirty years.

⁴⁶ Probably Hindus.

⁴⁷ Pagodas and Fanno or Fanams were south Indian coins made of gold and silver respectively. See: http://home3.inet.tele.dk/ujensen/word.htm (accessed 8 May 2004).

⁴⁸ Nagapatnam, today Naggapattinam, was a former Dutch colony on the coast south of Tranquebar.

⁴⁹ A scalpel.

⁵⁰ “Bourdonnet” is French for a so-called “quilled suture” or “bolster”.

⁵¹ Present day Madurai, a city southwest of Tranquebar in the central part of the province Tamil Nadu.

⁵² Possibly present-day Ramenathapuram, a city in southern Tamil Nadu.

⁵³ In Siddha medicine mercury is called Rasam. See: http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/t_es/t_es_tiwar_siddha.htm (accessed 8 May 2004).

⁵⁴ Unidentified substance.

⁵⁵ According to Gary Hausman, PhD, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of North Carolina, this word might be a misspelling for the Tamil word “Raca karpuram”, which is a white mercury sulphate created by sublimation of black mercury sulphide with ordinary rock salt (Sasmbasivam Pillai, Tamil-English dictionary of medicine, chemistry, botany and allied sciences, Madras, The Research Institute of Siddhar's Science, 1931 (republished in the 1990s), vol. 5, p. 954.

⁵⁶ According to Hausman this might be “Raca karpuram cattu”, where “cattu” means essence and thus the name refers to the essence of the white mercury sulphide mentioned above.

⁵⁷ Auripigment, also called arsenic yellow or arsenic sulphide (As₂S₃).

⁵⁸ Old Danish apothecaries measures: 1 gran = 0.0621g, 55 gran = 3.4155g (Knut Birkeland, Mål og Vægt, Copenhagen, Høst og Søn Forlag, 1970, pp. 30–1).

⁵⁹ Possibly “Radix Calamintha Aromatia” i.e. the root of calamint or basil.

⁶⁰ Most likely jaggery, a dark, coarse, unrefined sugar made from the sap of various palm trees or from sugar cane.

⁶¹ Malva is Latin for Mallow.

⁶² According to Hausman, “canchi” must be a misspelling for “kanci”, which means rice water in Tamil, e.g. the starchy water left after boiling rice.

⁶³ Radix China is Latin for “China root”, which, according to Hausman is also the meaning of the Tamil word “parenkippattei”. Another name for the root is Smilax china or Sarsaparilla, a known emetic.

⁶⁴ 0.34155g (Birkeland, op. cit., note 58 above, pp. 30–1).

⁶⁵ Here the important question of the origin of the mercury is answered. In the beginning of this part of the manuscript it was not clear whether the mercury was bought from foreigners or came from indigenous sources, but here the origin of the mercury becomes quite clear: it is imported.

⁶⁶ Hausman refers to Sambasivam Pillai, op. cit., note 55 above, vol. 3, pp. 2005–7, where it says that “Cati linkam” is exactly “Mercurius sulpheratus rubber” or red mercury sulphate, which we call cinnabar.

⁶⁷ Skilling was a minor Danish coin.

⁶⁸ Agastya is one of the great masters and authors of the native Tamil medical tradition, called Siddha medicine.

⁶⁹ “A Palam is an Indian ounce of which 13 makes up one English pound.”

⁷⁰ “Latin: Curcuma Oblonga: Linn:” [Turmeric].

⁷¹ “Latin: Acimun Basilium” [Basil].

⁷² “Latin: Radix Alangium Decapetalum” (unknown), described by Dr Johann Peter Rottler, former missionary of Tranquebar.

⁷³ “Indian lemon fruit.”

⁷⁴ “Kasi Kuppi is a glass or flask which is made in Kasi [Benares] of a shape somewhat like a urine bottle.”

⁷⁵ “Kaliman is clay, or a lime prepared of small ground gravel stones, Jager sugar, egg white, sour milk, oil and butter. These ingredients are kneaded together and make up a kind of very strong plaster. Kaliman is also called Algemas and the rich European and Malabar houses are coated with it. Well prepared, it looks like white marble, but it is not as durable.”

⁷⁶ “A clay pot of varying size and shape, which is normally used for cooking in Tranquebarian kitchens.”

⁷⁷ “A deep metal plate which can be used as an oil lamp with ten wicks.”

⁷⁸ Hyder Ali was the Islamic ruler of Mysore, the most powerful native kingdom in southern India at the time. In 1780–81 he was waging war on the English and he wanted to expel all Europeans from India (see Rasch, op. cit., note 1 above, pp. 168–75).

⁷⁹ A French colony south of Tranquebar.

⁸⁰ This remark can be found only in Folly's original manuscript (Royal Library catalogue number: Add. 761e 4°) and not in the copy made at the Royal Academy of Surgeons in Copenhagen (Royal Library catalogue number: Add. 333a Fol.).

⁸¹ Kasi was another name for Benares.

⁸²Fóder en kone et levende barn, og dóer strax efter, saa kommer Slægtninger- og venner, hyler og græder, enhver giver den Nyefódte et Klaps, skiælder og bander det som aarsag i moderens dód, er det et Pige barn, lever det sielden det maatte da være at en gammel barmhiertig bestemoder tog sig af det.

⁸³For en 9 a 10 Aar blev ieg hentet til Nagapatnam, til præsten af denne kirke, han havde i den tiid da mange Patienter besógte kirken af forkóhlelse faaet en Lamhed i beenene; Ieg tog ham med til Tranquebar, hvor han kom sig, og betalte Curen meget vell; men da ieg sagte ham, at da hans kirkes Patronesse Curerede saa mange Patienter, saa undrede ieg mig han sógte hielp andenstæds, han svarede mig, I er en god Mand men en kiætter, min Frue har helbredet mange hundrede, men de maae have en bedre to fastere troe end I har.

⁸⁴Med et senere skiib.

^aPalam er en indisk Unze, hvoraf 13 udgiór et Engelsk Pund.

^bGrón Saffran /:Pasu Mainsel:/–Curcuma Oblonga: Linné:

^cTullasi Blade, /:Tullasi Elei:/- Ocimum Basilicum.

^dArkinsi Rod /: Arkinsi Ver:/ Rad: Alangium Decapetalum (Rottler)

^eElum bitsam Parham/ den indiske lemon frugt.

^fKasi Kuppi er et glass eller flaske som gióres i Kasi eller Benares af denne form [tegning af form som urinkolbe] saaledes (?) aftegnet i Manuskripten.

^g/Kaliman/ det er leer, eller en kalk til bered af smaae stódte muur steen, Iager Sukker, Egge hvide, Suur melk, Olie, Smór, dette æltes sammen og binder meget stærk og godt / denne sammen blanding er ellers det man kalder Algemas, og hvormed de rige Europæer og Mallebare huusse er overstrógne med, godt tilbered ligner det den hvide Italienske marmor, mens er som alt Luksus her i Indien af kort varrighed.

^hSadi:/ er en Treselle, Leer kar, som allmindeligen bruges i vore kiókkener at lave mad i, de er af forskellig stórrelse og form.

ⁱKamalam/, en af metal noget dyb tallerken, enten af Guld, Sólv, eller mestendels af Kaaber, hvorpaa Betel frem bydes paa, men bruges ogsaa til at fylde Olie i og i mitten læges trende væger.