James Ranald Martin
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Sir James Ranald Martin (12 May 1796 – 27 November 1874) was a British
military surgeon ''Military Medicine'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering all aspects of medicine in military settings. It is published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. It was est ...
in
Colonial India Colonial India was the part of the Indian subcontinent that was occupied by European colonial powers during the Age of Discovery. European power was exerted both by conquest and trade, especially in spices. The search for the wealth and prosper ...
who worked in the service of the
Honourable East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
and was instrumental in publicising the effects of
deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...
, and finding links between human and environmental health.


Early life

Born in the
Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated ...
in one of the oldest families living on the island, his father was Rev. Donald Martin and his mother was the daughter of Norman Macdonald and sister of Lieut-Gn. Sir John Macdonald. Martin was educated at St George's and Windmill Street School. He became a C.C.S. in 1811 and entered the
Bengal Medical Service The Indian Medical Service (IMS) was a military medical service in British India, which also had some civilian functions. It served during the two World Wars, and remained in existence until the independence of India in 1947. Many of its officer ...
on 5 September 1817. He obtained commission of assistant-surgeon through the interest of his uncle, Sir John MacDonald, the
Adjutant-General to the Forces The Adjutant-General to the Forces, commonly just referred to as the Adjutant-General (AG), was for just over 250 years one of the most senior officers in the British Army. The AG was latterly responsible for developing the Army's personnel polic ...
.Biographical sketch in the London Lancet
/ref>


Work

He reached
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
at the port of
Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
in June 1817 by ship, the ''
Lord Hungerford Baron Hungerford is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created on 7 January 1426 for Walter Hungerford, who was summoned to parliament, had been Member of Parliament, Speaker of the House and invested as Knight of the Order of the Garter ...
'', and reported for duty with the Bengal service on 2 December 1817. In 1818 he served the
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
's 17th (Leicestershire) and 59th (2nd Nottinghamshire) regiments of foot, which formed the garrison of Fort William in
Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
. Here he came to see the effect of
cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
. He was then sent to
Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sch ...
where a malignant fever had prevailed and destroyed more than half the inhabitants of
Ganjam Ganjam is a town and a notified area council in Ganjam district in the state of Odisha, India. Brahmapur, one of the major city of Odisha is situated in this district. Geography Ganjam is located at in the Ganjam district of Odisha with an ...
. He saw action in a number of military engagements during the 1820s. The most notable of these was the
First Burmese War The First Anglo-Burmese War ( my, ပထမ အင်္ဂလိပ်-မြန်မာ စစ်; ; 5 March 1824 – 24 February 1826), also known as the First Burma War, was the first of three wars fought between the British and Burmes ...
from 1823 to 1826. His war experiences, especially the fact that diseases affected the
natives Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
and the
Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common genetic ancestry, common language, or both. Pan and Pfeil (2004) ...
differently, led him to believe that mapping of the medical features of the empire in much the same way as
topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...
was critical for military and economic development. His notes on the medical topography of
Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
pioneered a genre of works that explored linkages between climate, public health and development. He was made the President of the East India Company's medical board in 1843. In 1856, he substantially re-wrote and extended the then well-known treatise on diseases in the tropics, ''Influence of Tropical Climates'' originally authored by
James Johnson James Johnson may refer to: Artists, actors, authors, and musicians *James Austin Johnson (born 1989), American comedian & actor, ''Saturday Night Live'' cast member *James B. Johnson (born 1944), author of science nonfiction novels *James P. John ...
. He was also appointed as a member of the Sanitary Commission and contributed to the report of the Commission published in 1863.
Smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
vaccinations had been started in India around 1803, well before his arrival but Martin was the first major advocate of
preventive medicine Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, consists of measures taken for the purposes of disease prevention.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental hea ...
. He proposed in 1835 that Company medical officers should collect statistics of places so that they could be collated for study. His pioneering report on the need for
public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...
measures and the universal provision of clean water in Calcutta in 1836 called for a whole series of medico-topographical reports on India by the medical service. During the Burma War, a number of his colleagues in the Medical Department of the Bengal Army wrote topographies of
Rakhine State Rakhine State (; , , ; formerly known as Arakan State) is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady R ...
, and in the following years other Company surgeons began to follow suit, producing detailed medical surveys of their town or district. The
Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta The ''Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta'' was a society of British officials, mostly physicians, formed on March 1, 1823. The society published a quarterly journal and met at the Asiatic Society. The journal published articles on diseases pr ...
, of which Martin was a prominent member, and its counterparts in other presidencies, encouraged the publication of such reports in their transactions. Many of these reportsStebbing, E.P (1922)''The forests of India'' vol. 1, pp. 72–81 spoke about the rapid rates of deforestation since the early 1820s. Such reports were instrumental in institutionalization of
forest conservation Sustainable forest management (SFM) is the management of forests according to the principles of sustainable development. Sustainable forest management has to keep the balance between three main pillars: ecological, economic and socio-cultural. ...
activities in
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
through the establishment of Forest Departments and the
Indian Forest Service The Indian Forest Service (IFS) is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India. The other two All India Services being the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service. It was constituted in the year 1966 und ...
.


Notes


Sources

* Grove, R. H. (1997) ''Ecology, Climate and Empire'' The White House Press, UK, pp. 237 * Sir Joseph Fayrer, Life of the Inspector General Sir James Ranald Martin (London, 1897) D.N.B., 12, pp. I 165–6.


External links


The Influence of tropical climates on European constitutions (1856)


{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, James Ranald 1796 births 1874 deaths People from the Isle of Skye Scottish surgeons Fellows of the Royal Society Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery