Commonplace book (1801-1846) compiled by G. Harris, while surgeon aboard a British East India Company opium-carrying ship, the 750 ton Lady Flora, just off Singapore, wherein he documents his care of two patients, a comatose 6-year old boy suffering from fever, and a 30 year old woman who was hemorrhaging; lists of more than forty books; abstracts from them including medical titles such as "Diseases of the East Indies," "Johnstone on Diseases of Hot Climates," "Jenner on Vaccine Inoculation," Erasmus Darwin's "Zoonomia...," Burke's "Essay on the Sublime," and "Southey's Life of Nelson"; including an engraved stationer's seal from I. W. Norie and Co. on the front pastedown; a "A New and Correct Plan of the City of Bath, published in 1801, and a several loose notes.
The Lady Flora was launched in 1813 and only made one voyage for the British East India Company from 1815-1816. The Llyod's List shows Lady Flora pulling into Portsmouth after leaving London on her way to Bengal. When being entered into the Register of Shipping in 1815 the ship changes hands to Captain Thomas Brown.
•W. North and Co. (Successors to the lat Wm. Heather) Chart and Map Sellers to the Admiralty and the Honble. East India Compy (undated) Printed label. 1 item. 1 p. Note: Glued to inside front cover.
•Title Page Common Place Book—Ship. G. Harris 1817. Medical and Surgical Cases. 1 item. 1 p.
•Medical and Surgical Cases—Case 1st. Ship Lady Flora Lat 1.40' South; Long. 105.15' Et. (3–11 January 1816) Page 1–4.
•Case 2d. Ship Lady Flora Lat; Long. (13–23 March 1816) Page 5–9.
•Books Etc. Nos. 1–44. (undated) Pages 10–11.
•Army of Xerxes (undated) Pages 13–14.
•Island of Johanna (undated) Pages 14–15.
•The Solar Systems, Vede Ferguson's Astronomy, Vol. 1 (undated) Pages 15–23.
•[Ancient Accounts of India], Roberts of India (undated) Pages 23–32.
•On May 17th while in the Lat. Of 8 15' N. and Long 61, 34' Et. Observed a very considerable eclipse of the sun, ... (1816) Page 33.
•A Case if Barbiers, known to the naives on the coast of Malabar by the name of Beriberi, Dr. Aikin's Lectures, Vol. 2 (15 June 1817) Pages 23–37.
•Many philosophers have believed that the central parts of the earth consist of a fluid mass of burning lava..., Note to Darwin's Botanic Gardens (undated) Page 37.
•The immediate cause of volcanic activity... Note to Darwin's Botanic Gardens (undated) Page 38.
•French Division of the Years (undated) Page 39–42.
•Quotation from Gulliver's Travels, Vol. 2d (undated) Page 42–43.
•The word pagoda is formed from the Persian words... Maurice's Antiquities of India (undated) Page 43.
•It will be alleged that in all Christian colonies the slaves are so far protected from the injustices of their masters..., Zetuco, A Novel by Wm. Moore, Vol. 1st. (undated) Page 44–45.
•A Dream [Poem] (undated) Page 46.
•Verses [Poem] (undated) Page 47–48.
•Riga [Latvia], Kotzebue's Travels in Italy (undated) Pages 48–51.
•Titles of the Duke of Wellington [1812–1815] From Geo. Elliott's Life of Wellington (undated) Page 51–52.
•Old buck, [From] The Antiquary, a Novel by Scott (undated) Pages 52–54.
•[Quotations from] Bruce's Travels in Abyssinia (undated) Pages 54–56.
•Sir Geo. Fountain's Embassy to China (undated) Pages 56–57.
•Memorandum—The object of arranging the soil of fields into ridges (undated) Page 57.
•The Excavated Temple on Elephanta [Island near Bombay, India], [From] Maurice's History of Hindustan (undated) Pages 58–71.
•Emperor and the Nine Orders of Mandarins in Chins, According to Revd. Mr. Morrison, Missionary. (undated) Pages 71–73.
•At two O'clock in the morning July 10th 1806 the European barracks, at Vellore, containing then 4 complete companies of the 69th Regt. Were surrounded by two battalions of Sepoys in the Company's service... [From] Edinburgh Review No. 23 (undated) Page 73–74.
•Scotland was formerly inhabited by different people... [From] Guthrie's Geographical Grammar (undated) Page 74–75.
•Directly oppose the Irish coast there is a seaport town called Bristol, [From] William of Malmsbury, Book 2d, Otaf 20.
•Character of the Principal Nations of Europe, From Kotzebue (undated) Pages 77–79.
•Where shall the lover rest [poem], [From] Scot's Marmion, Canto 3 (undated) Page 79.
•Dame Heron, rises with a smile [poem] [From] Lady Heron's Song (undated) Page 80–81.
•Young Lochinvar [poem] (undated) Page 81–83.
•Rose of Cashmir [Kashmir] [From] Forests in Cashmir by Geo. Forster, Esq., H. C. Civil Service (undated) Page 83.
•Tippoo Sultan's Palace at Srirangapattana [From] Asiatic Journal Register (1799) Page 84–85.
•Proclamation at St. Helena, By order of His Excellency the Governor and Council (17 August 1818) Pages 85–87. Note: Pages 85–86 separated.
•The magnetic needle was discovered (undated) Page 87.
•When Bonaparte stormed Jaffa (Joppa) [From] the Fact Related by Sir Robt. Wilson (undated) Page 87–88.
•The following remarkable instance of the amor patria is well known in India (undated) Page 88–89.
•Brooks History of ye. Island of St. Helena (undated) Pages 89–90.
•Mohammedan Faith (undated) Page 90–91.
•To Lady Anne Hamilton [poem] Pages 91–92.
•By the Population Report of 1822 [Male and Female Population of England, Wales and Scotland] over 100 years of age (1822) Page 92.
•Bachelors Fare, From ye. New Monthly Magazine [poem] (undated) Pages 92–93.
•Translation of an Arabic Inscription on a Marble Found in the Ruins of Persepolis (undated) Page 94.
•The Evening Star [poem] [From] Morning Herald, London paper (undated) Pages 94–95.
•The Gathering of Clan Conal [poem] (undated) Page 96.
•Average Duration of Life, According to Mr. Oddies of Switzerland (ca. 1826) Page 96.
•Pompeys Pillar, [From] Soninis Travels in Egypt (undated) Page 97.
•Talmud (undated) Page 97.
•Lunatics in England, Wales, Scotland (1829) Page 98. Note: Crossed out.
•Convivial Songs of the Greeks [lyrics] (undated) Page 98–99.
•Population of the World (undated) Page 99. Note: Crossed out.
•Capt. James Ross of Erebus (undated) Page 100.
•Alas she leaves a lovers heart to take a husband's hand [poem] (1823) Page 101.
•Terrestrial Magnetism (undated) Page 102.
•Terms used in the West Indies (undated) Page 102.
•[Story of a Bee] Ed. Weekly Chron (3 January 1846) Page 103.
•Caledonian Mercury, From Observer (24 August 1846) Page 103.
•What is that of which more has been written and spoken both in prose and poetry than of anything else, and which nevertheless has no existence? Ans. Friendship. (undated) Page 104.
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•Blank, Page 114.
•[Observations of Leeches] (undated) Page 115. 70)
•List of 45 Books (undated) Pages 116–117. Note: Written upside down.
•[Pencil and Pen sketches: Machine and Gentleman] (undated) Page 118.
•High St. Sir Herewith I beg to annex the dates of the lectures and trust the day names will prove convenient to you. (ca. March 1826) Page 119. Note: Pages 119–120 separated.
•Division calculations (undated) Page 120. Note: Pages 119–120 separated.
•A New and Correct Plan of the City of Bath. A scale of Two Furlongs or Quarter of a Mile = 40 mm. Published 5 November 1801, Bristol. Page 121. Note: Page 121 separated.
•Navigation calculations (undated) Page 120. Note: Inside back cover.
Purchase (Special Manuscript Fund), Ten Pound Island Book Co.
Encoded by Jonathan Dembo, March 20, 2009
Descriptions updated by Ashlyn Racine, August 2023
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.