Abstract
A common assumption in South Asian medical history is the existence of fixed, unified, coherent, and well delineated medical systems. The presence of a medical “mainstream Research Institute” they often assume. This article contends that Bengal was the birthplace of both the “mainstream” or “orthodox” allopathy and its “alternative” homoeopathy. It highlights how the so-called “fringe” (homoeopathy) helped define and structure the “orthodoxy” of the period. Important spaces for the formation and reinforcement of such binary identities as “homoeopaths” and “allopaths” emerged in the joint pharmaceutical and printing markets. This article examines a variety of medically-themed polemical works published in Bengali from the 1860s. These mostly addressed the scope, definition, and character of “scientific” medicine and were published in popular medical publications in the late nineteenth century. This article argues that the critical letters and written disagreements between doctors in Bengali print were crucial in developing the terms “allopathy” and “homoeopathy” at the same time. It deconstructs the ways in which modern theories of nationalism, racism, and culture shaped these debates over medicine. It goes on to examine how these medical contestations—which are often nastily called “debates”—have become a staple of modern discourse when it comes to talking about “science” in everyday language.
Keywords: Scientific Medicine, Debate, Vernacular, Medical Correspondence, Medical System, Orthodoxy.