Catalogue description Medical and surgical journal of His Majesty's hired convict ship Asia for 24 September...

Medical and surgical journal of His Majesty's hired convict ship Asia for 24 September 1831 to 27 February 1832 by Andrew Douglas Wilson, Surgeon, during which time the said ship was employed on a voyage to New South Wales.

Folios 1-5: Samuel Wards, aged 27, Convict; disease or hurt, opthalmia. Put on sick list, 30 September 1831, Spithead. Discharged, 31 December 1831. Had been suffering inflammation of the eyes for some time past in the hulks but received no treatment. The inflammation is said to have become worse through exposure to the wind.

Folios 5-7: John Tierney, aged 19, Convict; disease or hurt, caries bones of the elbow. Put on sick list, 17 October 1831, at sea. Retained in the hospital for medical comforts but without hope of a cure during the voyage, 1 December 1831. When examined on the hulk he said his arm was only a little enlarged and stiff from a hurt and that he was in good health, this was not contradicted by the Surgeon of the hulk or his assistant, who were present. An abscess about two inches in diameter was found above the inner condyle of the humerus, with sinuses in every direction, one deep enough for the whole length of the probe. He had been a chimney sweep and his arm had become affected while under the influence of mercury about 12 months previously. Supplied with a flannel roller and flannel shirt and trousers.

Folios 7-8: George Brammer, aged 24, Convict; disease or hurt, hernia humeralis. Put on sick list, 5 November 1831, at sea. Discharged, 25 November 1831. The left testis, which had at some former time been very injured, was greatly enlarged and inflamed, with an ulcer on the site of an old sore. He had fallen and struck his testicle about a week previously.

Folios 8-9: Francis Carberry, aged 25, Convict; disease or hurt, obstipatio. Put on sick list, 26 November 1831, at sea. Discharged, 1 December 1831. Suffering severe headache, pain in the orbits and vertigo, tongue loaded and has great thirst. Put on sick list, 26 November 1831, at sea. Discharged, 1 December 1831.

Folio 9: Samuel Lovett, aged 30, Convict; disease or hurt, phlogosis. Put on sick list, 20 December 1831. Discharged, 20 January 1832. Was seen to walk lame and on examining his right knee it was found to be in a state of high inflammation.

Folio 10: William Price, aged 40, Convict; disease or hurt, rheumatism. Put on sick list, 21 December 1831. Discharged, 6 January 1832. Was under slight catarrhal symptoms and complaining also of pain in the lumbar region, which always affected him on catching colds.

Folio 10: John Tierney, [aged 19, Convict]; disease or hurt, caries bones of the elbow. Treatment resumes, 9 January 1832. Discharged to hospital in Sydney, New South Wales, 17 February 1832, at the request of the Colonial Surgeon.

Folio 11: Abstract of the preceding journal, being a summary of all the cases contained therein, nosologially arranged. A total of 7 cases: one each of opthalmia, phlogosis and rheumatismus under the class Pyrexia and order Plegmasia; in the class Locales and order Epsicheses, one obstipatio; in the class Locales and order Tumores, one hernia humeralis; and, in the class locales and order Dialyses, two cases of caries.

Folios 12-14: Surgeon's general remarks. The convicts were supposed to be in good health when embarked at Portsmouth but it was soon found that one had an ulcer of some standing with anchylosed bones of the joint. When questioned he admitted he had concealed the actual state of his arm because he did not wish it to jeopardise his transportation because he 'wished to better his condition'. The Surgeon states that although he was landed in better health than he had embarked, 'he was a bad subject for New South Wales in as much as he was nearly a useless one'. The case of opthalmia is discussed briefly and the other cases dismissed as commonplace and requiring no comment. The Surgeon comments that he did not have the material for a 'more copiously filled journal' and the only serious case was rheumatism which affected himself. He was so ill that on arrival in Sydney he had to be hoisted out of the ship in a chair. The disease was then mainly in the hip but had since spread to almost every part of his body and confined him to bed, he goes on to describe his own symptoms. He attributes the illness to a fall on the Convict Ship Princess Royal three years previously. Several pieces of bone were removed from his skull as a result of the wound leaving a deep fossa in the superior part of the os frontis large enough to place the thumb into. He says the injury may form the subject of a future communication. He is writing while making his homeward journey, sitting up in bed while passing through the Straits of Sunda. Because of his health he could not make the homeward journey around Cape Horn in the winter season and is returning by the route he is by permission of the Governor of New South Wales, on advice of the Colonial Surgeon. Signed, Andrew Douglas Wilson, Surgeon Superintendent.

Folios 15-16: Blank.