ABSTRACT
As long as the Netherlands East Indies Company existed, that is between 1600 and 1800, most of the medical service both on the ships and in the Netherlands East Indies proper was entrusted to the care of “surgeons”. The opening of so many institutions of higher learning and of scientific research shows that the authorities responsible for the government of the Netherlands Indies always tried to remain abreast the development of scientific medicine in the home country. This chapter discusses the early introduction of the cowpox vaccination in the archipelago. In addition to the organization of an efficient Medical and Public Health Service, the medical corps of the Netherlands Indies can with pride look upon its scientific research which in several fields has led to important and original discoveries. The chapter also describes the original research which has been performed in the Netherlands Indies in the field of beri-beri, malaria sanitation, amebiasis, cholera, plague, leptospirosis, and filiariasis.
