ABSTRACT
Martin was appointed Bengal Presidency Surgeon in 1830, and served also as Surgeon to Calcutta General Hospital. His Notes was the first attempt to survey the sanitary and medical condition of Calcutta. In surveying the history of improvement, assessing the current state of affairs and suggesting solutions to the historical neglect of sanitation, however, Martin’s approach was sketchy, far from comprehensive, and was clearly primarily concerned with improving the conditions of European residents when faced with what he considered to be the squalid habits of indigenous inhabitants. It was largely with these concerns in mind that Martin simultaneously strove to establish the Fever Hospital and the Municipal Improvements Committee, which over the next ten years of investigation published a series of reports that did much to reveal the sanitary state of Calcutta, although rather less to implement reform. He also served on the Royal Commission on the Sanitary State of the Army, and was knighted.
