Samuel Browne (surgeon)

Aside from his work he collected specimens of the local plants, especially grasses, along with vernacular names and made notes on their applications in medicine and other traditional use.

He corresponded with several other contemporary naturalists including John Ray, Georg Joseph Kamel (of Camellia fame) and James Petiver.

Browne had previously served aboard a ship, the Dragon, and was locally posted on 7 May 1688 after the death of Dr John Heathfield.

The official surgeon appointed by the Company was Edward Bulkley who arrived only in 1692 and even after he did Browne continued to receive pay.

The autopsy was conducted by Dr Bulkley and this was possibly the first post-mortem report published by the East India Company.

[10] Browne got into further trouble after drinking and challenging another physician, Dr. Blackwall from Cuddalore, to a duel in 1693; and was held in custody again in April 1696 for assaulting an Indian ("pulling the beard of a Mughal customs official"[11]).

[12] Browne's plant collections in the Sloane Herbarium are made up of seven large volumes with dried specimens and Tamil names both in the original script (written on strips of palm leaf) and transliterated.

When Browne was discharged in 1698 he wrote to Petiver that he had made arrangements for a "Malabar" (Tamil-speaking) doctor to help Edward Bulkley.