locally available sources of medicine to be utilized to provide inexpensive aid. As a teacher, he took students on field trips to the Botanical Garden to introduce them to the local medicinal plants. In 1837 he prepared a Manual of Chemistry of which a thousand copies were printed for use in Calcutta. A second edition was produced in 1842. Another major book was the Bengal Dispensatory and Pharmacopeia which included an appendix on the "improvement of Bengal pottery" (1840) since earthenware imports from Europe were proving to be expensive. The Bengal Dispensatory included descriptions of several plant species that were made or overseen by Wallich including those of Abelmoschus longifolius, Pharbitis caerulea, Hebradendron pictorium and Garcinia pictoria. These descriptions have often been overlooked by botanists in the past. Return to India In 1844, O'Shaughnessy returned to India, where he worked in various government positions in the fields of pharmacology and assay. Lord Dalhousie became interested in the establishment of a telegraphic network and he learnt of the work of O'Shaugnessy and found that he could work on the scheme. Dalhousie informed the Military Board that O'Shaugnessy was to work directly under Dalhousie's supervision and report directly without any other intermediary authorities. During this period he began work on various telegraph instruments and systems. After briefly returning to England in 1852, O'Shaughnessy was appointed Superintendent of Telegraphs in 1852. During the years 1853-5 3500 miles of telegraph were installed across India and he wrote numerous manuals and reports on his telegraph inventions. O'Shaughnessy was on leave in England during the mutiny year but in the same year Morse code was introduced into India and a message from Delhi to Punjab helped in moving troops in time. In 1858 a cable was laid in the Gulf of Mannar between India and Ceylon. O'Shaughnessy introduced a coil of fine wire in the circuit to protect the cables from lightning. His successor in the telegraphs department, Charles Adley, became a fierce critic of O'Shaughnessy's work. Knighthood and return to England In 1856 he was knighted by Queen Victoria for his work on the telegraph in India. He was appointed Director-General of Telegraphs at this time. During the following years O'Shaughnessy wrote on telegraphy-related subjects, including a book of private codes for encrypted telegraphy. In 1860, O'Shaughnessy returned to Europe for sick leave where he remained in obscurity until his death from senile asthenia at