John Davy (1790-1868) spent years as an army surgeon, and was stationed in the Mediterranean from 1824 to 1835. He took notes on his surroundings, later published in this two-volume 1842 work. Volume 2 gives observations of society in the islands, and a view of health problems in Constantinople.

The English doctor John Davy (1790-1868) was the younger brother of the chemist Sir Humphry Davy, of whom he wrote a memoir, also reissued in this series. After graduating from Edinburgh University, he entered the Army as a surgeon and was posted overseas. From 1824 to 1835 he was stationed in the Mediterranean, and later at Constantinople. Davy took detailed notes of the places he visited and the people he met, and turned some of these writings into books; his scientific observations led to him being made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1834. Davy's account of his time in the Mediterranean was published in two volumes in 1842. Volume 2 continues the description of the Ionian islands and their people. Later chapters focus on health issues, such as malaria and other diseases, with the final chapters discussing Constantinople and examining the problems faced by Turkish army hospitals.