Dr. Chattopadhyay explores two neglected topics. The first is slavery in Bengal Presidency under British rule. The second is a history of its regulation, and of its abolition in 1843. Official inquiries into slavery, rhetorically organized to support its regulation or abolition, are his more important sources. He apparently follows these sources not only in treating both of the topics noted, but also in his line of argument generally - which stresses the extensiveness and pernicity of slavery, and, by implication, the impact of its abolition.