This paper begins with a frame story, the reports on Indian medicine recorded in the seventeenth century travelogue of the British traveller John Fryer. Fryer's observations as an outsider are contrasted with an internal view of the works of three quite different Sanskrit medical authors who were working at about the time of his visit: the Vaidyajīvana of Lolimbarāja, the Rogārogavāda of Vīreśvara, and the Āyurvedasaukhya ascribed to . Questions are posed concerning the purposes of these works, their relative popularity, and their reception. Finally, Fryer's failure to penetrate the culture of Sanskritic medicine is highlighted.