V K E 1 A C E. 



IN pmcntiag thb Work to the Public. I fwl myself calle<l iiimii to notice briefly the circumstances out of h 

 MS arMCB, and tlie mmbcm whence the materiaLi of w hicb it is eompoeed have been derived. 



illlCll It 



I went to India in the yetr 1807. in the capacity of Surgeon to the Danish settlement of Serampur in Bengal, 

 oo roy arriral bad the adrantage of becoming personally acquainted with the late Dr. Itoxburgh, 

 thf« SapcnMudaBt of the HoooaraUe Cooipany's Botanic Garden at Calcutta. I continued to benefit by the 

 rf Ad cfiiliagviahed botanist until 1812, when the state of my health obliijed me to proceed to the 

 Aboal a year after my retnni to Bengal, after an absence of some month.sv I was honoured by a com- 

 ia dw Coapany^f Medical Service ; and <m tlie departure for Europe of my late friend Dr. Hamilton, the 

 to Dr. RojdMUgli, in the beginning of 1H15, I was nominated to the temporary charge of the Garden at 

 Gilralta; an ap po uite ent wUch the Honourable CViurt of Directors were pleased to confirm jiermanently, at the 

 of the iMe Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Fleming, and of Mr. Colcbrooke. 



Thtf OpportHBitiet I hate cajoyed for prosecuting the study of Indian botany during the subsequent thirteen years, 

 oi^ the date of my departwe for Kuropr, will Ih* fully appreciated by those who are acquainted with the character 

 mm! alijrrtA of the tp J f t l dH Kstahftthmmt over which I wiis placed. 'Flic Botanic Garden at the time of my ap|K)int- 

 ■leal had been in esisteiiee aearly thirty years ; during which period, by the lalwurs of its enlightened founder, the 

 farte Colood Kyd, and by the scientific aeal and exertions of the late Drs. Hoxhiin;!) and Hamilton, and of Mr. G)le- 

 brookr. it bad hern enriched to an atent. which retpiires no other proof than that afforded by the Hortus IVngalensis, 

 nriotcd in \HV2. TKc native pbots contained in that publication had l)een fully described in Dr. Roxburgh's manu- 

 leript flora Indira, a w^>rk of sterling merit, illustrated by neariy 2000 original drawings, matle by native artists, of 



Hcll mpies exist in the Library of the Honourable C<>m|)any at the India House. 



In IJ'flO I madr a botanical excursion into Nipal, the riches of which country had already been o|)ened to me 



bv the fiberal fimfribnliom t>f my highly esteemed friend the Honourable Fldwanl Gardner. After continuing there a 



I fVtamcd to iIk OMeo, with the intention of publishing an account of the plants which I had collected ; but 1* 



wm uaalcd at the tiaie by a severe illness, which forced me iigain to seek benefit fVom a sea voyaire. On this 



