xiiy APPENDIX. 



meetings, from the knowledge of chemistry, theoretical as well as practical, possessed 

 by many of its members, from the facilities which it affords for experiments and inquiries 

 into every branch of science, from its valuable and extensive library, from the evening 

 meetings which arc held at its house every Friday, from the scientific character of the 

 Society which attends these meetings, from the practical utility of the lectures which are 

 delivered at them, and from the encouragement which is afforded to scientific men by Mr. 

 Fuller, one of its most active and zealous supporters, * is evidently an institution which 

 is well calculated for assisting the Royal Asiatic Society in researches of the nature which 

 have been mentioned ; and the Committee are happy to be able to report, that a 

 communication has been opened between that Institution and the Society, which has 

 been attended with great benefit to the Society owing to the zeal of Mr. Faraday, 

 who is one of the most scientific chemists of the present time, and has frequently 

 afforded the Committee the assistance of his talents, and profound knowledge of 

 chemistry, in analysing and explaining to them the nature of the different combinations 

 of metals and other substances which the Society iiave received from various persons 

 in Asia, and which now form a part of the collection in their Museum. 



TJie Medico-Botanical Society. 

 The immense extent and variety of the soil and climate of the British terri- 

 tories in India ; the numbers and the varieties of the plants and other vegetable 

 productions which are used either for food or medicine by the natives of the 

 country; the facility which exists at present for the scientific investigation of their 

 nature, their growth, and their medical properties, by means of the able and well- 

 educated medical men who are stationed in every province ; the interest which has 

 been excited upon the subject by the works of Drs. Fleming, Roxburgh, and Ainslie ; 

 and the importance of such information to the British Government, with a view to the 

 economy of their medical department and to the increase of the exports from their East- 

 India colonies, have led the Committee to take measures for making collections of all the 

 plants and vegetable productions which are used in every part of India, either as food 

 or as medicine, for procuring accurate accounts of them from persons on the spot, 

 for obtaining copies of every work written upon the subject in any European or 

 Oriental language, and for opening a direct communication with the Medico- 

 Botanical Society in England, tiirough their President Sir James McGregor, who, from 

 the hi'Th professional character which he enjoys, and the public office which he 

 holds under the crown, lias great influence both public and private, not only with 

 all the members of his own Society and the medical men and botanists in Europe, 



* This gentleman lias lately had a certain number of gold and copper medals struck, at his own 

 expense, with the head of Lord Bacon on one side, and the name of the person to whom the medal is 

 given on the other, for distribution amongst such of the members of that Society as are the most dis- 

 tinguished for science. These medals, which are executed by Mr. Wyon, are specimens of the great 

 perfection to which that distinguished individual has arrived in his art. 



