On the Botany of India. 127 



tlie circumstance of its being the first containing botanical 

 figures lithographed in India, and drawn by native painters. 



Dr WaUich's second work, which is much more magnificent 

 than the other, is intended to give descriptions and coloured 

 figures of the rarest plants of Asia*. It is to consist of three 

 volumes. The first number, which has just made its appear- 

 ance, announces that this collection will be one of the most va- 

 luable of which the science has to boast, and will rival the great 

 works of Rheede, Ruraphius, and RoKburgh. 



Besides the capital works of Roxburgh and Wallich, there 

 are others which the East India Company has encouraged or 

 protected. MM. Kcenich, Heyne -f-, Carey, Patrick, Russel, 

 Rottler, Klein, Wight, Finlayson, &c. have traversed various 

 parts of India for the purpose of examining its vegetation. For 

 about fifty years back, all the collections of dried plants made 

 by these zealous travellers have been sent to I^ondon, and are 

 preserved in the Company's Museum. The very immensity of 

 these materials has shewn the Honourable Directors of that In- 

 stitution the impossibility of rendering them useful without the 

 co-operation of a great number of observers. By a decision re- 

 markable for its bounty and liberality, the Court of Directors 

 has instructed Dr Wallich, who is now in London, to distribute 

 these valuable collections among the principal botanists of Eu- 

 rope, at the same time taking suitable measures to ensure their 

 publication. This liberal distribution has already commenced, 

 and it is likely, that, through the generosity of the Company, 

 the whole of the plants collected in India will soon be added to 

 the mass of known vegetables. Their number is estimated at 

 seven or eight thousand species ; and it may easily be conceived 

 how many new facts, ideas, and connections will arise from this 

 immense addition to our botanical knowledge. The East India 

 Company has thus acquired the most honourable right to the 

 gratitude of the learned of all countries ; and we are certain, 

 that all the friends of science will applaud this great act of li- 

 berality, and will join us in expressing their gratitude. 



• PlarUte Asiaticce Rarwres. Fol. London and Paris, 1829. Treuttel and 

 Wurtz. 



•f- Some of the plants collected by Mr Heyne, and sent by him to his 



friend Mr Roth, have been published by the latter under the title of Nov(b 



Plantarum Species, prtsserlim Indioa OricnlaHs, ex collectionc Doct. BenJ. Ileynii. 



1 vol. Hvo. Halberstedii, 1821. 



