128 On the Botany of India. 



The very manner in which this great operation is performed 

 adds to its utility, and deserves being made known. 



All the species of the different collections are arranged under 

 their famihes and genera by Dr Wallich, and the principal 

 EngUsh botanists Messrs Brown, Lindley, Bentham, &c. Each 

 has a number attached to it, and receives a provisory name. 

 Lithographic copies are printed of the lists of these names, ac- 

 companied with the designation of the different localities in which 

 the plant has been gathered. All the specimens furnished with 

 one number, refer to these lists, and in this manner, those who 

 may see them in the different collections in Europe, will be 

 certain of their identity with those which are described. By 

 this very simple process, all the uncertainties to which the sight 

 of isolated specimens frequently give rise, will be removed 



Each family of plants is sent to the botanist who has given 

 proof of his peculiar fitness for its examination, by the mono- 

 graphs which he has published, commenced, or projected on it. 

 Thus, to confine ourselves to a few examples which have come 

 to our knowledge, Mr Brown has got the Rubiaceae, &c. ; Mr 

 G. Bentham the Caryophylleae, Labiatae, &c. ; Mr Lindley the 

 Rosacea3, &c. ; M. De CandoUe the Umbelliferae, Caprifoliaceae, 

 Lorantheae, &c. ; Mr Adolphe de Candolle the Campanulaceae ; 

 Mr Choisy the Convolvuli, &c. Each of these monographists 

 receive the first disposable duplicates in the part confided to 

 him, and is to make them known to the public. The other spe- 

 cimens are distributed in such a manner as to be divided into 

 collections destined for different countries, and thus contribute, 

 in the most efficient manner, to extend a knowledge of the bo- 

 tany of India. 



If the gratitude of naturalists is first due to the Honourable 

 East India Company, it is also due to Dr Wallich, who super- 

 intends this distribution. So far from taking advantage of his 

 situation for reserving to himself the publication of these riches, 

 he only occupies himself in distributing them among his col- 

 leagues in the manner most useful for the advancement of Na- 

 tural History. He employs, for the purpose of facilitating the 

 labours of botanists in general, the valuable time which he might 

 employ in his own private labours, and by this, proves that he 

 sees glory where it really is, in usefulness. How widely diffe- 



