Chap. IX.] 



BOTANY. 



505 



and a surgeon were borne on the establislunents of the 

 great monasteries^, and even some of the sovereigns 

 acquired renown by the study and practice of pliysic. 

 On Bujas Eaja, who became king of Ceylon, a.d. 339, 

 the Mahawanso pronounces the eulogium, that he " pa- 

 tronised the vktuous, discountenanced the wicked, ren- 

 dered the indigent happy, and comforted the diseased 

 by providing medical rehef." ^ He was the author of a 

 work on Surgery, which is still held in repute by his 

 countrymen ; he built hospitals for the sick and asylums 

 for the maimed, and the benefit of his science and skill 

 was not confined to his subjects alone, but was equally 

 extended to the rehef of the lower animals, elephants, 

 horses, and other suffering creatures. 



Botany. — The fact that the basis of their Materia 

 Medica has been chiefly derived from the vegetable king- 

 dom, coupled with the circumstance that their clothing 

 and food were both drawn from the same source, may 

 have served to give to the Singhalese an early and 

 intimate knowledge of plants. It was at one time 

 beheved that they were hkewise possessed of a com- 

 plete and general botanical arrangement ; but Moon, 

 whose attention was closely directed to tliis subject, 

 failed to discover any trace of a system ; and came 

 to the conclusion that, although well aware of the 

 various parts of a flower, and tlieir apparent uses, they 

 have never apphed that knowledge to a distribution of 

 plants by classes or orders.^ 



Geometry. — The invention of geometry has been 

 ascribed to the Egyptians, who were annually obhged to 

 ascertain the extent to which their lands had been 

 affected by the inundations of the Mle, and to renew 

 the obliterated boundaries. A similar necessity led 

 to hke proficiency amongst the people of Lidia and 



' Rock inscription at Miliintala, 

 A.r. 262. 



2 Mahawanso, cli, xxxvii. p. 242- 

 245. 



3 Moon's Catalogue of Indigenous 

 and Erotic Plant x (jrorvhvj in Ceylon. 

 4to. Colombo, 1824; p. 2. 



