NATURE 



[November i, 1894 



ECONOMIC PRODUCTS OF INDIA. 



A Dictionary of the Economic Products of India. By 

 George Watt, M.B., CM., C.I.E., assisted by numerous 

 contributors. In six volumes (vol. vi. in four parts), 

 18S9-1S93. Published under the authority of the 

 Government of India, Department of Revenue and 

 Agriculture. (Calcutta : Superintendent of Government 

 Printing.) 



THE completion of this important work adds enor- 

 mously to the facilities previously existing for 

 acquiring a knowledge of the vegetable, mineral, and 

 animal products of our Indian empire. The object of 

 the dictionary is to give a complete account of all 

 Indian products that have been in any way utilised by 

 man, however smiU or trivial the use of them may have 

 been. As a large mijority of the products are of 

 vegetable origin, the appointment of a botanist as editor 

 and principal author was essential, and the Government 

 of India may be fairly congratulated on the result. 



In the preface to the first volume the author states 

 that he has had " to keep in view a two-fold purpose ; 

 viz. on the one hand to supply scientific information 

 which may be useful to the administrative oflfi:er, and on 

 the other to meet the requirements of the reader ia 

 search of definite information regarding Indian 

 economics." Whether another purpose was to produce 

 a large book is not stated, bat no feature of the work is 

 more conspicuous than that it consists of nine bulky and 

 rather closely-printed volumes. 



In general plan the dictionary consists of long and 

 elaborate accounts of the more important articles of 

 commerce produced in India, such as various grains, 

 dyes, oils, tea, cotton, sugar, indigo, wool, silk, &c., and 

 shorter notices of less valuable products. As a general 

 rule each vegetable product is described under the 

 scientific name of the plant from which it is obtained, 

 cross references being supplied where necessary under 

 English and Indian terms, and also under general head- 

 ings, such as " Oils and Fats," " Timbers," &c. Animal 

 and mineral products are described under various head- 

 ings. A general index is promised, and is needed, for 

 many important English and vernacular terms are not 

 found in their places. For instance, silk-cotton, semul, 

 jowari and ju.iri, b:'ijra, cholum, cumboo, charas, ganja, 

 ng.-ipi, civet (and Viverr.a) may be searched for in vain. 

 Tasar is inserted, but there is no reference to tusser or 

 tussah, the common spelling, in the place where these 

 words would come in alphabetical sequence. The article 

 on isinglass is slightly out of its proper place, and that 

 on sharks' fins and fish maws, to which reference is 

 made under both isinglass and fish, appears to have 

 been omitted. 



Each article, in the case of vegetable products, con- 

 sists of the scientific name of the plant, with references, 

 the English name, if one exists, and a list of vernacular 

 names, followed by full references to the works, scientific 

 or economic, in which the plant or its products have been 

 described. Then follow paragraphs on the habitat, 

 history and useful products, such as dyes, fibres, oils, 

 gumi, &c., each under a separate heading. Sometimes 

 a paragraph explains the chemical composition. Under 

 additional headings arc related the uses to which the 

 NO. 1305. VOL. 51] 



plant or its products are put in medicine, food, or the 

 arts, and to the paragraph on medicine another is fre- 

 quently added with "special opinions " by various medical 

 officers. In the case of trees the structure of the wood 

 receives special notice. The last paragraph of each 

 article describes the " domestic and sacred uses." With 

 mineral and animal products the plan is similar, but 

 details are given, as a rule, under general headings, such 

 as horns, skins, wool, iron, &c. In the first volume a 

 botanical diagnosis of each plant is generally added, bui 

 not in the later volumes. .A number for each separate 

 product or use is inserted in the margin to facilitate 

 reference, the numbers commencing afresh under each 

 letter of the alphabet. 



The longer articles contain full descriptions ol 

 cultivation, trade, manufactures, and other important 

 subjects. 



Whilst the bulk of the work is by Mr. Watt, many 

 articles have been contributed, partly or wholly, by other 

 writers. The list of contributors affixed to the first 

 volume refers only to that volume, or to that and the 

 second, for in the prefaces to the third and subsecjuent 

 volumes several additional names are mentioned, one of 

 them, Dr. J. Murray, being that of the author of several 

 important articles. AH of the principal contributors, 

 except .Mr. Watt (and he holds the degree of M.B.), 

 belong to the Indian Medical Service, so that it is not 

 surprising to find a very large space devoted to drugs 

 and therapeutics. In fact, the whole work might fairly 

 be termed a dictionary of economic products and 

 materia medica. Many of the plants catalogued are ap- 

 parently included solely because of some medicinal or 

 supposed medicinal use, frequently by ignorant people. 

 For example, on the last two pages of the work, Zornict 

 diphylla is introduced on account of its use thus quoted 

 under the head of" Medicine'' : "The root is given, '.along 

 with that of Bhadar jhapni, to induce sleep in children. 

 These plants shutting up their leaves at night have pro- 

 bably suggested the idea to theojhas." The quotation 

 is from a report by Mr. Campbell on the " Economic 

 Products of Chutia Nagpur." No reference can be found 

 to Bhadar jhapni in its place in the dictionary. 



The " special opinions," quoted from various medical 

 writers on therapeutics, are of a miscellaneous nature, 

 and no distinction is drawn between notices of the pur- 

 poses for which drugs are used by competent physicians, 

 and those of occasions on which they are prescribed by 

 ignorant hakims or superstitious herbalists. All this 

 part of the work might have been omitted with advan- 

 tage ; however useful such opinions might be in a special 

 work on drugs and therapeutics, the details are out of 

 place in a description of economic products. One instance 

 may be quoted. I'nder the head of "Diamond," the 

 following occurs : " iMcdicinc. — Diamond dust is known 

 to be a powerful mechanical poison. In Hindu practice 

 it is, however, to some extent used as a drug" (just as 

 gold, silver, pearls, and other precious substances are 

 regarded by unscientific races as possessing great medi- 

 cinal virtues). The whole extract is too long to quote, 

 but the " special opinion" runs thus : " Employed as a 

 poison, it is administered in the shape of dust, as in the 

 late celebrated case when the Resident of Baroda, Sir 

 Arthur Phayre, nearly lost his life." The Resident of 



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