VI 



Roxburgh's Flora Indica, Ainslie's Materia Indica, 

 Fleming, the Hortus Bengalensis, a valuable cata- 

 logue of Hindu names in the Gleanings of Science, 

 &c. &c. 



It is one of the many peculiarities of our situation 

 in India, that those who have the most ability have 

 generally the least disposable time ; no where too, 

 do we so much find that, from the uncertainty of 

 health, of situation, and even of life, things must be 

 done as they best can, for the morrow is not ours : 

 and this may plead as a motive that one, a tyro in 

 Botany, should have undertaken such a work; for, of 

 the many so much better qualified than himself, not 

 one probably could have had time to execute a plan 

 requiring so much and such tedious detail. It is 

 hoped then, that where imperfections are met with, 

 it will be remembered, that its object is to save time 

 in research, and perhaps expence in books of refer- 

 ence; and that thus it is oneof those works which are 

 better ill done than not done at all. 





