﻿XXII. 



THE DESIGN OF A TREATISE ON THE 

 PLANTS OF INDIA. 



BY THE PRESIDENT. 



THE greatest-, if not the only, obstacle to the pro- 

 gress of knowledge in these provinces, except 

 in those branches of it which belong immediately to 

 our several professions, is our want of leisure for gene- 

 ral researches ; and, as Archimedes, who was happily 

 master of his time, had not space enough to move 

 the greatest weight with the smallest force, thus we, 

 who have ample space for our inquiries, really want 

 time for the pursuit of them. " Give me a place to 

 iC stand oa, said the great mathematician, and I will 

 " move the whole earth :" Give us time, we may say, 

 for our investigations, and we will transfer to Europe 

 all the sciences, arts, and literature of Asia. " Not 

 to have despaired," however, was thought a degree 

 of merit in the Roman General, even though he was 

 defeated; and, having some hope that others may 

 occasionally find more leisure than it will ever, at 

 least in this country, be my lot to enjoy, I take the 

 liberty to propose a work, from which very curious 

 information, and possibly very solid advantage, may 

 be derived. 



Some hundreds of plants, which are yet imperfectly 

 known to European botanists, and with the virtues of 

 which they are wholly unacquainted, grow wild on 

 the plains and in the forests of India. The Amarcosh, 

 an excellent vocabulary of the Sanscrit language, con- 

 tains in one chapter the names of about three hun- 

 dred medicinal vegetables ; the Medini may com- 



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