356 SOME REPUTED MEDICINAL PLANTS OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 



In regard to the " 'New Remedies/' it will be well to remember 

 the judicious remarks of Sir Joseph Hooker in his introductory- 

 essay on the Flora of Australia, appended to the "Floia of 

 Tasmania." 



"I have not alluded to pharmaceutical plants : such may exist, 

 and multitudes of the weeds, seeds, and roots of Australia will no 

 doubt enjoy a more or less substantial reputation as drugs, for a 

 period, and then be consigned to oblivion. This is the pharma- 

 ceutical history of the plants of all countries that have long been 

 inhabited by civilized man, and Australia will form no exception 

 to them, the fact being, that of the multitude of names of plants 

 that appear in Pharmacopoeias, the number of really active and 

 useful plants is extremely small." 



Queensland is by far the richest of the colonies in ]^lants con- 

 cerning which medicinal properties have been recorded ; but the 

 great majority of these will be found to be also common to India 

 and the Archipelago, and to have been used by the natives of those 

 countries. 



With the exception of some plants not endemic in Australia, 

 which have already been utilized by dwellers in older countries, 

 most of the plants of this continent I'eputed medicinal, have 

 been inquired into only when their true botanical positions 

 wei'e assigned. We are aware that certain properties are 

 possessed by plants belonging to certain genera and natural 

 orders ; when an Australian plant is found to belong to 

 such an order or genus, we can usually make a veiy 

 sagacious surmise as to its properties. The science of botany, 

 therefore, may save the student of Materia Medica from 

 groping about, and testing plants in an empirical way. Never- 

 theless, there is still much empiricism in the study of vegetable 

 INIateria Medica, as it is only of comj^aratively recent years that the 

 analyst and physician have recognised the enormous mutual 

 advantage of co-operation with the botanist. Yet comparatively 

 few genera have been tested for medicinal properties throughout 

 the world, so that the limit of the aid afibrded us by analogy is 

 easily passed. 



