INTRODUCTION, xlv 



But for the proper study of the subject, a work exclusively 

 devoted to Indian medicinal plants has been a great desideratum 

 in the medical literature of India. Messrs. Hooker and Thomp- 

 son writing as far back as 1855, said : — 



" We have had a considerable experience both in medical 

 and economic botany, and we announce boldly our conviction 

 that so far as India is concerned these departments are at a 

 standstill for want of an accurate scientific guide to the flora of 

 that country. "• 



The flora of British India commenced by Sir Joseph Hooker 

 in 1872 is now completed. The great value of this work as a 

 scientific guide to the plants of this country can hardly be 

 doubted. The foundation of a medical botany of India should 

 be grounded on this work. In this medical botany should be 

 included all the plants that are used medicinally by the natives 

 of this country. A very large number, perhaps the vast majority 

 of these plants, will be found perfectly useless, but in the present 

 state of our knowledge we are not justified in excluding any 

 from the list. The great aim of this work being to collect and 

 identify the medicinal plants of the country, it should, after 

 giving the plants its modern scientific name, insert the synonyms 

 under which it was known in former times. 



The value of Sanskrit and vernacular names of plants has 

 been much questioned by botanists for purposes of identification. 

 But, I think, these synonyms help a great deal towards identi- 

 fication, f 



* Introductory Essay to the Flora Indica, p. 3, London, 1855. 



| The importance of Sanskrit names of plants was fully understood by 

 Sir William Jones, the President Pounder of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 

 More than a century ago he suggested that " the first step in compiling a trea- 

 tise on the plants of India should be to write their true names in Roman 

 letters, according to the most accurate orthography, and in Sanskrit preferably 

 to any vulgar dialect ; because a learned language is fixed in books, while 

 popular idioms are in constant fluctuation, and will not perhaps be understood 

 a century hence by the inhabitants of these Indian territories, whom future 

 botanists may consult on the common appellations of trees and flowers." 

 (Sir Wm. Jones' Works, Vol. II, London, 1799, p. 2.) 



On another occasion Sir Wm. Jones said : — 



"I am very solicitous to give Indian plants their true Indian appellation ; 

 because I am fully persuaded, that Linnreus himself would have adopted them, 

 had he known the learned and ancient language of this country. * * * Far 

 am I from doubting the great importance of perfect botanical descriptions; 

 for languages expire as nations decay, and the true sense of many appellatives 

 in every dead language must be lost in the course of ages ; but as long as those 



