INTRODUCTION. 



xlvii 



abounds with professional herbalists. There are the Mnsheras 

 in Central and Upper India, whose principal livelihood consists 

 in the collection and sale of medicinal roots and herbs.* 



In Bengal there are the Malis, Bagdis, Kaibartas, 

 Pods, Chandals, Kaoras and Karangas, who principally carry 

 on the trade in jungle products.! In Bombay, the Chadras, 

 Bhils, and Gamtas are the herbalists. Now, these communities 

 can prove of immense service to our medical practitioners in 

 supplying medicinal plants. But as they are not trained in 

 any university so as to be able to understand the Latin or scien- 

 tific names of plants, the only way to secure their services 

 lies with the medical practitioners in mastering the native 

 names of plants. A great deal of time and trouble will be 

 saved by thus giving the vernacular names of plants the impor- 

 tance they deserve. 



It is, however, proper to add that too much confidence can not 

 be placed in the vernacular nomenclature. In India, in the same 

 district, one and the same name is applied to two or more 

 different plants. And in some instances, names without any 



excelsum should be looked to as likely to prove a valuable specific for malari- 

 ous fevers, is pretty certain to be quite thrown away on a medical officer, 

 who is not an expert in botany, for not a single native name for this tree is 

 given either in the book itself or in the index ; and though it might happen 

 to grow in forests round his station, the committee put him in possession of 

 no means of recognising it. * * * This very grave defect in the 

 Pharmacopoeia, cannot be removed by the publication of a separate catalogue 

 of native names, as proposed. In a second edition we hope to see not only a 

 full vernacular index, but to find, following the botanical name of each 

 substance, as complete a list as possible of the vernacular synonyms for it 

 which are current in the three presidencies." (Calcutta Review for 1869, 

 p. 201.) 



All the above extracts will show that the importance of vernacular names 

 of plants is fully recognised by those whose opinion is entitled to respect on 

 this subject. 



* An excellent account of this tribe is given by Mr. J. C. Nesfield, 

 M. A., Inspector of Oudh Division, Lucknow, in the Calcutta Review for 

 January, 1888. Mr. Nesfield writes : — " Indian physicans (Vaidya) and Indian 

 druggists (Pansari) are almost dependent as far as medicines are concerned, 

 on what Musheras supply to them. * * It is much to the credit of 

 Musheras that they have given a marked preference to the study of nature, 

 and opened the door to the discovering of natural remedies. In fact, their 

 knowledge of medicine is one of the chief characteristics of this tribe. * * 

 They collect medicinal herbs for sale and receive grain or money for 

 what they supply. * * * I know of no parallel to such knowledge as 

 that possessed by Musheras within India itself." (Calcutta Review, pp. 40-41, 

 for January, 1888.) 



t Hunter's Statistical Account of Bengal, Vol. I, p. 27. 



