214 JACK '8 LETTERS TO WALLICH, 1819-1821. 



It is not fair however to vent on you my lamentations, but I 

 know not bow it is when a subject is uppermost in my mind, it 

 must come out before I can go on, and T mention it to account for 

 a disjointed letter, as I foresee this will be. 



In a late advertisement respecting the Edinburgh Journal, 

 I think I saw an article announced under your name. w - Progress 

 of Botany in India" I think. Is it correct? 



I am glad to find the Patons 223 favorite.- of yours: they arc 

 very much so of mine. I received by young Hule the first volume 

 of Eoxburgh 224 and duly presented the copy to Sir Stamford. I 

 returned to Dr. Carey the portion of a copy still remaining here, 

 which had previously been received.- 1 '"' 



By the bye, I hope you do not mean to make my copy a gift, 

 in place of being my subscription to the work. Between you and 

 me such is by no means necessary. I wish further, that you would 

 order on my account a copy to be sent to my father. 1 think he 

 would like to see it and ('alder will forward it. 



Did I ever tell you of an idea that we started here some time 

 ago regarding your discovery of the Daphne cannabina? 22 * A 

 gentleman whose name I forget, hut who seems to be a scheming 

 sort of character wrote to Sir S. making a variety of requests, 

 such as, for the different kinds of grain, pulse etc. of this country, 

 and among other things, whether there was any material for paper 

 peculiar to the East, as an idea had been started, that if bank not' 3 

 could be made on paper of some foreign and difficultly procurable 

 material possessed of qualities different from the common Europe 

 paper, that the difficulty of forging them would be materially in- 

 creased. I suggested the Xepal paper as answering the required 

 conditions, and further being capable of being monopolised and, 

 vSir S. sent in consequence a copy of your account in the Asiatic 

 Besearches and the specimens of the paper which I gave him out 

 of the same. The idea seems to me feasible enough, and who 

 knows but your name may soon figure in the annals of the Bank 

 of England, not in their books I fear, which would be much better, 

 but as a contributor to their securities. If they adopt it, I think 

 they should make you a present of the amount of their former 

 losses by forgery, or at least make you their contractor for the 

 supply of paper, which would perhaps be better. At all events 

 the discovery may be the means of saving a considerable number 

 of lives. 



223. A Paton from 1814 to 1817 was district judge at Krishnagar, 

 Bengal, one day's journey by water from Calcutta. But there is nothing in 

 these letters by which these Patons can be identified. 



224. Wallich and Carey's revision of Eoxburgh 's Flora Indica. 



225. Apparently advanced proofs of volume i. of the Flora Indica. 



226. The material from which paper is made in Nepal and South- 

 western China. 



Jour. Straits Branch 



