Sir George King. 



xxi 



reliable distributing agency. Clearly, therefore, no special agency could be 

 economically created : some already existing one must be utilised. Clearly, 

 too, the drug must be sold at a rate which, while securing Government 

 against loss, should at the same time eliminate temptation on the part of 

 outsiders to exploit the humanity of the authorities. King saw at a glance 

 how the desired result might be attained, but the confidence he inspired in 

 Government was not in itself sufficient to ensure the success of his design,, 

 which demanded not only the consent but the enthusiastic support of other 

 heads of departments. In gaining this support the charm of his personality 

 was as effective as it had been in securing the co-operation of his colleagues. 

 The scheme involved the sale at every post-office of Government quinine, 

 made up in doses of five grains each. Each dose was to be enclosed in a 

 •neat sealed packet. Each packet was to be sold for one farthing, and, 

 together with brief instructions in the various vernaculars, was to bear the 

 Koyal Arms as a guarantee of genuineness. To encourage postal officials to 

 push sales, a small commission was to be allowed, and facilities for 

 replenishing stocks were to be offered. To eliminate the risk of adulteration 

 and pilfering, the making-up of the packets was to be entrusted to the 

 Prisons Department, who would receive the quinine in bulk direct from the 

 Cinchona stores'. In perfecting the scheme, King worked in co-operation 

 with the Financial Secretary to Government, Mr. (now Sir Herbert) Eisley. 

 But the Postmaster-General for Bengal, Mr. Kisch, devised the procedure 

 regulating the actual sales ; the ingenuity of the Superintendent of the 

 Alipur Jail, Mr. Larrymore, hit upon a method of cheaply, rapidly, and 

 accurately dividing the quinine into doses, and the expert advice of the 

 Government Printer, Mr. Lewis, guided the details connected with the 

 preparation of the envelopes. The success of the scheme depended on the 

 precision with which each department did its share of the work, and on the 

 accuracy of the calculations with regard to the cost of each operation. These 

 calculations had of necessity to be so close as to leave no margin ; an error 

 at any point might easily have involved financial loss. The scheme, fully 

 matured, was put into operation in 1893, and worked from the outset 

 without a hitch. To the officers of these co-operating departments King 

 attributed the success, after thirty years of effort, of the design enunciated 

 by Government when it introduced cinchona to India : — " To put the only 

 medicine that is of any use in the cure of the commonest and most fatal of 

 Indian diseases within the reach of the poorest." 



In 1874 King also commenced on a definite plan, the details of which he 

 wisely subordinated to current exigencies, a survey of the vegetation of the 

 countries within the sphere of .influence of the Calcutta garden. These 

 include the Eastern Himalaya, Bengal, Assam, Burma, the Andaman and 

 Nicobar Islands, and the Malayan Peninsula. His first object was to fill up 

 gaps in the Calcutta Collection rather than to investigate afresh areas 

 already examined ; to this end he sent independent collectors to unvisited 

 districts or attached them to military expeditions or survey parties. But 



