INTRODUCTION. 



tended with many defects in them all, which it is not here necessary to mention ; the 

 best substitute for such a society seems to be, the attaching of an Experimental Farm 

 to a Botanical Garden, a measure which the liberal views of the government of 

 British India have induced them to adopt, and which has been well repaid by the 

 experiments made there on the cultivation and produce of different kinds of grain, 

 on the strength and durability of the fibres of the bark of various plants, and upon 

 various other subjects highly important to the agricultural interests of the coun- 

 try. 



It is well known, that the virtues and excellence of Medicinal Drugs depend much 

 upon the soil where they grow, and the manner of preparing them for the market. 

 A sufficient quantity of medicinal plants for a full trial of their virtues, and for ex- 

 periments on their culture and preparation, could scarcely be preserved any where 

 except in a Botanical garden, where a large number of species may be collected, 

 and carefully examined in all their different states. Some species, especially of the 

 scitamineag, are so much alike, that it is to be feared valuable drugs have fallen into 

 disrepute through persons ignorantly confounding distinct species with one ano- 

 ther and that fatal accidents may have been occasioned by the want of that discrimi- 

 nation, which botanical knowledge alone can supply* It is also highly probable, that 

 many drugs of acknowledged value may be produced from a great number of plants 

 differing widely from each other. This is known to be the case with starch, which 

 is produced from a great number of farinaceous seeds, and even from some roots. 

 Arrow root, formerly supposed to be obtainable from no plant but the West Indian 

 Maranta arundinacea, is now known to be produced in great abundance from the 

 tubers of several species of Indian Curcuma. The same may be observed of 



Caoutchouc or Indian rubber, which can be obtained from more East Indian plants 

 than one, and very abundantly from the Ficus elasti&su 



A Botanical garden gives the same facilities for experiments upon the various Co- 

 louring Plants, and upon others employed in dying as Mordants; or upon such as 

 are used in the arts in any other way. I forbear to mention the great value of large 

 collections of esculent plants, and of others which are employed in the domestic 



B 



