197 
heaven that is, praying for less and less carbonic acid and even more and more 
oxygen a perfect object-lesson in sanitation, art. and religion. When the 
Victoria Gardens and Albert Museum were established in Bombav the men 
employed on these works were at first so pestered by mosquitos and suffered so 
much it om malarious fever that, on the recommendation of the Hindu karbari 
( manager ), the whole boundary of the gardens was planted with holy basil 
and any other basil at hand, on which the plague of mosquitos was at once 
abated, and fever altogether disappeared from among the resident gardeners 
and temporarily resident masons. The site of the gardens had before been one 
of the worst malaria-stricken spots on the island of Bombay No one in those 
davs knew anything of ‘-the mosquito-malaria theory” of to-dav I myself 
used mvrrh as a protection against mosquitos. They never came near any bed 
in which a little myrrh was burnt or a little tincture of mvrrh sprinkled when 
f t° he t r^ h a -i 1 r 6Ver knew natives who ' much cinnamon or 
cloves, etc., in their daily diet ever take malarial fever or die of cholera. 
I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant, 
A £ nl 2 9 ‘ GEORGE BIRD WOOD. 
t I-ond.on ‘ ' 1903 ] . 
The basils referred to by Sir George BirdwoocI are widely 
scattered over the East. The common cultivated ones here "re 
Ocimim canum.— Called here fiuku-Ruku is a herb with purplish 
htiiry stems and soft green leaves, with rather a close spike of small 
white flowers. It is used for cough medicine. The flowers are put 
with sugar candy and Kayu manis china (Liquorice root) in a cup 
winch is covered and put in the rice when boiling, and afterwards 
put out in the dew, and drink it in the morning. ' The leaves tast* 
of peppermint. 
O. basilicum. Purple variety , “Selasih." A shrubbier plant with 
short dense purple spikes, flowers white, leaves lanceolate, stems 
rather thick and smooth. 1 1 has a scent of aniseed, and is used to keep 
away bugs from houses like flea-bane. The seeds put in water 
swell up and form with their mucilage a very popular cooling drink. 
O. basilicum .— White variety, <• Kamangi " is more a slender and 
sott green plant with shorter green spikes and white flowers, larger 
than those of the Ruku-Ruku. Its scent is something between 
mint and aniseed. This is used for flavouring Ash and other 
dishes. 
1 cannot And that any of these are known here as a prophylactic 
against mosquitos. Nor do 1 find any of the names mentioned by 
bir George Birdwoqd known, except the word Tulsi or Tulasi 
applied to O. canum. O basilicum , the purple variety, is called here 
by Tamils Karun-tulasih or black Tulasih. However, 1 have not yet 
met with either 0. sanctum nor O. gratissimum in the Peninsula at 
present. 
Were the prophylactic powers of these basils known to the ’ 
Malays they would doubtless be extensively planted for this 
purpose, but as the mosquitos of one country are different from 
those of another it is possible that some kinds of mosquitos may 
be affected by them while others are not. Several other plants 
ha y e fr°- tl ™ e t0 time be en lauded as doing away with mosquitos, 
no a. y the Papaya and Castor oil. The latter certainly appears 
0 e quite useless but a case has been recorded in which a row of 
1 apayas prevented the mosquitos from entering a house. Any 
experiments with any of these plants would well be worth recording. 
H. X. RIDLEY. 
