INTRODUCTION. 
xlv 
But for the proper study of the subject, a work exclusively 
devoted to Indian medicinal plants has been a great desideratum 
in the medical literature of India. Messrs. Hooker and Thomp- 
son writing as far back as 1855, said : — 
“ We have had a considerable experience both in medical 
and economic botany, and we announce boldly our conviction 
that so far as India is concerned these departments are at a 
standstill for want of an accurate scientific guide to the flora of 
that country.”'* 
The flora of British India commenced by Sir Joseph Hooker 
in 1872 is now completed. The great value of this work as a 
scientific guide to the plants of this country can hardly be 
doubted. The foundation of a medical botany of India should 
be grounded on this work. In this medical botany should be 
included all the plants that are used medicinally by the natives 
of this country. A very large number, perhaps the vast majority 
of these plants, will be found perfectly useless, but in the present 
state of our knowledge we are not justified in excluding any 
from the list. The great aim of this work being to collect and 
identify the medicinal plants of the country, it should, after 
giving the plants its modern scientific name, insert the synonyms 
under which it was known in former times. 
The value of Sanskrit and vernacular names of plants has 
been- much questioned by botanists for purposes of identification. 
But, I think, these synonyms help a great deal towards identi- 
fication. f 
* Introductory Essay to the Flora Indica, p. 3, London, 1855. 
f The importance of Sanskrit names of plants was fully^understood by 
Sir 'William Jones, the President Founder of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 
More than a century ago he suggested that “ the first step in compiling atrea- 
tise on the plants of India should be to write their true names in Roman 
letters, according to the most accurate orthography, and in Sanskrit preferably 
to any vulgar dialect ; because a learned language is fixed in books, while 
popular idioms are in constant fluctuation, and will not perhaps be understood 
a century hence by the inhabitants of these Indian territories, whom future 
botanists may consult on the common appellations of trees and flowers.” 
(Sir Wm! Jones’ Works, Vol. II, London, 1799, p. 2.) 
On another occasion Sir Wm. Jones said : — 
“lam very solicitous to give Indian plants their true Indian appellation ; 
because I am fully persuaded, that Linnteus himself would have adopted them! 
had he known the learned and ancient language of this country. * * * Far 
am I from doubting the great importance of perfect botanical descriptions; 
for languages expire as nations decay, and the true sense of many appellatives 
in every dead language must be lost in the course of ages ; but as long as those 
