INTRODUCTION. 
xlvii 
abounds with professional herbalists. There are the Musheras 
in Central and Upper India, whose principal livelihood consists 
in the collection and sale of medicinal roots and herbs.* * 
In Bengal there are the Mali's, Bagdis, Kaibartas, 
Bods, Chandals, Kaoras and Karangas, who principally carry 
on the trade in jungle products.! In Bombay, the Chadras, 
Bhils, and Gamtas are the herbalists. Now, these communities 
can prove of immense service to our medical practitioners in 
supplying medicinal plants. But as they are not trained in 
any university so as to be able to understand the Latin or scien- 
tific names of plants, the only way to secure their services 
lies with the medical practitioners in mastering the native 
names of plants. A great deal of time and trouble will be 
saved by thus giving the vernacular names of plants the impor- 
tance they deserve. 
It is, however, proper to add that too much confidence can not 
be placed in the vernacular nomenclature. In India, in the same 
district, one and the same name is applied to two or more 
different plants. And in some instances, names without any 
excelsum should be looked to as likely to prove a valuable specific for malari- 
ous fevers, is pretty certain to be quite thrown away on a medical officer, 
who is not an expert in botany, for not a single native name for this tree is 
given either in the book itself or in the index ; and though it might happen 
to grow in forests round his station, the committee put him in possession of 
no means of recognising it. * * * This very grave defect in the 
Pharmacopooia, cannot be removed by the publication of a separate catalogue 
of native names, as proposed. In a second edition wo hope to see not only a 
full vernacular index, but to find, following the botanical name of each 
substance, as complete a list as possible of the vernacular synonyms for it 
which are current in the three presidencies.” (Calcutta Review for 1869, 
p. 201.) 
All the above extracts will show that the importance of vernacular names 
of plants is fully recognised by those whose opinion is entitled to respect on 
this subject. 
* An excellent account of this tribe is given by Mr. J. C. Nesfield, 
M. A., Inspector of Oudh Division, Lucknow, in the Calcutta Review for 
January, 1888. Mr. Nesfield writes Indian physicans (Vaidya) and Indian 
druggists (Pansari) are almost dependent as far as medicines are concerned, 
on what Musheras supply to them. * * It is much to the credit of 
Musheras that they have given a marked preference to the study of nature, 
and opened the door to the discovering of natural remedies. In fact, their 
knowledge of medicine is one of the chief characteristics of this tribe. * * 
They collect medicinal herbs for sale and receive grain or money for 
what they supply. * * * I know of no parallel to such knowledge as 
that possessed by Musheras within India itself,” (Calcutta Review, pp. 40-41, 
for January, 1888.) 
t Hunter’s Statistical Account of Bengal, Vol. I, p. 27. 
