lviii 
INTRODUCTION. 
any material addition to our knowledge of the subject. In the 
second International Exhibition in London of 1862, Dr. J. F. 
Watson was placed in charge of the indigenous drugs. For 
the first time, several indigenous drugs were brought to light. 
In the interval between the first exhibition of 1851 and the 
second one of 1862, several exhibitions were held in different 
parts of this country. But I do not think they added anything 
to our knowledge of indigenous drugs. 
The publication of the Pharmacopoeia of India in 1867 
under the authority of Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for 
India marked an epoch in the history of the subject. To this 
day, that stands out as the authoritative work on the native 
remedies of this country. “ With the viewj firstly, of bringing 
to the notice of the profession in India those indigenous drugs 
which European experience has proved to possess value as 
medicinal agents, and which may be employed as efficient sub- 
stitutes for imported articles ; and, secondly, of remodelling 
the Bengal Pharmacopoeia of 1844, Her Majesty’s Secretary of 
State for India in Council was pleased to sanction the publica- 
tion of a Pharmacopoeia for India based upon the British 
Pharmacopoeia, which, while affording all tho information 
contained in that work of practical use. in India, would embody 
and combine with it such supplementary matter of special 
value in that country as shouli adapt it to meet the require- 
ments of the Indian Medical Department.” * 
The information that lay scattered among a large number 
of periodicals was brought together in this work and made 
accessible for reference to the medical officers serving in this 
country. Between the publication in Calcutta of the Bengal 
Pharmacopoeia in 1844, and the issue of the Indian Pharma 
copoeia in 1868, that is during the period of twenty-four years, 
great advances were made in our knowledge regarding the me- 
dicinal properties and therapeutic uses of the indigenous drugs. 
The establishment of Medical Colleges and schools in this 
country also advanced our knowledge of indigenous drugs. The 
graduates whom the colleges turned out directed their attention 
* Preface to the Indian Pharmacopoeia, p. vi. 
