322  Some  Medicinal  Plants  of  Ceylon.  {"^"june'iS™' 
I  suppose  the  reason  why  the  1864  Pharmacopoeia  orders  the 
anhydrous  citrate,  was  to  lessen  the  objections  to  the  salt  on  account 
of  its  supposed  deliquescence." — Phar.  Joum.  and  Trans.  March 
1883. 
REMARKS  ON  SOME  MEDICINAL  PLANTS  OF  CEYLON.^ 
By  W.  C.  Ondaatje,  F.L.S.,  Colonial  Surgeon  of  Ceylon. 
It  is  well  known  that  several  Indian  drugs  have  been  incorporated 
into  the  British  Pharmacopoeia,  which  have  added  to  the  number  of 
remedial  agents,  thus  conferring  no  small  advantage  on  the  medical 
profession,  and  the  publication  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  India  has 
conferred  an  incalculable  benefit  on  the  medical  practitioner  in  the 
East,  but  still  there  are  many  medicinal  plants  of  the  colonies  and 
India  which  deserve  a  scientific  examination.  ' 
The  public  revenue  of  the  colonies  is  applied  to  many  useful  pur- 
poses for  promoting  the  general  welfare  of  the  people.  I  believe  that 
if  a  sum  of  money  were  voted  annually  to  be  expended  in  carrying 
out  the  chemical  examination  of  indigenous  drugs  and  other  products 
by  competent  persons  in  this  country,  all  expenditure  would  be  well 
repaid  by  the  advantages  reaped  in  the  saving  of  Government 
expenses  for  medicines,  and  in  the  demand  created  for  native  products. 
It  is  a  matter  of  great  importance  to  the  millions  in  the  East,  and 
in  fact  to  the  whole  community,  that  they  be  enabled  to  avail  them- 
selves of  efficient  substitutes  for  many  official  drugs  which  our  colonies 
supply. 
I  may  here  mention  that  the  annual  cost  of  drugs  for  the  use  of  the 
public  service  of  Ceylon  forms  a  considerable  item.  The  natives  are 
now  more  largely  availing  themselves  of  European  medical  practice, 
since  the  extension  of  Government  hospitals  and  dispensaries,  and  con- 
sequently an  increasing  expenditure  nnder  this  head  cannot  be  avoided 
without  detriment,  to  the  best  interests  of  the  population. 
The  necessity  for  adopting  such  a  measure  as  I  have  suggested  will 
be  apparent  to  those  who  have  studied  Indian  drugs. 
The  natives  of  the  East  have  attributed  imaginary  j)roperties  to 
many  plants  and  drugs,  and  much  that  is  absurd  is  mixed  up  with 
much  that  is  valuable. 
^  Read  at  an  Evening  Meeting  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society,  April  4, 
1883. 
