1 were well aware of the importance of this study.
2 Tt often happens, that he who has even but a slight
3 knowledge of medicine, and understands the peculiari¬
4 ties of his own constitution, is able, by the timely
5 application of a suitable remedy, entirely to lemove,
6 or lessen, any illness with which he may be attacked.
7 English physicians residing in the .East, and more,
8 especially those in the Punjab, may derive great advan¬
9 tage from the Flora. Medico Cashmere ana. I should
10 recommend theta to apply to the Secretary of tby Medi¬
11 cal Club at Lahore, that he may send them, annually,
12 a small but fresh supply of herbs and to use them
13 according to the System I lay down in this work
14 It would, indeed, he desirable for physicians who
15 intend to establish themselves iu any country, to make
16 themselves acquainted with the productions, of the
17 locality, and to try the qualities of indigenous plants
18 on healthy as well os on diseased individuals, that
19 they may be able to use them advantageously. Such
20 a course would not only render the physician inde¬
21 pendent of the supplies of medicines from foreign
22 countries, and furnish him with remedial agents on the
23 qualities of which he could depend, but he would, at
24 the same time, be rendering a service to mankind, by
25 the occasional discoveries with which he might enrich
26 medical science. It was thus, that I discovered the
27 healing properties of nearly all the plants which are
28 mentioned in my Materia Medico, in the second
29 volume.
30 If this advice were generally acted upon, a consid¬
31 erable saving would be ensured to the Government in
32 India, which is now at much expense, in importing
33 VOL. i. c