1 sketches of oriental character, and illustrations of Eat.tr
2 manners, customs, and intrigues; also, a faithful sumrnti
3 of recent events.
4 The second volume, although a medical work, bias not
5 been written for physicians only j it is apprehensible
6 and may be useful to all readers. In render it the more
7 acceptable to those in the East, in addition to the Flora
8 Medina of Cashmere, with its properties and uses, us also
9 those of many other oriental plants arid drugs, 1 have
10 superadded a Medical Vocabulary, in uino languages.
11 A variety of discoveries, curious experiments, and
12 remarkable incidents, may be found hi these volumes,
13 collected dining a sojourn of many years—useful, I
14 hope, to both naturalists and historians.
15 During my fifteen years' residence at Lahore, as well
16 a$ on my frequent journeys, I embraced every opportu¬
17 nity of devoting my attention to ihe examination pf the
18 various medical systems of the day, and to the expe¬
19 rimenting on the qualities of numerous medicines,
20 whether known or unknown to practitioners. Freed
21 from ‘very selfish motive, J. now ingenuously present
22 to the British public, the results of these researches,
23 which were worried on with unwearied perseverance. 1
24 &?n not under the inilufence of the nmnia of system-
25 making; my object is, simply, to aid th< alleviation ol
26 the sufferings of humanity and to enrich science, as lar
27 a-' my abilities may permit, 1 have been guided solely
28 by the proverb, “ re homo proprius accalit ad
29 Drum, quthii salute hoininibus detudu ; i.e. " Nothing
30 brings rnan nearer to God, than man’s helping his suffer¬
31 ing fellow-creatures.’’
32 It is no easy matter to eradicate systems which have