APPENDIX C.
NOTES ON THE PRINCIPAL PLANTS EMPLOYED IN INDIA, ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR REAL OR SUPPOSED FEBRIFUGE VIRTUES. BY ALEXANDER SMITH, ESQ.
The following enumeration of Indian febrifuge plants, though, from the limited time at my disposal, not so complete as could be wished, will serve to give an idea of the great variety of indigenous plants used by the natives of India in the treatment of the different kinds of fevers so prevalent in that country. European physicians of the present day rely to a great extent upon the invaluable products of the Chinchonas, as the most certain remedies for these disorders; but a couple of centuries ago, when quinine and the kindred alkaloids were undreamt of, and when even Peruvian Bark, or, as it was then called, "Countess' Bark" or "Jesuits' Bark," was scarcely known, and its source a jealously guarded secret, their ancestors made use of a much greater number of substances, and highly extolled the febrifuge properties of many of our native wild plants. Most of these, however, are now known to be of little use and are discarded from the modern practice of physic, though amongst rustic practitioners, or herb-doctors, they still to a certain degree enjoy their ancient reputation. We must not therefore be surprised that the native doctors of the East, whose knowledge of chemistry and the allied sciences is as limited as was that of our old herbalists, should in like manner ascribe powerful properties to the barks, roots, stems, and other parts of plants which in reality possess as little value in a medical point of view, as the indigenous plants at one time used in our own country.
It must not, however, be imagined from these remarks that all the plants mentioned below are known to be completely devoid of medicinal properties. Some of them possibly possess qualities of the greatest value, and, were they properly tested by the enlightened science of the present day, might yield products useful either as tonics or febrifuges, or prove otherwise valuable. But the great majority are comparatively valueless, and their supposed virtues merely the result of fancy.
Alex. Smith.
Kew, Surrey, April 5th, 1862.