Abstract:
No abstract

Abstract:
The genus Lindsaya as here arranged is represented in the Malay Peninsula by 18 species, two of which are now described as new. A few of them, especially those confined to the mountains, are not yet adequately known, and it is possible that further study in the field will reveal a few more distinct species. In this genus it is not infrequent for plants immature as regards size to bear fertile pinnae; thus, in many species simply pinnate fronds on young plants may be fertile, while more mature plants may bear bipinnate fronds, the leaflets in the two cases being sometimes rather different. It is therefore important, in all cases, to have ample material, in order that the full range of habit of a species may be known. Observation in the field is also essential; most species have a quite definite habitat, especially those which grow by the sides of streams and rivers. The Lindsayas of the Peninsula have hitherto been very conservatively treated, especially the species allied to L. decomposita. In the past, only two species of this affinity have been recognised. L. decomposita and L. davallioides. It is clear however from examination of copious material that several species may be distinguished, two of them with veins usually free (thus breaking down the distinction of the subgenus Synaphlebium). The species L. decomposita has been credited with a distribution throughout tropical Asia, Australia, and Polynesia; I think it highly probable however that no one type persists throughout this range, and that further study will show that many local species exist, such as those here recognised. This raises the question of what constitutes a species. It is clear that among ferns all species have not the same status; some are much more comprehensive than others. The tendency is to divide the species more minutely as more material is available for study, and in many groups such subdivision rests on a basis of genuine natural distinction. In other groups, at least in the Malay Peninsula, a clear distinction does not seem possible, even with ample material; an example of this is the group of Dryopteris crassifolia. In such cases more intensive field study will doubtless give more information, but I am doubtful whether a final distinction will always be possible by methods of observation alone. It is at least certain that in such groups the description of new species based on isolated herbarium specimens is quite useless. The species allied to L. decomposita seem to be on the whole sufficiently distinct, except for the mountain plant L. subalpina. The other large group of species within the genus, that of L. scandens, L. pectinata and L. repens is much less clearly resolvable, and I am by no means satisfied with the present arrangement, especially as regards L. pectinata. In the discrimination of closely allied species in this genus, the rhizome scales, which in other genera are often very characteristic, afford little assistance. These scales are of a very uniform nature throughout the genus, differing chiefly in size, in relative width and in depth of colour; the scales of L. plumula and L. scandens, for example, are quite different, but between closely allied species no distinction can be found. The Lindsayas are nearly all plants of the full shade of mature forest. The only exceptions to this in the Peninsula are the clearly xerophytic montane species L. rigida, L. plumula, and probably the plant here named L. cultrata var. parvula. No lowland species grow in open sunny places, and all except the climbing forms of L. scandens are terrestrial. The following grow beside shady river banks, and appear rarely to be found elsewhere: L. lobbiana, L. orbiculata, L. integra. I am indebted to the Director of the Botanic Gardens, Buitenzorg, for the loan of numerous specimens from the Buitenzorg herbarium, including the types of several species. The following key is not altogether satisfactory, as in many cases the distinctions between species, though clear enough to the eye, are not easy to summarise in a short sentence. I believe however that it will serve in most cases, though it may not cover ervery individual plant.

Abstract:
No abstract

Abstract:
Pulau Tioman and its neighbours have been but little explored from a botanical point of view. Up till the time of the writer's visit, collections had not been made above the thousand foot contour. Of the group of isalnds off the east coast of Johore and Pahang, shown in the accompanying sketch map, collections of plants have been made only on Pulau Tioman and Pulau Tulai, Pulau Tinggi, Pulau Aor, and Pulau Dayang. The most interesting is Pulau Tioman, because of its greater elevation above sea-level, and its greater area of untouched forest. All these islands lie in a shallow water, and their flora, as one would expect, is typically Malay Peninsular. Seven plants, however, have, up to the present, not been reported from the Peninsula. All of these, with one exception, are known from Borneo. A list of them is given later. The writer, accompanied by Mr. N. Smedley of Raffles Museum, Singapore, and a party of collectors, spent the period between April 24th. and May 29th., 1927, on Pulau Aor, Pulau Dayang and Pulau Tioman.

Abstract:
The following list brings together in one convenient place the names of all additions to the Flora of the Malay Peninsula since the publication in 1925 of the last volume of Ridley's "Flora of the Malay Peninsula." The original place of publication of the species is given, with other references where necessary, and an indication is given of the localities from which the plants come. The most important publications dealing with the flora of the Peninsula, and those in which most additions will be found are the Kew Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, the Bulletin of the Botanic Gardens at Buitenzorg in Java ( Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg), and the Gardens' Bulletin, Straits Settlements. Other publications in which additions may from time to time be found are the Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Journal of the Federated Malay States Museums, and the Journal of Botany, British and Foreign. It is intended to keep this list up to date by publishing supplementary lists at intervals of about a year.

Abstract:
In order to determine what scientific names ought to be applied to the mustards which the chinese have brought into the Malay Peninsula, I asked Mr. R. E. Holttum, Director of Gardens, Straits Settlements, to get seed for me, and received from him nine samples, obtained in Singapore, followed later by two more, sent to his request from Penang by Mr. F. Flippance. I cultivated the mustards in my own garden ; and also they were grown for me in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. My best thanks are offered to Dr. A. W. Hill, the Director, for his service, as well as to Mr. Holttum and to Mr. Flippance for the seed.

Abstract:
No abstract

Abstract:
Upon two occasions, and two only, mature Cedrela has been collected in the Malay Peninsula. In January of that year Sir George King's collector, Herman Kunstler, found a fruiting tree (his 10403) in a locality recorded as Ulu Bubong, - an identified valley apparently not far from the village of Kerling in north-eastern Sealngor: and in May, Charles Curtis obtained specimens of a flowering tree (his 826) upon Government Hill, Penang. Kunstler's label states that his tree was 100 ft. high with a trunk 2 - 3 feet in diameter and with spreading branches. It stood in dense mixed forest at 400 - 600 feet above sea-level. Curtis' label gives the locality of his tree as close to the bungalow on Government Hill at 2,500 feet, above sea-level; and the tree was 70 - 80 feet high, very large and spreading. Gamble (Man. Ind. Timbers, 1922, p. 158) records that the average height of trees of a plantation of Cedrela toona in Assam 22 years old was 63 feet ; and as Cedrelas grow fast it is not necessary to allow a greater age than 50 years to those which Kunstler and Curtis found. Both specimens were referred to C. febrifuga, Blume, by King (Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 64 - 2, 1895, p. 89) and Mr. Ridley has followed him (Flora Mal. Penins. 1, 1922, p. 415). But Casimir de Candolle in 1908 determined Curtis 826, ( as represented in the herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Calcutta - namely be a specimen examined by King) to be C. toona var. pilistaminea (Rec. Bot. Survey, Ind., 3, 1908, p. 366). In the same publication he quoted King as authority for the occurrence of C. febrifuga in Penang; that is to say he advertently called Curtis' specimen by both names. There are four species of Cedrela which so occur in nature that to find them alive in Malaya would not be a matter of surprise. They are :- Cedrela toona, Roxburgh ex Rottler in Ges. Naturforsch. Freunde. Neue Scriften, 4, 1803, p. 198 (little more than the name) and Plantae Coromand., 3, 1819, p. 34. Cedrela sureni : Swietenia sureni, Blume, Cat. Gewassen Buitenzorg, 1828, p. 72 : Cedrela febrifuga, Blume, Bijdrage, 4, 1825, p. 180. Cedrela sinensis, A. L. de Jussieu in Mem. Mus. Paris, 19, 1830, p. 255. Cedrela serrata, Royle, Illustr. Flora Himalaya, 1839, p. 44. pl. 25.

 

Abstract:
The plants included in the present paper were collected on Gunong Tahan and on the Tahan and Teku rivers during the latter part of August and the beginning of September, 1928. A number of plants judged to be of special interest were brought back and put into cultivation at Tembeling, Pahang, since that district is more favourable than the drier climate of Singapore. Some of these plants prove to be hitherto undescribed. The plants dealt with here include only those not previously found in the Tahan river or on the mountain irself, or those which, though reported before, possess any features of interest as yet unnoticed. Plants marked with an asterisk have already been reported from the district.

Obituary

Abstract:
No abstract

Abstract:
No abstract

Abstract:
No abstract

Abstract:
No abstract

 

Abstract:
No abstract

Abstract:
No abstract

Abstract:
When sickness comes in a Malay village the advice of a bomor, or physician of the native school, is sought: when childbirth occurs, a bidan or midwife is called in. From competent persons of those two classes we obtained information in the following way. We toured through the Peninsula, and by the kind help of administrative officers, to whom we return our sincere thanks, were put into touch with those whom we wish to meet. They were asked to give us as much information as they could and to bring specimens in illustration of their samples. At a second meeting the information was taken down, and the specimens ticked. Subsequently the specimens, which are preserved in the herbarium of the Botanic Gardens, Singapore, were determined and the information worked up. We tried to avoid unexpected questions, for they beget gusts of fancy and incorrect assertions. We asked one very competent bomor to give his information in his own handwriting, for a man must think as he writes; but the information got was meagre. In all other cases we took down the information ourselves, and sometimes may have got the vernacular names mis-written. One of us (M.H.) spent a short time at Jor in contact with the trading Sakai who live there, and we obtained other information from the Malay-speaking Sakai of the Selangor-side of Pahang. The rest of the information was from Malays. We examined the shops Chinese herbalists, and recorded the plants in them, but do not dare to record the unchecked Chinese names which were taken down. The information thus got together is set down here without any comments upon the efficacy of the samples. It is given for each record in the following order: (1) the botanical name; (2) the Malay name as the informant used it; (3) the name of the most important place in the neighbourhood of the informant's dwelling; (4) the number which we gave to the specimen which the informant brought, and which remains attached to it in the herbarium of the Botanic Gardens, Singapore; (5) the complaint for which it is used, and (6) the way in which it is used. After this information, an index and glossary of the vernacular names follow. The glossary has been added because so many of the names are determined by a plant's uses and not by its appearance; and as a consequence of this, plants most diverse to the eye, if capable of the same use, get the same name, to the surprise of botanists and others who, knowing the plants but not in Malays, impute inaccuracy to the latter. An explanation must be given of the term ubat meroyan, which we are forced to use frequently. The Malays are apt to consider all sicknesses following child-birth as origination at that time of exposure of the mother to the attacks of evilspirits, and to place them in a category called sakit meroyan (mereyan in some parts): for instance, diarrhoea at any time within many months is sakit meroyan tahi; a discharge of blood is sakit meroyan darah, and rheumatism sakit meroyan angin. To ward against such sicknesses, they administer over the first three days after child-birth - this period being one during which evil spirits possess the most power - preparations called ubat meroyan ; and the word meroyan enters into the name of the plant used (perhaps often only when so used), sometimes in an exceedingly fanciful expression. This is particularly the case in Pahang. An ubat meroyan may not be intended to have any immediate effect, and many of the plants in the class possess the medicinal value of sympathy, but none chemico-physiologically.

Abstract:
No abstract

Abstract:
No abstract

Abstract:
Most of the species described here were collected in the State of Pahang. They include 21 species and 5 species now recorded from the Peninsula for the first time. These latter are Dendrobium fugax, Schltr., D. inconspicuiflorum, J.J.S., D. salaccense, Lndl., Eria Jagoriana, Krzl., and E. punctata, J.J.S. Bulbophyllum minimibulbum, Carr, B. trichoglottis,Ridl., Eria Jagoriana, Krzl., E. punctata, J.J.S., Thrixspermum papillosum, Carr, and Sarcostoma javanica, Bl., are montane, though the latter plant also occurs in the low country. Bulbophyllum minimibulbum, Carr, and Thrixspermum papillosum, Carr, are hitherto unrecorded, while both the species of Eria mentioned are new to the Peninsula. The genus Abdominea was created by Dr. J. J. Smith to take a plant which appears to be the curious Saccolabium minimiflorum, Hook.f. This plant was originally recorded from Perak and later from Selangor at Batu Caves. It is now recorded form Pahang, A new genus Ascochilopsis, is here created for the distinct and interesting Saccolabium myosurus, Ridl. Two new species of Chamaenthus, Schltr. are described. This genus has hitherto never been reported from the Peninsula. The great majority of the plants dealt with come from the fluvial areas of the limestone district of central Pahang. The excessive humidity of these areas accounts for the relatively large number of species belonging to genera such as Sarcochilus, Br., Chamaenthus, Schltr., and Thrixspermum, Lour. Far too little attention has been paid to these areas and I am convinced that further exploration will result in many new plants being brought to light.

Abstract:
From Mr. R. E. Holttum, Director of the Botanic Gardens, Singapore, I have received in 1926 and 1927 two lots of duplicate specimens of ferns from the Peninsula. The specimens were of extraordinary interest to me, because I am now engaged in the determination of three very large collections of ferns from Borneo, in connection with a critical revision of the whole fern-flora of that large island, based on examination of type specimens received on loan from the leading herbaria in Europe and America. It soon became clear to me that the fern floras of Borneo and the Malay Peninsula are very intimately related, having a very large number of species in common. I found that some of the specimens from the Peninsula so kindly sent by Mr. Holttum were perfectly identical with others from Borneo, but in not a few cases different names were given to them. In July 1926 Mr. H. N. Ridley published his large paper, "The ferns of the Malay Peninsula" (Journ. Malayan Branch, R. Asiatic Soc., 4, part 1), which work I have studies with considerable interest. It appears that Mr. Ridley has identified the great majority of his specimens at Kew, and has in several cases without criticism adopted Beddome's species.  All modern pteridologists agree in taking the species in a narrower sense than Baker and Beddome, and to me several of Ridley's species are an assemblage of a number of most distinct forms. On the other hand he has adopted some of the species recently described by van Alderwerelt van Rosenburgh, who has described an immense number of new species which are scarcely all well founded, and not rarely identical with species previously described. Unfortunately a large number of his new species are not represented by authentic specimens in European herbaria, even not in Leiden and without examination of such specimens it is in most cases rather impossible to know whether his species are valid ones or not. As a certain number of the species adopted by Mr. Ridley were unknown to me, and others seemed to be wrongly named, I asked Mr. Holttum to send me a loan specimens of those species from the Singapore Botanic Gardens Herbarium, and very kindly he did so.  Having thus had specimens of most species enumerated in Mr. Ridley's list, and having compared them with an immense quantity of material from Borneo and with numerous type specimens, I have been able to verify the determinations, or in several cases give the species their right names. In the present paper a part of my critical remarks are published. It contains descriptions of a couple of new species, the first record of several species for the Peninsula, and a revision of some groups of closely related species.

Abstract:
No abstract

Abstract:
No abstract

Abstract:
No abstract

Abstract:
In the Peninsula all Ocimum species are cultivated plants, but frequently one comes across them as escapes and weeds in the settled areas. They are grown chiefly for the purposes of worship or for their medicinal value, or again for the purpose of scenting cooked preparations. O. sanctum, L., is sacred to the Hindu deities Krishna and Vishnu, and is frequently cultivated by the Hindus from Northern India near their dwellings, in places where they usually say their prayers. Some believe that the mere presence of the Ocimum round about the houses keep away the mosquitoes. An infusion of its leaves is used, either alone or mixed with that of other plants, internally to cure the minor disorders of the respiratory system and also irregular menstruation in women, and externally as a cure for the skin diseases, headache and earache. Medicinally leaves of any of the Ocimum species are considered good, but leaves of O. sanctum, L. and O. Basilicum, L. are regarded as superior to others. Leaves of O. canum, Sims, and of the white-flowered, hairy varieties of O. Basilicum, L. are used in culinary preparations. The leaves and calyces of O. Basilicum, L. var. pilosum, Benth. has been reported to be a frequent adulterant of the patchouly (Pogostemon Cablin, Benth.) prepared for export from this country. (Gildemeister & Hoffmann in the Volatile Oils Engl. Ed. (1900) 657 ; and Prain in Journ. As. Soc. Bengal LXXIV pt. 2 Extra No. (1907) 702 & 709 ). In his notes on the Malayan drugs, Ridley notes that the flowers of O. Basilicum, L. form one of the ingredients used in root decoction of Phyllanthus Niruri, L. given to cure cough in children, and that an infusion of the seeds O. gratissimum, L. is drunk for gonorrhea, and also in the morning as laxative. (Agri. Bull. S.S. & F.M.S. V,- 1906 - 248 & 278.) Being introduced plants in the Peninsula, the Malays have no fixed vernacular name for the Ocimum species. Kemangi is the usual name for O. canum, Sims, but it may also be used for the white-flowered varieties of O. Basilicum that are used in cooking. Silasi or Selaseh, a corruption of the Sanskrit name Tulasi for the Ocimums, Pokoh derived from the Chinese name Poh Hok for peppermint, and Ruku are used indiscriminately to all the species of the Ocimum, but rarely to O. canum, Sims. The last two names are usually used in the plural form as Ruku-Ruku and Pokoh-Pokoh. The singulars being seldom used. As in the Malay language the plural form, when applied to plants, usually implies that the plants bear in some way a resemblance to the some other plant native of Malaya, as for instance aromatic Adenosma capitatum, Benth., which is now known to the Malays as Ruku hutan. The word Kemangi is usually used alone, but all the others may be applied alone or with the adjective merah, hitam, puteh or besar to describe the general size or colour of the plants in the living condition. Oku or Oku-Oku, are apparently corruptions of the Ruku or Ruku-Ruku. The white-flowered, hairy varieies of O. Basilicum, L., approach so near to O. canum, Sims, that botanically it is very difficult to separate them as distinct species except by the larger size of all the parts of O. Basilicum, L. The Malays also do not seem to make any difference between them, and the varieties of O. Basilicum, L. have the same vernacular name and uses as O. canum, Sims. All the above names are also applied by the Malays to Hyptis suaveolens, Poir, another aromatic plant foreign origin belonging to the same family as the Ocimums. The most usual adjective that accompanies the names in this caes is hutan to show that the plant is a weed or wild in the Peninsula. The key and the descriptions of Ocimum species given by Ridley in the Flora of the Malay Peninsula II (1923) 643, are not very satisfactory for the identification of the species occurring in the Peninsula, and hence the key given below has been prepared after study of the plants in the herbarium as well as in the living condition.

Abstract:
No abstract

Abstract:
The primary object of this note is to restore to its proper rank, the species Neesia synandra, Masters, the specific status of which has long been in doubt, and also to show the limits of distribution of all the three species found in the Malay Peninsula. That Masters had made a careful examination of the type specimen of his species is quite clear from the generic characters given by him under Neesia in Hook. f. Flor. Brit. Ind. I pt. 2 (1874) 352, which as far as the leaves and flowers were concerned, were all a result of his own observations made of the type specimen of his species. But the confusion occurred owing to a mistake he made in giving almost all the important characters of his species under the generic description, where they escaped the attention of the botanists who tried to study his species, giving the minor ones under the description of his species. It was probably his intention to show the characters of the genus Neesia as he had found it in the Malay Peninsula; applicable, at least in the characters of the filaments, to Neesia altissima, Bl., the only other Neesia species known then; in fact he himself draws attention to this fact under the descritpion of his species. The result of the transference, which Masters unwittingly made, of the important specific characters to the generic descritpion was that Neesia synandra, Mast., was either regarded as a doubtful species, or confused with others quite distinct. Hence a detailed description of Neesia synandra, Mast., and a sufficient synonymy of all the three species occurring in the Peninsula together with an artificial key are given below so as to make their distinctions and their specific ranks quite clear.

Abstract:
No abstract

Obituary

Abstract:
No abstract

Abstract:
The crude medicinal substances described in the following pages were collected by Mr. I. H. Burkill M.A., when Director of Gardens, Straits Settlements. The specimens were obtained from Chinese druggists in Malaya - men of considerable experience of drugs. It is well known that Chinese divide vegetable drugs into two classes: the first is called Kuan Yao, or official remedies, chiefly contained in the great herbal, Pen ts'ao kang mu, and Ts'ao yao, consisting of herbs and roots generally used as domestic remedies. The identification of most of these samples was made at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and I have to thank the Director and the staffs of the Herbarium, the Museums, and the Jodrell Laboratory for their ever ready assistance. An examination of the original collection of Chinese drugs made by Daniel Hanbury and Porter Smith and others, stored in the Museum of the Pharmaceutical Society has been a fruitful source of information. The co-operation in this inquiry of Dr. Augustine Henry is gratefully acknowledged. Stationed in China for some years, Dr. Henry succeeded in collecting a considerable number of plants yielding drugs the origin of which was before unknown. His knowledge of botany in addition to that of Chinese has enabled him to make valued corrections and additions to the list.  No work on Chinese commercial products would be complete without reference to the publications of Sir Alexander Hosie, Chief of the Imperial Customs, whose lamented death occured in 1925. His notes on the trade in Manchuria, Mongolia, and Szechwan have been great use, and I am greatly indebted to Lady Hosie for placing at my disposal some sheets of his templated but unfortunately unfinished Dictionary of Economic Products of China.  Dr. Bernard Read, of Peking, and the distinguished pharmacognosist, Mr. E.M. Holmes, have also contributed many helpful suggestions. It has been considered desirable that the names of the drugs should appear in Chinese characters followed by the Romanized Mandarin transliterations. For this purpose  the kind help has been obtained of Rev. T. W. Pearce, LL.D.,O.B.E., of the London Mission ; Rev. H. S. Cliff, of the China Inland Mission ; and Rev. S. B. Drake, of the Baptist Mission. In several cases the Cantonese pronunciation has been supplied, and as the Chinese pharmacists in the Malay Peninsula are Cantonese, it agrees closely with the names written in Malay upon the labels of the samples. These are enclosed in inverted commas. Owing to the fragmentary specimens of some kind of drugs consisting of fine slices of stems, roots,and barks, it has not been possible to trace the origin with any degree of certainty. A wide field of research lies open to the student of pharmacognosy in identifying these specimens with plants of authentic origin. The small list of mineral and animal substances are not scientifically classified : many of the specimens of the latter class recall the unpalatable drugs found in European pharmacy 200 years ago. Mr. Burkill has done excellent service in bringing together for the first time a collection of drugs used by the Chinese in the Malay Peninsula.  From it we are able to learn that while the Chinese on the whole adhere to the use of drugs of their own country, probably on account of the geographical position of Singapore and neighbourhood, the materia medica has been decidedly influenced by the introduction of local and Indian products.

Abstract:
The crude medicinal substances described in the following pages were collected by Mr. I. H. Burkill M.A., when Director of Gardens, Straits Settlements. The specimens were obtained from Chinese druggists in Malaya - men of considerable experience of drugs. It is well known that Chinese divide vegetable drugs into two classes: the first is called Kuan Yao, or official remedies, chiefly contained in the great herbal, Pen ts'ao kang mu, and Ts'ao yao, consisting of herbs and roots generally used as domestic remedies. The identification of most of these samples was made at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and I have to thank the Director and the staffs of the Herbarium, the Museums, and the Jodrell Laboratory for their ever ready assistance. An examination of the original collection of Chinese drugs made by Daniel Hanbury and Porter Smith and others, stored in the Museum of the Pharmaceutical Society has been a fruitful source of information. The co-operation in this inquiry of Dr. Augustine Henry is gratefully acknowledged. Stationed in China for some years, Dr. Henry succeeded in collecting a considerable number of plants yielding drugs the origin of which was before unknown. His knowledge of botany in addition to that of Chinese has enabled him to make valued corrections and additions to the list.  No work on Chinese commercial products would be complete without reference to the publications of Sir Alexander Hosie, Chief of the Imperial Customs, whose lamented death occured in 1925. His notes on the trade in Manchuria, Mongolia, and Szechwan have been great use, and I am greatly indebted to Lady Hosie for placing at my disposal some sheets of his templated but unfortunately unfinished Dictionary of Economic Products of China.  Dr. Bernard Read, of Peking, and the distinguished pharmacognosist, Mr. E.M. Holmes, have also contributed many helpful suggestions. It has been considered desirable that the names of the drugs should appear in Chinese characters followed by the Romanized Mandarin transliterations. For this purpose  the kind help has been obtained of Rev. T. W. Pearce, LL.D.,O.B.E., of the London Mission ; Rev. H. S. Cliff, of the China Inland Mission ; and Rev. S. B. Drake, of the Baptist Mission. In several cases the Cantonese pronunciation has been supplied, and as the Chinese pharmacists in the Malay Peninsula are Cantonese, it agrees closely with the names written in Malay upon the labels of the samples. These are enclosed in inverted commas. Owing to the fragmentary specimens of some kind of drugs consisting of fine slices of stems, roots,and barks, it has not been possible to trace the origin with any degree of certainty. A wide field of research lies open to the student of pharmacognosy in identifying these specimens with plants of authentic origin. The small list of mineral and animal substances are not scientifically classified : many of the specimens of the latter class recall the unpalatable drugs found in European pharmacy 200 years ago. Mr. Burkill has done excellent service in bringing together for the first time a collection of drugs used by the Chinese in the Malay Peninsula.  From it we are able to learn that while the Chinese on the whole adhere to the use of drugs of their own country, probably on account of the geographical position of Singapore and neighbourhood, the materia medica has been decidedly influenced by the introduction of local and Indian products.

Abstract:
No abstract