Next on the _rôle_ comes a large army of European and Anglo-Indian officials, whether within the magic circle of "the Service" or beyond its pale, who are attached to the Public Works, Forests, Railway, Telegraph, or other Departments, or employed in Tea, Coffee, or Cotton plantations, in commercial pursuits, &c., many of them married men, with families and a large number of dependants, the majority at distant "up-country stations," miles away from medical aid; how important for persons under such circumstances to possess a knowledge of the means lying (literally so in many instances) at their very feet, by which pain and suffering may be alleviated, and, perhaps, a valuable life saved. Lastly, but by no means least, either in point of numbers or importance, comes the daily increasing array of educated Natives, who, as a class, readily avail themselves of every scrap of knowledge drawn from trustworthy European sources, which tends to throw light on the products and resources of their native land. Whilst, on the one hand, I am perfectly prepared to admit that much of the knowledge I possess of the properties and uses of Indian drugs has been derived from Native sources, I think I may, on the other hand, without presumption, claim the credit of repaying the debt with interest, furnishing in return a considerable amount of information on the uses of even the same drugs, of which the Natives themselves had previously no idea. It is to this class that I venture to think this little work will prove most useful and acceptable. In addition to the above, I venture to hope that to even duly qualified Medical Officers, especially at up-country stations, a work like the present may prove serviceable on emergencies, _e.g._, a failure of the supply of European drugs, &c., by showing them what resources they have at command in the bazaars or in their immediate neighbourhood, by means of which many a gap may be stopped till more efficient remedies are available. In undertaking a Second Edition of this work, I have been further influenced by a desire to render its scope and contents more complete. With more extended knowledge on my part, drawn partly from subsequent personal experience in the use of Indian drugs, and partly from the Reports received from Medical Officers during the preparation of the Pharmacopœia of India, I realised how imperfect the original work was; and feeling myself in a position to add much information which would tend to increase its usefulness, I determined upon issuing another edition. The whole work has accordingly been rewritten and greatly enlarged.