India alone contains more medical writings, perhaps, than are to be found in all the rest of the world. As printing has never been introduced here, all hands are employed in copying manuscripts, and particularly such as relate to the prolongation of human life, viz. medical and botanical. The greater part of the Indian manuscripts preserved in the library of the late king of France, those of the _Propaganda_ and Mr. Samuel Guise, and in the Borgian Museum, consist of works of this kind. The often-before-mentioned Dictionary, _Amarasinha_, under the head _Auszadhivargga_, that is, Class of the Simple Medicines, gives the names of above three hundred herbs and plants used in medicine. Those who wish to be convinced of the multitude of articles that occur in the Medicine and Botany of Malabar, need only recur to the work published at Amsterdam, in the year 1689, under the title of _Hortus Malabaricus_. Both these sciences were cultivated in India above three thousand years ago, and at present give employment to a great number of people. When a physician is sent for, you are sure to be visited by five or six. There are even boys who possess an extensive knowledge of botany; and this is not surprising, as, from their earliest years, they are made acquainted with the nature of plants, and their different properties.--Did the religion of the Indians allow them to dissect animals and study anatomy, they would certainly attain to great proficiency in medicine; but as these are strictly forbidden, it may be readily conceived that the above sciences can make very little progress. I have, however, seen instances of Malabar physicians curing patients who had been totally given over by the Europeans. The Malabar physicians, in general, are superior to most Europeans in the knowledge of simples. Among those which they employ in their cures, the following are the most worthy of notice: