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About The Book: Illustrating the Botany and other branches of the Natural History of the stupendous Mountains which form the barrier between the British dominions in India and the territories of the Chinese; in which the Geographical Distribution of Plants, as connected with Climate, is considered, their Useful Properties detailed, and the principles which should guide their culture in new situations deduced; Being the result of investigations when in charge of a Scientific Institution of the Honourable Company, and assisted by the information which has accumulated from their long-continued patronage of Botanical Science in India. In a work on the Botany and Natural Productions in general of the Himalaya Mountains, any reference to the Climate and Natural History of other parts of India may by many be considered out of place, but if we are desirous of observing the changes in animal and vegetable forms dependent on climate, it is necessary, before we proceed to notice the European types found on the declivities of the Himalaya, to take a cursory view of those found at their bases which are characteristic of India. About The Author: John Forbes Royle (10 May 1798–2 January 1858), British botanist and teacher of materia medica, was born in Kanpur (then Cawnpore) in 1798. He was in charge of the botanical garden at Saharanpur and played a role in the development of economic botany in India. John Forbes Royle was the only son of William Henry Royle and Isabella Forbes. While still a child, his father died and Royle studied under Sangster of Haddington before going to study at Edinburgh high school. He was influenced by Anthony Todd Thomson to take an interest in botany and natural history. Royle succeeded John Ayrton Paris in 1836 as professor of materia medica at King's College London, a position he held till 1856. He became a fellow of the Linnean Society in 1833 and the Royal Society in 1837. He made use of his collections to publish his Illustrations of the botany and other branches of the natural history of the Himalayan mountains (2 vols., 1839). In this work he suggested the introduction of cinchona to India stating that in "the Neelgherries a favourable site might without doubt be found for the cinchona".