 In the early 18th century great emphasis had been laid on introducing valuable and commercial plants from the East Indies to Kew Gardens in England to be sent later to the American tropics.The Royal Society fostered the introduction, establishment, and dissemination of highly prized species.Melville, anticipating modern ethnobotany, urged that "physical practitioners of the country, natives of experience, and even old Caribs and slaves who have dealt in cures might be worth taking notice of, and if at any time you should think that a secret may be got at or even an improvement for small expense, I shall readily pay for it."