INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 69 



that has not a little to do with the prominent place she 

 holds and is destined to hold in the progress of the world. 

 The recent address of Sir Lyon Plaj^fair, at the Aberdeen 

 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, shows that England, as represented by its men of 

 broad learning and experience, realizes the advantages of 

 such a system, upon the intelligent and conscientious de- 

 velopment of which must largely rest her future. Yet the 

 great British Universities, with the many lower schools that 

 feed them, though inferior to those of Germany, are far in 

 advance of institutions of a similar character on this side 

 the Atlantic. 



Aside from its utility in developing the faculties and en- 

 larging the possibilities of enjoying life, the study of any 

 science in its applications to the productive industries com- 

 mends itself strongly to the reasoning man. Botany is one 

 of the branches of widest applicability in the arts and 

 manufactures. 



So large a percentage of drugs and medicines is of veg- 

 etable origin, that botany is universally recognized as one 

 of the most important branches in a pharamaceutical edu- 

 cation. Notwithstanding great care, many mistakes occur 

 in the collection and sale of drugs. I have in mind several 

 such errors that have been brought to my notice within a 

 few years. In the dried and broken drug, their rectification 

 not infrequently taxes the skill of the expert, while their 

 detection, absolutely required for the prevention of serious 

 accidents, calls for a more than ordinarily thorough famil- 

 iarity with not only the grosser botanical characters of 

 medicinal plants, but with their minute structure. 



The extent to which adulteration is practiced not only in 

 medicines but more particularly in the food supplies which 

 undergo a process of manufacture before coming into the 

 hands of the consumer, renders the services of experts in 

 its detection of frequent demand. The skill and training 

 requisite here are far greater than in the examination of 



