70 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 



crude products, since, aside from certain chemical reactions, 

 the characters which must be relied on are determined only 

 by a microscopic study of the suspected material. No 

 part of applied botany is more fascinating, or calls for more 

 intelligent application and thorough training than the study 

 of food substances subject to adulteration and of the adul- 

 terants which, from their cheapness or ready attainability, 

 are most frequently employed. 



The time which is available for these studies in a school 

 of pharmacy, and the numerous other duties which devolve 

 upon the instructors, usually prevent the student from more 

 than entering upon this field during his connection with it 

 as an undergraduate; while very few graduates are so situ- 

 ated as to return for an advanced course. The duty, not 

 only of employers but of clerks, is to acquire the greatest 

 possible experience in this class of work. To enlist the 

 attention of young men who propose to follow the calling 

 of the pharmacist, should be a pleasant duty to every druo-- 

 gist who has the advancement of his profession at heart; 

 and I have little doubt that, knowing the facilities for train- 

 ing that the School of Botany will offer, many employers 

 in the city of St. Louis will see the wisdom of affording 

 their clerks the command of a certain proportion of their 

 time for its acquisition. 



The value of a working knowledge of botany to the med- 

 ical man has long been recognized, — never more than to- 

 day. Indeed the science was long a medical science, and 

 its present development is in part directly attributable to 

 the labors of men who, like Dr. Engelmann, — whose loss 

 is keenly felt not only in this, his home, but wherever 

 thorough scientific work is appreciated, — have in their 

 youth acquired the ability and fondness for investigation 

 that in later years have prompted them to devote the odd 

 moments of a busy professional life to the pursuit of a 

 science that they loved. 



The physician, no less than the pharmacist, profits by 



