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Circular of the Sub-Commission of the Pan-American Medical Con- 
gress on Medicinal Flora of the United States, 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 
Washington, D. C., July 1, 1897. 
AMERICAN MEDICINAL FLORA. 
Dear Sir: The Smithsonian Institution has undertaken to 
bring together all possible material bearing on the medicinal uses 
of plants in the United States. Arrangements have been made 
with a body representing the Pan-American Medical Congress 
(the Sub-Commission on Medicinal Flora of the United States) to 
elaborate a report on this subject, and the material when received 
will be turned over to it for investigation. 
The accompanying detailed instructions relative to specimens 
and notes have been prepared by the Sub-Commission. 
All packages and correspondence should be addressed to the 
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., and marked on the 
outside Medicinal Plants, for the U. S. National Museum. Franks 
which will carry specimens, when of suitable size, together with 
descriptions and notes, free of postage through the mails, will be 
forwarded upon application. Should an object be too large for 
transmission by mail the sender is requested, before shipping it, to 
notify the Institution, in order that a proper authorization for its 
shipment may be made out. 
Respectfully, 
4 A S. P. LANGLEY, 
Secretary. 
INSTRUCTIONS RELATIVE TO MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
The Pan American Medical Congress, at its meeting held in the City of Mexico, 
in November, 1896, took steps to institute a systematic study of the American Medici- 
nal Flora, through the medium of a General Commission and of special Sub-Com- 
missions, the latter to be organized in the several countries. The Sub-Commission for 
the United States has been formed and consists of Dr. Valery Havard, U. S. A., 
chairman ; Mr. Frederick V. Coville, Botanist of the U. S. Department of Agriculture ; 
Dr. C. F. Millspaugh, Curator of the Botanical Department of the Field Columbian 
Museum, Chicago; Dr, Charles Mohr, State Botanist of Alabama; Dr, W. P. Wilson, 
Director of the Philadelphia Commercial Museums; and Professor H. H. Rusby, of 
the New York College of Pharmacy. This Sub-Commission solicits information con- 
