ANTHOLOGY. 



5 



are indispensable, and a lack of ready fa- 

 cility in drawing will be appreciated w^ith 



regret. 



An intelligent knowledge of the distri- 

 bution of medicinal plants and of the col- 

 lection, preservation, packing, transport 

 and commerce of drugs manifestly con- 

 stitutes the highway to a commercial suc- 

 cess, and it is to a considerable extent the 

 demands of this portion of the pharma- 

 cist's work which, under existing condi- 

 tions, prevent a closer attention to' scien- 

 tific details- 



The cultivation of medicinal plants is 

 as yet in its infancy. Its development 

 will call for a very extensive additional 

 equipment on the part of the pharmaceu- 

 tical botanist in the direction of plant 

 physiology, this depending in turn upon a 

 great extension of the department of his- 

 tology in connection with physiological 

 chemistry. 



ORDER OF SUBJECTS. 



In attempting a comparative view of the 

 series of plants it is unquestionably welJ 

 to begin with the lowest form and follow 

 the line, or rather lines, of upward de- 

 velopment. But in gaining our first 

 knowledge of the structure of the plant 

 organism, sound and accepted rules of 

 pedagogy require that we begin with the 

 more obvious characters of the higher 

 plants, and pursue the analytic method, 

 so far as the special conditions of the 

 case will permit. 



It has been repeatedly remarked that 



plant life is a circle of germination, 

 growth and reproduction, passing again 

 into germination. It therefore makes lit- 

 tle difference, on general principles, at 

 which point we enter upon our series of 

 observations. Begin where we will, we 



must labor at the disadvantage of requir- 

 ing more or less knowledge of facts pre- 



The composition of drugs and the meth- f*^^"^ f "'" Pomt of departure, and there- 



ods and processes of preparing them must 

 be regarded from a chemical standpoint, 

 and it is only by virtue of association that 

 we regard this portion of pharmaceutical 

 chemistry as pertaining to pharmaceutical 

 botany. 



Finally we note that only an insignifi- 

 cant portion of the materia medica origin- 

 ates in flowerless plants, so that the great 

 department of cryptogamic botany may 

 with profit be dismissed from our consid- 

 eration as relates to detailed treatment. 



fore not as yet studied. In special cases, 

 however, there is much room for choice, 

 and there are many reasons why we would 

 advise pharmaceutical students to com- 

 mence by observing the organ concerned 

 in reproduction, namely, the flower. 

 Not until mankind shall learn to 



breathe by some different method from 

 that followed by his ancestors will any 

 method of studying botany become pop- 

 ular which passes over the rose, butter- 

 cup and aster for the making of micro- 

 scopical preparations of myxomycetes, or 

 the sectioning and staining of tissues. 



ANTHOLOGY. 



THE GENERAL NATURE OF THE FLOWER. 



In order to accurately understand the 

 structure of the flower we must first con- 

 sider the general characters of its struc- 

 tural units, pertaining in turn to the stem 

 upon w^hich the flower is borne and of 

 which it is a part. These are well dis- 

 played in a willow twig (Fig. 1), presenting 

 a main stem, with perhaps short branches 

 below and leaves above. These leaves are 

 found upon examination to arise at regu- 

 larly occurring points, thus dividing the 



stem into parts which are seen to possess 

 definite and uniform characteristics, each 

 being complete in itself. In common lan- 



technically, Phytomers. The upper por- 

 tion of each is commonly somewhat en- 

 larged and it possesses the power of giving 



rise to three new structures: — (1) the 

 leaf (a), or in many plants a circle of two 

 or more leaves; (2) a superimposed phy- 

 tomer, continuing the growth of the stem 

 in the direction of its original axis; (3) a 

 branch (b), extending the growth of the 

 stem in a lateral direction, or, if there be 

 more than one leaf, then a corresponding 

 number of such branches. Upon the up- 

 per portion of the stem the branches are 

 seen still undeveloped, and in the form of 



guage, these parts are called "joints" and buds (b). The bud originates, with rare 



