10 TREATMENT OF THE SUBJECT-MATTER. 
tinction between the Norway Spruce Fir,’ Picea, and the- 
Silver Fir,’ Abies ; but Linné, in 1753, transferred the name 
Pinus Abies to the first-mentioned, which, in 1771, was again 
reversed by Duroi. The tree which furnishes kamala has re- 
- ceived in the course of time the following names: Croton philip- 
pense Lamarck (1786), Echinus philippensis Loureiro (1790), 
Rottlera tinctoria Roxburgh (1798), Mullotus philippinensis 
Miller Argoy. (1862), and Echinus philippinensis Baillon 
(1865). ae 
Of some few drugs the mother-plants have not yet been ascer- 
tained with perfect certainty. For example, we do not know 
precisely whether Rhewm officinale Baillon furnishes most or all 
of the commercial Radix Rhei. Equally unsatisfactory is our 
knowledge of the plants which afford asafetida, sarsaparilla, 
olibanum, elemi, copaiva balsam, galbanum, ignatia seeds, and 
Levant soap-root. The origin of tragacanth, of Asiatic salep, 
and of condurango bark has also not yet been determined with 
sufficient accuracy. 
If. Geographical distribution of those plants which are of 
importance in pharmacy. 
However little of striking significance this subject may pre- 
sent from a practical point of view, it highly merits consideration 
in a scientific treatment of the topic. The representation of 
a pharmaceutically important plant is only then truly satisfac- 
tory when we are also informed regarding its habitat or the 
extent of its cultivation. ‘T'he sources from which this knowl- 
edge is to be obtained are, in the first place, the floras of indi- 
vidual countries, works on plant geography,’ and narratives of 
travel. Since many officinal plants are among those that have been 
longest employed by man, or are distributed over large tracts of 
territory, or are at least generally known, they find incidental con- 
' Fichte or Rothtanne of the Germans. 
* Weisstanne or Edeltanne of the Germans. 
* A. De Candolle : « Géographie botanique raisonnée,” 1855, also ‘‘ Ori- 
gine des Plantes cultivées,” 1883. Grisebach: ‘Die Vegetation der 
Erde nach ihrer klimatis-hen Anordnung,” 1872,—second edition, two 
 vols,, 1884, 
