4 PHARMACEUTICAL BOTANY 
of selection to the growing of improved races of plants. All of 
these subdivisions interlock closely with departments of pure 
botanical inquiry and no training in either of them can be con- 
sidered sound without the assimilation of the broad underlying 
principles of morphology, taxonomy and physiology. 
PHARMACEUTICAL Botany should include a sound foundation 
in the morphology, taxonomy and elementary physiology of 
plants before taking up its applied aspects, in order to adequately 
prepare the student for the more advanced studies of Phar. 
macognosy, Industrial Microscopy and Drug Plant Cultivation- 
THE IMPORTANCE OF BOTANY TO MAN 
It is an established fact that without plants there could be no 
human or lower animal life, for green plants supply the food for 
all living animals and maintain the oxygen content of the 
atmosphere. They supply man with timber to build homes, 
ships and furniture, with hairs and fibers with which to manu- 
facture clothing, papers and books, with fuel to heat our build- 
ings, with dyes to color our garments and ornaments and 
preparations, with oils and resins to manufacture our soaps, 
paints and varnishes, with drugs to treat our ills, with raw 
materials for our explosives, with spices and flavorings to season 
our food, and with vitamins without which we could not main- 
tain our health, with perfumes, waxes, etc. In fact, for our 
very existence, comfort and protection we are dependent upon 
plant life. 
Again, many of the fundamental principles of biology and 
genetics have been first established through observations and 
experiments with plants. 
We look to the plants for a large number of our drugs and to 
the patterns obtained by the examination of many of their 
constituents for the chemical synthesis of a large number of 
important organic chemicals, medicines and dyes. Coal, 
representing the fossil remains of plants which lived millions of 
years ago, furnishes the chemist with the raw material from which 
he has built up hundreds of organic chemicals which are daily 
used in pharmacy, medicine and the industries. 
