BULLETIN 



OF 



The New York Botanical Garden 



Vol. XI No. 41 



GUIDE TO THE ECONOMIC MUSEUM OF THE 

 NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



Prepared by 

 H. H. RUSBY, M.D. 



Honorary Curator of the Economic Collections; Member of 

 the Scientific Directors and of the Board of Managers; 

 Dean of the College of Pharmacy of Columbia University 



INTRODUCTION 



The plan of the Economic Museum provides for the 

 illustration of all useful products derived directly from 

 plants and, so far as practicable, for the presentation of 

 characteristic specimens of the plants themselves. 



The United States possesses no such large general collec- 

 tion of useful plant products as those to be found at Kew, 

 South Kensington, Berlin, Calcutta, and other Old World 

 centers. There are, indeed, many collections, some of 

 them fairly large, which represent special industries, such 

 as materia medica. Some of our larger drug houses possess 

 extensive collections of this kind, but they are maintained 

 chiefly for their own working purposes and are not founded 

 on broad scientific lines. Several of our schools of phar- 

 macy, notably that of Columbia University, strive for more 

 complete collections, but these are primarily designed for 

 teaching purposes. We have also a number of excellent 

 collections representing forestry, notably that at the Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural History in New York, but relating 

 chiefly to North American trees. 



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