1887-88,] President's Address. 153 



contributed many seeds of plants from time to time from all 

 parts of the world, and it is hoped will continue to do so 

 more and more. On the other hand, the members have 

 derived much instruction, not to speak of pleasure, from 

 their visits to the Garden. 



There is one aspect of this subject to which I wish to 

 direct the special attention of the Fellows, in so far as it 

 bears on the Eoyal Botanic Garden, namely, to enlist their 

 sympathy and hearty co-operation in securing living plants 

 and seeds of medicinal plants. There has long been in the 

 Garden a part known as the Medicinal Collection, and the 

 curator, Mr Lindsay, is endeavouring to secure specimens of 

 all the medicinal plants of the British Pharmacopoeia. Mr 

 Lindsay has already the great majority of the plants in 

 cultivation, and is gradually getting his list completed I am 

 sure the Fellow^s of this Society, especially those living in 

 foreign countries, will assist by sending plants or seeds until 

 we have in Edinburgh a complete list of all plants officinal 

 in this country. This is a noble work in which our Curator 

 is engaged, and I hope all of us will assist him so far as 

 lies in our power. 



In the interest alike of botanical and medicinal science I 

 plead for this. "When we bear in mind that in Edinburgh 

 we have the largest medical school in Britain, a school which 

 is yearly increasing, surely it is of the utmost consequence 

 that the student of medicine should be able to see gi'owing 

 in our Botanic Garden the plants which furnish the various 

 drugs which he is to use in the treatment of disease. 



There is another aspect of this question which I must not 

 pass over, because it is of gi'eat importance, not only to the 

 profession to which I and many of the Fellows belong, but 

 also to the whole human race. I refer to the propaga- 

 tion and cultivation of important medicinal plants which are 

 either extinct or nearly so in their native habitats. The 

 cultivation of the Cinchonas in India, Java, Ceylon, Jamaica, 

 and many other countries, may be quoted as an illustration. 

 All our supplies of Cinchona are now obtained from culti- 

 vated plants, and, as a consequence, the price of that most 

 valuable drug, quinine, is not one-fourth of the price it was 

 a few years ago. 



Another most valuable medicinal plant is now largely 



