INTRODUCTORY 



SCOPE AND PROBLEMS 



PHARMACOGNOSY is essentially the study of raw materials and 

 the products manufactured from them. While the origin of this 

 science dates back more than a century in the Old World, it is only 

 within the last twenty years that the subject has received any serious 

 attention in this country. During this time much has been done to 

 make pharmacognosy and chemistry the fundamental sciences in 

 pharmacy. 



In a narrow sense pharmacognosy embraces the study of medicinal 

 plants and their crude products commonly designated as drugs. It 

 has, however, many -ramifications and its branches extend into nearly 

 all of the industries, requiring the consideration of a very great num- 

 ber of economic plants and their products. The divisions extend 

 into the drug business, the spice trade, cereals and food products, 

 the gums yielding varnishes, the origin of vegetable dyes, the prop- 

 erties of woods, the nature of fibers, papers and fabrics, etc., so that, 

 in short, pharmacognosy deals with the properties, identification, 

 sources, and nature of raw materials and their products. 



Use of Microscope. Inasmuch as pharmacognosy requires that 

 one shall be expert in the use of the microscope it might be said to be 

 equivalent to technical microscopy or microscopical technology, 

 meaning thereby the use of the microscope for the identification of, 

 or confirmation of analytical data obtained in the examination of 

 any natural or commercial product. An excellent illustration of 

 the value of the microscope in the examination of a commercial 

 product is in the case of a seizure of apple jelly many years ago. 

 The price was such that at once the health authorities suspected that 

 it was an artificial product. As the nature of it could not chemically 

 be detected, it occurred to someone to examine it under the micro- 

 scope and it was found to contain the skeletons of certain specific 

 diatoms. In tracing the habitat of these organisms it was ascertained 



