GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND RULES xxi 



instruction should be at least the equivalent of that given in these 

 various subjects in the undergraduate courses of any of the best 

 American universities. 



On the other hand, no amount of reading or scientific training 

 will quite take the place of a real interest in the subject. This 

 interest can be acquired not only in the drug store or large warehouse, 

 but in college laboratories with their extensive collections. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND RULES 



Before taking up the individual drugs some general definitions 

 should be discussed and some generalizations concerning the collec- 

 tion and preservation of drugs should be given consideration. 



The natural origin is the scientific name (generic and specific 

 names) of the plant or animal yielding the drug. In the case of 

 vegetable drugs the natural origin is spoken of as the botanical origin. 

 A vegetable drug usually represents some special part of the plant, 

 but in some instances the entire plant is employed as chirata. 



The habitat of plants is the region where they grow. Sometimes 

 this term is applied erroneously to the drugs themselves. Neither 

 the scientific name of the plant nor the commercial name of the drug 

 may be relied upon as indicating the true habitat of medicinal plants. 

 For example, the specific name of Spigelia marilandica indicates 

 that the plant is found in greatest abundance in Maryland, whereas 

 it is only occasionally met with in that state. In other cases plants 

 are common to a much larger territory than the specific name would 

 indicate, as Prunus virginiana. The geographical names associated 

 with drugs frequently apply to the places from which they are exported 

 rather than to the habitat of the plant yielding the drug, as, for exam- 

 ple, Para sarsaparilla, which is obtained from a plant growing in the 

 upper Amazon region, is shipped to Para, from whence it was formerly 

 exported. 



Plants which yield drugs may grow wild, as is most usually 

 the case, or they may be cultivated, as those yielding digitalis, 

 cannabis indica and the solanaceous leaves. Plants growing in 

 their native countries are said to be indigenous to those regions, 

 as Stillingia sylvatica, of the Southern United States; Aconitum 

 Napellus, of the mountainous regions of Europe, etc. Plants are 

 said to be naturalized when they grow in a foreign land or in another 

 locality than their native home. Some of these may have been 

 distributed by natural agencies, or they may have escaped from 



