TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION K. 509 



supply the needs of the drug market continuously, and under normal conditions. 

 If, therefore. Great Britain was to be made self-supporting in regard to the 

 principal lines of medicinal plants, it must be demonstrated that they could be 

 grown by market gardeners as a remunerative crop. In that case there would 

 be plenty of skilled professional horticulturists fully capable of providing the 

 necessary supply. Assistance might have to be given to them in regard to the 

 preparation of their material eo that a uniform sample could be supplied to 

 the -wholesale dealers. As large quantities of the principal drugs, belladonna, 

 henbane, &c., are already grown in this country by pharmaceutical manufacturers, 

 it appeared reasonable to expect that the country could supply itself in this 

 manner. But it appeared desirable that there .should be more co-operation and 

 organisation between the various agencies which were now interesting themselvee 

 in this matter. 



Miss Saunders pointed out the need for co-operation between the breeder 

 and the chemist. She asked Professor Greenish if the frog method was still 

 employed for the assay of digitalin, and what quantity of fresh leaves was 

 required for comparative assays. 



Mr. Claridge Druce considered that the cultivation of drugs for the British 

 market should be in the hands or imder the control of those having a practical 

 knowledge of a highly technical industry, since the difference between profit 

 and loss depended upon such knowledge. He did not think, except in the case 

 perhaps of a few plants, that school children could be advantageously employed 

 in herb collecting. 



Dr. E. N. Thomas raised the question of the relative merit, in certain cases, 

 of extraction from dried and from fresh leaves. 



Professor Weiss supported the opinion of Sir Sydney Olivier that the cultiva- 

 tion of drugs could only be placed upon a satisfactory basis if the industry 

 became specialised, and only the most remunerative varieties were grown. He 

 referred to the experimental work which had been carried out in America on 

 the effects of selection in the cultivation of belladonna.^ It was essential that 

 similar experiments should be carried out in the United Kingdom on all important 

 medicinal plants with regard to their richness in alkaloids and other specific 

 substances. The botanical departments of the various universities and colleges 

 would, without doubt, be ready to co-operate in this matter with the Board of 

 Agriculture. 



The President thanked the visitors to the Section most cordially for their 

 kindness in contributing to so interesting and fruitful a discussion. 



3. Are Endemics the Oldest or the Youngest Species in a Country'. 

 By Dr. J. C. Willis. 



4. Geographical Distribution of the Compositce.^ By J. Small. 



5. The Origin and Fate of Salt-marsh ' Pans.'* 

 By Professor E. H. Yapp, M.A . 



6. A Contribution to the Plant Geography and Flora of the Arfak 

 Mountains in Dutch AT. IF. New Guinea.^ By Miss L. S. Gibbs, 

 F.L.S., F.n.M.S. 



The author's chief collecting area was in the vicinity oi the two small Angi 

 lakes, situated at an altitude of 7,000 and 8,000 feet i-espectively, on the southern 



- Bull. No. 306, United States Department of Agriculture. 



^ See Pharm. Jour., December 1916-February 1917. 



■* A full account of the work dealt with is included in a paper on ' The Salt- 

 marshes of the Dovey Estuary,' by R. H. Yapp and D. Jolins ; see Jmirnal of 

 Erology, vol. iv., part iii., 1916. 



' Published by Taylor & Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, E.G. 



