February 24, 1872.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
G93 
owner their origin. But his answer dashed their fond 
project to the ground, for he told them that the canes 
were brought from the East Indies, and that the supply 
was unlimited. Encyclopaedias confirmed the unwelcome 
news. Foremost amongst the hoys, at least in the search 
for information, was one who, in later years, besides 
proving himself one of our best botanical explorers, 
wrote a history of this class of plants, of which Humboldt 
expressed a high opinion. I refer to Dr. Secmann,* who 
was our chairman when I had last the honour of address¬ 
ing you. 
Professor Wilson, speaking of the necessity of such 
knowledge being taught in schools, in order to the better 
fitting for the battle of life, says, “We go forth in 
hundreds every year to seek, as we say, our fortunes, as 
if the seeking was all on our side, and we should know 
Fortune if we saw her. And it may he, that all the 
while our fortune, like a lost bride, is seeking us; and 
too often, like Gabriel and Evangeline in Longfellow’s 
sad story, we pass each other in the dark, and, all un¬ 
conscious of the fact, hid farewell for ever. 
“How many of our young men who visit foreign 
countries, bent on commercial enterprise, could tell 
whether the exudation from a tree was a gum, a sugar, 
a manna, a resin, a gum-resin, a camphor, a caoutchouc, 
or a gutta-percha ; whether a particular tree would yield 
oil or not, or fibres suitable for fabrics, rope and paper; 
whether a wood was soft or hard, lasting or destructible ?” 
The result of such teaching is easy to anticipate. In 
the counting-house, in the market and in the workshop, 
at home and abroad, we should have intelligent workers, 
whose knowledge, besides engendering and strengthening 
a love for their calling, without which success is impos¬ 
sible, would be found in numberless ways to prove itself 
useful, and thus contribute in no slight degree to suc¬ 
cess, and raising up a hand of observers who would 
he constantly on the watch for improving or extending 
our present supplies of raw material, and be capable 
of forming an approximate estimate of the value of the 
various substances coming for the first time under their 
notice. 
It w r ould be well, perhaps, just to indicate the meaning 
I wish to convey when I speak of teaching this subject 
in schools. I would not have it taught to the exclusion 
of other equally important subjects. The following is 
an example—which, in the carrying out, might he modi¬ 
fied to suit the requirements of the case—of the manner 
in which such lessons could be given. 
I would devote in each week two or three hours, more 
or less, according to the progress made in other subjects, 
to elementary lessons on the best known and most com¬ 
monly used vegetable products. I would preface such a 
course by a few lessons on the various parts of plants and 
their structure, so that the scholar might know the rela¬ 
tion of a product to the plant producing it. This should 
he copiously illustrated by specimens of common field 
plants, which the scholars would take pleasure in collect¬ 
ing, by specimens of vegetable products, and by the free 
use ot the blackboard. The necessity for well and 
judiciously illustrating every lesson should not be lost 
sight of. This done, the vegetable products themselves 
should be dealt with in simple natural groups, such as 
substances used as food, fibres, dyes, and so forth. A 
strictly scientific grouping of the substances in Natural 
Orders must not he thought of for such a purpose, as the 
association and comparison of analogous substances would 
be lost sight of. As an exercise, and as a means of more 
thoroughly fixing the lesson in their mind, and also as 
giving the teacher an opportunity of correcting any 
* Siuce writing the above remarks, the sorrowful news has 
been sent from Nicaragua that Dr. Seemann has died from 
the effects of a fever. Botany has thus lost one of her best 
workers, and economic botany one of her best advocates. And 
I would record my humble testimony to Dr. Seemann’s love 
of science, genial good-fellowship, and gentlemanly qualities. 
wrong ideas, the scholars should be required to reproduce 
from memory the various facts brought before them. 
But I am fully aware that there are two great dif¬ 
ficulties in the way of the teacher in this matter, namely, 
the want of good text-books and of specimens to illus¬ 
trate the lessons. The literature of economic botany, un¬ 
fortunately, is of a very scattered character, information 
having to be looked for in odd and out of the way 
places. At the present time there is no good single 
book for teachers, nor one which could be put into the 
hands of scholars. On economic plants, especially those 
used in medicine, information of the highest and most 
trustworthy character may be found in Pereira’s or 
Royle’s ‘ Maferia Medica.’ Lindley’s ‘ Flora Medica,’ 
and the same author’s ‘Medical and Economic Botany,’ 
contain botanical descriptions only. But all of these are 
too special, and contain descriptions of many substances- 
which, though to the economic botanist of very high 
interest, yet are not required in a text-book for general 
use. 
Dr. Yeats’s ‘ Natural History of Commerce,’ part of 
which is devoted to economic botany, is the most useful 
and best book we have for school and general purposes. 
None of these, however, come up to my idea of what such 
a text-book on economic botany should be. Still, in 
the books I have mentioned, and some few others, the 
teacher will find information sufficient to enable him 
to give excellent object lessons. 
The procuring of specimens, however, is of much 
greater difficulty ; yet, by a moderate amount of perse¬ 
verance on the part of the teacher, it can be overcome. 
I am not acquainted with any published sets of specimens 
adapted for teaching purposes, and the teacher is thrown,. 
to a great extent, on his own exertions in procuring them.. 
It is extremely desirable that the teacher should be able-- 
to show his scholars the raw products which form the 
subjects of his lessons. But most, if not all, the specimens 
required by the teacher for elementary lessons are pro¬ 
curable from grocers, druggists and others, for a few 
pence each, and the scholars themselves would gladly 
contribute specimens for such a purpose. Such a collec¬ 
tion, together with some articles manufactured from 
them, could be placed in a case or drawers, where they 
could be seen, and would greatly add to the interest of 
the school-room. This could all be carried out at a very 
little expense. The cost of the specimens themselves, 
would be small, and they need not, except in the case of 
liquids, be kept in glass bottles, the primary cost of 
which, together with that of replacing frequent breakages, 
might he a serious consideration. Strong cardboard, 
or, better still, wooden trays or boxes, answer very well. 
If the expense be not objected to, a nest of small 
drawers, of about nine inches long, four inches wide and 
two inches deep, would prove admirable, and, if well 
made, would stand any amount of legitimate wear and 
tear. In the Pharmaceutical Society’s Museum, there are 
specimens in such drawers, which allow of the students 
thoroughly examining them; the drawers have stood an 
enormous amount of wear and tear, and the arrangement 
is highly appreciated by the students. The specimens, 
should he carefully labelled with the common and best 
known name, their use and their habitat specified, and, 
if thought fit, the scientific name also ; but a scientific 
name on such a label should not be too prominent, and 
certainly should not be given to the exclusion of the- 
comrnon one. Scientific names are absolutely necessary 
in fixing specifically individual plants. The same com¬ 
bination of generic and specific names cannot be used for 
more than one species, while common names are very 
loosely applied; yet, as it requires almost an apprentice¬ 
ship to fix scientific names in one’s memory, it would be- 
too great a burden for most scholars. Of course, this 
remark must not be taken as indicating a want of appre¬ 
ciation of scientific names ; I am only considering tho 
requirements of the elementary schools, and am anxious to 
remove every possible difficulty. Good coloured dia- 
