108 
BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
Mr. E. W. Giles (Clifton) moved the adoption of the Eeport, and, in doing 
so, congratulated the Conference on its great accession of members and increased 
influence. There were many gentlemen amongst those just elected, whose 
names were a most important addition to their roll, and he was prepared to 
accept them as a proof that the Conference had shown itself possessed of the 
elements of stability and permanence. 
Mr. Fitzhugh (Nottingham) seconded the motion, which was carried. 
The PuESiDENT then addressed the meeting, as follows :— 
ON THE STUDY OF BOTANY IN CONNECTION WITH 
PHAKMACY. 
Having had the honour of being called upon to preside on this occasion, it de¬ 
volves upon me to open the proceedings of the Conference with an introductory 
address ; and, after mature consideration, I have thought that in no way could 
I better discharge my duty than by pointing out the relations which exist be¬ 
tween botany and pharmacy, and the consequent advantages which the phar- 
ceutist must derive from a knowledge of botanical science. The question ciii 
bono, to what practical end and advantage do your studies tend ? is one which, 
however distasteful to those who love knowledge for its own sake, and for the 
priceless pleasures it brings, is nevertheless one which can never be lost sight of 
by the working bees in this necessarily utilitarian age. I know that by many, 
perhaps by most pharmaceutists, the study of botany is regarded as of but little 
value—indeed, by some as practically useless. It will be my object on the pre¬ 
sent occasion to show that such conclusions must be founded on a very imper¬ 
fect knowledge of the science of botany, and the important and intimate rela¬ 
tions it has to, and its practical bearings upon, the profession of pharmacy. 
The time allotted to the meetings of the Conference will not allow me to de¬ 
vote that attention to the subject which its importance deserves ; hence I shall 
confine myself to the consideration of some of the more immediate and direct 
advantages which the pharmaceutist will derive from a knowledge of botany 
leaving its value as a mental training and as a recreation to some future oppor¬ 
tunity. Firstly, I find that at the present time there are about four hundred 
species of plants, some parts of which, or their products and secretions, are em¬ 
ployed as remedial agents, and a considerable proportion of which enter into the 
officinal preparations of the British Pharmacopoeia. It cannot but be regarded as 
important that those who have constantly to handle and make use of these sub¬ 
stances should be able to recognise the species of plants which yield them, to know 
the countries from which they are derived, to describe their general characters and 
structure, their positions in the vegetable kingdom, and their medical properties 
and uses. Indeed, the value of such knowledge ought to be manifest to all, as 
without it the pharmaceutist would be unable to guard against fraudulent adul¬ 
teration, accidental substitution, or the ignorance of herb-gatherers and herbalists. 
Two cases which have recently come under my own observation will bring pro¬ 
minently under notice the importance of a knowledge of botany in the detection of 
substitutions and adulterations. One was the substitution of double feverfew 
flowers for those of chamomile ; and the other, the admixture of the stamens with 
the officinal style and stigmas of the saffron plant. The former will exhibit the im¬ 
portance of an accurate knowledge of the diagnostic characters of plants and their 
parts; and the latter the necessity of an acquaintance with the general charac¬ 
ters and structure of the different parts of plants. None but a botanist would 
have detected and traced such adulterations to their right sources ; and the fact 
of the latter adulteration having hitherto been undetected in Great Britain, 
and only once briefly noticed abroad as having occurred in France, although 
since proved by me to have been practised in this country for many years, clearly 
