ON THE STUDY OF BOTANY IN CONNECTION WITH PHAKMACY. Ill 
points of information to be elicited, and so easily may many of these points, 
under peculiar circumstances, be elucidated, that there is room for the bene¬ 
ficial endeavours of the youngest student, no less than of the most matured 
and philosophic mind. The successful prosecution of natural history, like that 
of all other demonstrative sciences, depends upon facts; and when we con¬ 
sider the number of the data necessary to complete the history of an individual 
species, and then reflect on the hundreds of thousands of species which exist 
upon the earth, we shall immediately perceive that every attentive observer has 
the power of contributing something towards his favourite science,—something 
which has been yet unobserved, or if observed, unrecorded. He may thus re¬ 
move the veil from one stone at least of the temple of nature, or he may, by the 
discovery of one single but important fact, clear away an accumulation of doubts 
and difficulties that have long impeded the paths of the greatest adepts.” 
But if a knowledge of Botany be so desirable and so valuable in its results to 
the pharmaceutist resident in this country, it will become of far greater service 
if he be led by desire of gain, ambition, pleasure, or any other cause, to visit or 
reside in a comparatively unknown part of the world ; and in a nation like our 
own, with colonies in all parts, such a contingency is by no means unlikely to 
arrive. Then his acquaintance with botany will give him a clue to the proper¬ 
ties of the plants he will find growing around him, for its study will have informed 
him that those which are closely allied in structure—that is, those belonging to 
the same Hatural Orders may be expected to resemble each other in their medical 
and other properties. He will thus know that whilst the plants of some Orders 
are almost without exception poisonous, or to be regarded with suspicion ; those 
of others are at least harmless; while those of other Hatural Orders may be ex¬ 
pected to possess some important properties, which will render them valuable as 
medicines; or as applicable for manufacturing purposes, or in the arts, or domestic 
economy. 
Thus, to take a few illustrations, a knowledge of systematic botany will have 
informed him that the plants of the Natural Orders Cruciferse, Caryophylla- 
cese, Malvaceae, Sterculiacese, Byttneriacese, Tiliaceae, Aurantiacese, Vitacese, 
Rutacese, Linacese, Rosaceae, Crassulacese, Passifloracese, Cactacese, Grossularia- 
ceae, Myrtaceae, Onagraceae, Boraginaceae, Lamiaceae, Orchidaceae, Palmaceae, 
Cyperaceae, Graminaceae, and numerous others, are generally harmless, as these 
Orders scarcely contain any well-marked poisonous species ; while at the same 
time he will have learned that the plants of the Orders Ranunculaceae, Meni- 
spermaceae, Papaveraceae, Sapindaceae, Coriarieaceae, Anacardiaceae, Cucurbi- 
tacea?, Umbelliferee, Lobeliaceae, Apocynaceae, Loganiaceae, Solanaceae, Scrophu- 
lariaceae, Artocarpaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Amaryllidaceae, Melanthaceae, Araceae, 
and others, are to be regarded with suspicion, as they all contain poisonous plants, 
and some scarcely comprise any but highly dangerous plants. 
Then, again, do we wish to know the medicinal ]3roperties of plants, or to 
search for new remedies? we have an important guide in a knowledge of bo¬ 
tany. Thus, the Papaveraceae yield a milky juice, which frequently possesses 
well-marked narcotic properties ; the Cruciferae are antiscorbutic and stimulant; 
the Malvaceae, Sterculiaceae, and Tiliaceae mucilaginous and demulcent; the 
Guttiferae, acrid and purgative; the Rutacese, antispasmodic, diuretic, and 
tonic ; the Linaceae, emollient and demulcent; the Oxaiidaceae, refrigerant; 
the Simarubaceae, bitter and tonic ; the Rosaceae, Lythraceae, and Saxifragaceae, 
astringent; the Cucurbitaceae, acrid and purgative ; the Myrtaceae, aromatic 
and pungent; the Cinchonaceae, tonic, febrifuge, and astringent; the Valeri- 
anaceae, stimulant and antispasmodic; the Gentianaceae, tonic; the Convolvu- 
laceae, purgative ; the Solanaceae, narcotic ; the Boraginaceae, mucilaginous and 
emollient; the Lamiaceae, aromatic, carminative, and stimulant; the Piperaceae, 
acrid, pungent, aromatic, and stimulant; the Lauraceae, aromatic, stimulant. 
