112 BTIITTSII PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE. 
tonic, and diaphoretic; the Myristicacese, aromatic, stimulant, and carminative; 
the Pinacese yield turpentine, pitch, and resinous substances ; the Zingiberacese 
are aromatic, stimulant, and stomachic; and the Marantaceae yield starch in 
large quantities. The above are but a few illustrations, given for the purpose of 
exhibiting the value of a knowledge of botany in guiding us in the search for 
new remedies, if we should be stationed in a comparatively unknown country,— 
or even in a limited degree in our own native land. 
It is right, however, that I should mention, that plants which are now 
placed by botanists in the same Natural Orders are frequently found to 
possess very varying properties. Thus, the poisonous cocculus indicus plant 
is in the same Order with that of the calumba and pareira hrava; the 
edible mango with 'poison-asli; the highly poisonous calabar bean with 
the liquorice; the powerful elaterium with the edible melon and cucumber'^ 
the poisonous hemlock with the edible parsnip and carroty —the aromatic, 
stimulant, and carminative anise^ —and the foetid assafoetida ; the deadly Mada¬ 
gascar poison-nut with the nutritious coro-tree of Demerara; the narcotic 
belladonna and henbane with the edible potato and stimulant capsicum; the 
breadfruit and the nutritious cow-tree of South America with the poisonous 
Upas ; the edible asparagus and onion with the purgative aloes and the diuretic 
squill; the powerful colchicum and cevadilla with the slightly astringent Uvu~ 
laria ; the narcotic Lolium with our corn producing plants ; and other examples 
of a like kind might be readily found. Many illustrations might even be given 
of varying properties in plants now regarded as belonging to one and the same 
genus. A few examples must, however, suffice:—Thus, the highly poisonous 
Aconitum ferox and Aconitum Napellus are placed with the febrifugal Aconitum 
hetero'phyllum ; the poisonous Capparis pulcherrima with the stimulant and 
antiscorbutic Capparis spinosa; the delicious Mangosteen with the powerfully- 
purgative gamboge; the Guarana or Brazilian cocoa with the poisonous 
Paullinia pinnata^ P. Cururu^ and P. australis; the edible Coriaria nepa- 
lensis and C. sarmentosa with the poisonous Coriaria myrtifolia and C- rusci- 
folia; the highly-poisonous Stryclmos Nux-vomica with the harmless 8. Pseudo- 
quina ; the edible with woody nightshade; and the sioeet cassava 
with the poisonous bitter cassava. It should be noticed, however, in regard 
to the varying properties possessed by species of the same genus, that one part 
of a plant frequently possesses different properties from another, and that while 
one may be poisonous, another may be harmless; hence in comparing the pro¬ 
perties of one plant with another the same parts of each should be taken. 
With such precautions we shall find but comparatively few examples of difference 
of properties in plants of the same genus, although such may be occasionally 
found, as the fruits of the different species of Capparis, Gambogia, Coriaria, and 
Solanum ; the barks of the species of Strychnos; the root of species of Manihot, 
etc. 
In reference to the above apparent exceptions of plants arranged in the same 
Natural Orders, etc., having different properties, it should be remembered that 
no properly educated botanist would pretend to say that any of our natural 
systems, as at present cons|jfucted, is altogether perfect, for such cannot be the 
case until we possess a much greater knowledge of plants than we can as yet 
boast of; but at the same time all searchers after truth must admit, from the 
many examples quoted above of the general medicinal properties of certain 
Natural Orders, that a knowledge of them, even as at present defined, is 
of most essential service in guiding us to an acquaintance with the pro¬ 
perties of unknown plants; and I think, therefore, that we may justly 
conclude that the apparent exceptions which we occasionally find in the 
properties of certain plants to those now placed by us in the same Natural 
Orders, are due to some differences of structure, or to the varying conditions 
