114 
BUITISII PHARMACEUTICAL CONEERENCE. 
plants and of tbeir products and secretions, "will be also of tlie greatest service 
in enabling the pbarmaceutist to detect adulterations and substitutions 
amongst our vegetable drugs and food substances. In a knowledge of tbe 
minute anatomy of plants and the practical use of tlie microscope the Ger¬ 
man and even French pharmaceutists arc very far in advance of their English 
brethren, as the foreign works on pharmacology will at once render manifest. 
It behoves the English pharmaceutist to devote more time and attention to 
these matters, as means of detecting adulterations and substitutions, or other¬ 
wise he will not only be left behind by his foreign brethren, but also by the 
intelligent analysts of this country connected with the medical profession and 
the Excise. The officers of the latter service especially are now directing 
much attention to the detection of adulterations, etc., by the aid of the micro¬ 
scope, and I trust it will not be long before pharmaceutists generally follow 
their good example. Such men as Deane, Brady, Floward, Evans, Stoddart, 
and many others amongst our own body, are exceptions to the general rule, 
and their investigations will show how important and valuable the micro¬ 
scope may become in the hands of accurate observers. 
At the present day much attention is properly directed to all matters con¬ 
nected with the health and comfort of our population, and as members of an 
intelligent profession all pharmaceutists should be able to explain the influ¬ 
ence of plants in regulating and maintaining the purity of the atmosphere wm 
breathe and of the water we drink,—agents upon wffiich we are dependent 
for our very existence. Surely such knowledge cannot be considered unim¬ 
portant and useless, for if a pharmaceutist desire to raise his social position or 
even to maintain it, it will be absolutely necessary for him to keep ahead of 
the general population in all matters referring to the health of the people. 
One important branch of his education must not therefore be neglected, 
namely, that which has reference to plants in a state of life or action and 
their influence in nature. 
A knowledge of the functions comprised in the history of the life of the 
plant and of its several parts or organs will be also of great practical assist¬ 
ance to every pharmaceutist, and more • especially to those engaged in 
the cultivation of medicinal plants. A few illustrations on this point will 
be of much value :—Thus he will learn, in the first place, how important is a 
proper supply of light to a plant, for if that be wmnting, transpiration or 
exhalation of watery vapour from its leaves and other green parts will 
soon cease, and that this cessation of one function wdll speedily be followed 
by tliat of absorption also, in consequence of the plant becoming gorged 
with unremoved fluid matters. Hence the plant will become unhealthy, and 
unless removed from the influence of such an unfavourable condition it will 
ultimately die. A knowledge of this action of solar light upon vegetation 
is of direct importance to the pharmaceutist, as it teaches him not only how 
necessary light is to the successful cultivation of medicinal plants, but also the 
necessity of gathering such plants, if we would have them in their most active 
conditions, in dry, warm, sunny weather, as under other circumstances, that is, 
if collected after a succession of dull, dreary, cold, damp, or wet days, their 
active secretions would be so mixed up with inert unassimilated fluid matters, 
as sensibly to diminish their medicinal properties, and materially to increase 
the difficulty of making eligible and stable preparations from them. 
Important, however, as the influence of solar light is upon the transpira¬ 
tion of plants, it would soon bo found that other changes were dependent 
upon its action combined with that of the atmosphere wdiich surrounded 
them. Thus, without the conjoint action of these two agents, no proper forma¬ 
tion of organic substances could take place in plants. The pharmaceutist woidd 
also learn that in the process of assimilation there were two series of organic 
