576 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
Bark of Ecuador, the thick or tahla form of which, derived from the trunks of 
old trees, is becoming more and more rare. 
Mr. Spruce who in 1859 visited the forests of Azuay in the Quitenian Andes 
in order to examine the species of Cinchona which occur there, found that the 
Bed Bark was in process of rapid extermination, prostrate naked trunks in 
some places surrounded by saplings being the only remnants which he met 
wdth of this valuable species. The slopes of Chimborazo, which the same tra¬ 
veller visited in the succeeding year, offered similar evidence of an improvident 
and destructive method of bark-collecting, the very roots of the trees having 
been in many cases dug out and stripped of their bark. This valuable Cinchona 
is however now so well established in India (the number of trees on the 
Neilgherry Hills alone, amounting in May 1866 to 297,465),* that there is no 
danger of an utter failure of red bark, at all events of such as may be obtained 
from young wood. 
The advanced price of Scammony already mentioned, presents an instance in 
which the supply of a drug is diminished by the introduction of a more profit¬ 
able object of commerce. This cause combined with the clearing of forests, has 
operated still more strongly in the case of some drugs the demand for which 
has been small and uncertain. Thus it has been more advantageous to grow 
sugar, coffee, cotton and cacao than to collect the forest-products which in 
earlier times formed articles of trade. To this cause, I think we must attribute 
the disappearance from commerce of such drugs as South American Elemi, 
Liquidambar Besin, the fragrant Tacamahaca, Caranna, Winter’s Bark and 
Contrayerva Boot, all of which were furnished by the Spanish colonies a cen¬ 
tury ago. 
Turning to the Old World, we may note the disappearance of the sweet- 
scented Bhodium Wood once found in our shops. This substance is derived 
from two remarkable shrubby species of Convolvulus occurring in the Canaries, 
in which islands, however, as I have been informed by Dr. Bolle who at my 
request made special enquiries on the subject, no shrubs are now to be found 
having woody stems thick enough to be worth collecting. The Oil of Bhodium 
sold in the shops is well known to be an artificial compound. 
Sagapenum may also be mentioned as a drug that has almost ceased to be im¬ 
ported ; and it is one of which we know neither the botanical source nor exact 
place of production, a remark that applies to another gum-resin of the same 
class, namely Opopanax. 
From considerations such as the foregoing, it becomes evident that the supply 
of many drugs which are obtained without culture, is of necessity fluctuating 
and precarious; and most persons will be disposed to acquiesce in the remark 
of an accomplished modern traveller and naturalist, that “whatever vegetable 
substance is needful to man, he must ultimately cultivate the plant producing 
it.” This indeed is a truth exemplified in many ways. In the animal kingdom 
we find it needful to cultivate, so to speak, both oysters and salmon, while par¬ 
tridges, pheasants, grouse, hares and foxes all receive in our island protection 
sufficient to save them from extermination. In the vegetable kingdom, and 
in that branch of it with which we have to do, there are several medicinal 
plants once easily procured in a wild state which it has now become necessary 
to cultivate. Henbane, belladonna, foxglove, hemlock, pennyroyal and valerian 
have all to be cultivated, in order that they may be obtained abundantly and 
regularly; and it seems probable that even the common dandelion may soon be 
honoured with the cultivator’s care. These however are examples of the culti¬ 
vation of plants in the country in which they are indigenous. 
The introduction of the cinchona into the Dutch and British East Indies 
* Parliamentaiy Return, ordered hy the House of Commons to be printed, 18 June 1863. 
