2  The  American  Materia  Medica.  {^anu^.iSS™" 
the  past  with  the  present.  And  in  doing  this,  I  shall  draw  not  alone 
from  what  I  have  learned  from  print,  but  that  which  came  from  the 
lives  of  my  associates,  in  whom  I  have  been  much  blessed. 
PART  I. 
Concerning  Philadelphia. — The  pleasure  of  meeting  one's 
friends  amid  such  greetings  as  come  when  I  visit  this  home  of  those 
whose  work,  past  and  present,  has  been  in  my  own  chosen  field.,  is 
an  inspiring  ideal.  But  yet  not  without  a  degree  of  apprehension 
do  I  appear  to-day  in  this  institution,  where  it  is  my  duty  to  consider 
discursively  a  subject  which  I  shrink  from  attempting,  even  though 
it  has  taken  my  care  and  time  for  many  decades.  Well  do  I  recall 
that  twenty  years  ago  I  accepted  in  our  neighboring  city,  Xew  York, 
a  like  responsibility  concerning  a  closely  related  subject,  and  at  that 
time  felt  less  hesitancy  in  attempting' to  discuss  the  "  Infinities  in 
Pharmacy,"  than  I  do  now,  concerning  a  subject  on  which  I  should, 
seemingly,  be  better  informed.  Let  me  not  be  misunderstood.  The 
years  of  experience  between  then  and  now  have  been  a  teacher  that 
bids  me  be  cautious.  As  I  now  view  the  outreaches  and  intricacies 
of  our  text,  the  apparently  more  portentous  one  of  other  days  is  far 
overshadowed  by  that  which  lies  within  the  title  you  have  given  me. 
Infinity,  from  whatever  direction  man's  limitations  meet  the  un- 
known, is  incomprehensible;  but  no  more  superhuman  text  appears 
than  lies  within  the  subject  awarded  me  to-day.  This  I  claim  to  be 
able  to  demonstrate,  if  time  and  space  permits  me  to  reach  the  sub- 
stance that  rests  beyond  this  introduction. 
Need  I,  then,  say  that  no  one  can  better  appreciate  than  do  I  the 
delicacy  of  the  position  I  now  occupy?  Nor  could  any  one  appre- 
ciate more  than  do  I  the  opportunities  for  error  that  lie  in  my  path. 
Let  me  then  be  cautious,  realizing,  as  I  do,  the  responsibility  and 
the  complications,  past  and  present,  that  I  assume  in  touching  a 
subject  so  closely  connected  with  men's  prejudices  and  antagonisms. 
The  historical  surroundings  of  this  spot  take  first  my  tenderest 
thought,  and  I  crave  a  moment  in  their  behalf.  Am  I  wrong  in 
accepting  that  this  is  the  cradle  in  which  was  nourished  the  early 
American  materia  medica,  as  at  that  date  the  materia  medica  was 
known?  While  it  is  true  that  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  on  the  rocky 
coast  of  Massachusetts,  began  of  necessity  the  investigation  of  a 
new  flora  in  that  Xew  England  land,  it  is  also  true  that,  creeping 
down  the  coast  and  across  the  lands  and  rivers  intervening,  the  spirit 
