426 
American  Medicinal  Flora. 
/  Am.  Jour.  Pharo), 
\      August,  1897. 
employed,  the  following  procedure  is  recommended  :  Select  a  flower- 
ing or  fruiting  branch,  as  the  case  may  be,  which,  when  pressed, 
shall  not  exceed  16  inches  in  length  by  10  inches  in  width.  If  the 
plant  be  an  herb  2  or  3  feet  high,  it  may  be  doubled  to  bring  it 
within  these  measurements.  If  it  possess  root  leaves,  some  of 
these  should  be  included.  Lay  the  specimen  flat  in  a  fold  of  news- 
paper and  place  this  in  a  pile  of  newspapers,  carpet  felting,  or  some 
other  form  of  paper  which  readily  absorbs  moisture,  and  place  the 
pile  in  a  dry  place  under  a  pressure  of  about  20  to  30  pounds,  suffi- 
cient to  keep  the  leaves  from  wrinkling  as  they  dry.  If  a  number 
of  specimens  are  pressed  at  the  same  time,  each  is  to  be  separated 
from  the  others  by  three  or  four  folded  newspapers  or  an  equivalent 
in  other  kinds  of  paper.  In  twelve  to  twenty-four  hours  these  papers 
will  be  found  saturated  with  the  absorbed  moisture,  and  the  fold  con- 
taining the  specimens  should  be  transferred  to  dry  ones.  This  change 
should  be  repeated  for  from  two  to  five  days,  according  to  the  state 
of  the  weather,  the  place  where  the  drying  is  done,  the  fleshiness  of 
the  specimens,  etc.  The  best  way  to  secure  the  required  pressure 
is  by  means  of  a  pair  of  strong  straps,  though  weights  will  do.  The 
best  place  for  drying  is  beside  a  hot  kitchen  range.  When  dry  the 
specimens  should  be  mailed  between  cardboards  or  some  other  light 
but  stiff  materials  which  will  not  bend  in  transit. 
It  is  a  most  important  matter  that  the  name  and  address  of  the 
sender  should  be  attached  to  the  package  and  that  the  specimens,  if 
more  than  one,  should  be  numbered,  the  sender  retaining  also  speci- 
mens bearing  the  same  number,  to  facilitate  any  correspondence 
which  may  follow.  The  Sub-Commission  requests  that,  so  far  as 
practicable,  all  plants  sent  be  represented  by  at  least  four  specimens. 
(Signed)  H.  H.  Rusby,  M.D., 
Chairman  of  the  General  Commission, 
New  York  College  of  Pharmacy. 
Valery  Havard,  M.D., 
Chairman  of  the  Sub-Commission, 
Fort  Slocum,  Davids  Island,  New  York. 
The  death  of  Prof.  Dr.  Pieter  Cornelio  Plugge,  of  Groningen,  Netherlands, 
has  been  announced.  He  held  the  chair  of  Pharmacy  and  Toxicology  in  the 
University  of  his  native  town.  His  death  occurred  June  30,  at  the  Royal 
Botanical  Gardens,  Buitenzorg,  Java,  whither  he  had  been  sent  by  the  Dutch 
Government  on  a  scientific  mission. 
