20 
Gardens  of  Medicinal  Plants. 
f Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I    January,  1904. 
the  significance  and  value  of  such  gardens  to  the  progress  of  phar- 
macy and  medicine,  and  how  such  gardens  may  be  established  in  the 
United  States.  On  careful  consideration  it  becomes  evident  that 
gardens  devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  medicinal  plants  are  the  direct 
outcome  of  the  development  and  evolution  of  botanical  gardens  in 
general.  It  is  true  that  many  medicinal  plants  are  cultivated  on  a 
large  scale,  but  such  plantations  are  not  true  gardens  of  medicinal 
plants  any  more  than  are  agricultural  fields  botanical  gardens  in  the 
ordinary  acceptance  of  that  term.  The  following  very  briefly  con- 
densed historical  review  will  give  some  idea  of  the  very  recent  origin 
of  gardens  of  medicinal  plants,  and  will  furthermore  serve  to  explain 
more  fully  the  plan  to  be  proposed. 
II.  HISTORICAL. 
Botanic  gardens  date  back  to  remote  antiquity.  We  are  justified 
in  mentioning  the  gardens  of  tradition  and  myth  to  show  that  the 
mythical  idealization  is  intimately  associated  with  realization.  The 
Jewish  "  Gan-eden,"  or  Paradise,  was  supposed  to  have  been  situated 
in  Persia  or  Armenia,  and  according  to  others  in  Chaldea.  The 
gardens  of  Hesperides  (tree  or  fruit  gardens)  were  supposed  to  have 
been  in  Africa,  near  Mt.  Atlas.  There  are  the  promised  gardens  of 
Mohamet,  the  gardens  of  Laertes,  and  the  gardens  of  Alcinoiis  so 
fully  described  in  Homer's  Odyssey.  These  gardens  of  the  imagina- 
tion simply  show  that  the  human  mind  has  ever  associated  joy,  happi- 
ness, and  pleasure  with  luxuriant  vegetation. 
Coming  now  to  gardens  of  tradition  which  perhaps  had  some 
foundation  in  fact,  we  may  first  of  all  mention  the  royal  gardens  of  the 
ancient  Egyptians,  which  were  of  remarkable  splendor.  They  were 
established  on  a  grand  scale  about  palaces,  but  were  characterized  by 
a  paucity  of  species,  consisting  largely  of  palms  and  a  few  fruit  trees 
and  culinary  vegetables.  The  country  about  the  Egyptian  catacombs 
was  also  converted  into  gardens.  The  Babylonian  or  Assyrian  gardens 
(about  2000  years  B.C.),  though  their  existence  is  purely  problematical, 
were  described  as  magnificent,  and  were  reckoned  among  the  wonders 
of  the  world.  They  were  built  on  elevated  structures,  supported  by 
enormous  pillars.  The  garden  patches  were  laid  out  in  squares  with 
remarkably  constructed  terraces.  Fountains  kept  the  air  cool  and 
watered  the  plants.  Equally  wonderful  and  problematical  were  King 
Solomon's  gardens  and  the  earlier  Persian  and  Grecian  gardens. 
