Am.  Jour.  Pbarm. 
April,  1904. 
A  Symposium. 
i87 
materia  medica,  that  it  possibly  deserved  a  specific  name,  and  the 
one  selected  answers  admirably,  provided  by  common  consent  it  can 
so  be  understood  and  observed  universally. 
(3)  Pharmacognosy,  Gr.  <fidppaxov  (pharmacon)  -f  yv&ats,  yvcoor) 
(gnosis,  gnoso) — pharmaco(n)gnosy.  Here,  as  in  the  two  preceding 
cases,  we  have  two  foreign  simples  combined  to  form  our  English 
term  ;  the  former  ((pap [iaxov)  has  already  been  explained  under 
pharmacology  ;  the  latter  (jvaiots,  yvcoar)),  as  with  \6yos,  is  very 
far  reaching,  it  actively  being  equivalent  to — a  knowledge,  an  in- 
quiry, knowledge  of  a  higher  order,  deeper  wisdom,  acquaintance, 
knowing,  recognizing.  Again  here,  so  far  as  etymology  is  con- 
cerned, there  is  no  restriction  of  scope  to  which  the  term  may 
apply,  and  yet  it  was  instituted  for  conveying  the  idea  of  a  masterly 
study  of  the  drugs,  but  along  a  restrictive  or  special  line,  and  for  this, 
as  seen  above,  the  original  roots  give  abundant  license  in  the  one 
shade  of  meaning,  recognizing,  i.  e.,  one  drug  from  another  by  phy- 
sical and  chemical  characters,  which  may  be  interpreted  liberally  as 
comprising  the  knowledge  of  selecting  and  identifying  true  and 
false  specimens  by  such  characteristics.  Consequently  this  is  the 
descriptive  side  of  materia  medica  (science  of  describing  drugs 
physically)  as  pharmacology  is  the  experimental  side — science  of  the 
action  of  drugs. 
Conclusions: 
(1)  Materia  Medica. — The  older  name  for  a  treatise  on  curative 
agents,  and  although  originally  intended  to  be  all  comprehensive,  is 
employed  often  at  present  in  a  restrictive  sense— simply  to  a  gen- 
eral consideration  of  the  materials  in  all  respects,  save  that  of  appli- 
cation— physiological  action  and  therapy. 
(2)  Pharmacology. — Although  literally  a  synonym  of  materia 
medica  in  its  broadest  sense,  yet  was  intended  originally  to  represent 
the  experimental  side  of  the  subject — the  application  of  agents  to 
the  system ;  how  they  act  upon  the  ,healthy  and  sickly  organisms, 
thereby  revealing  their  possible  value  in  curing  disease. 
(3)  Pharmacognosy. — Although  a  term  equally  comprehensive  as 
the  two  preceding,  yet  it  was  created  to  represent  the  descriptive 
side  of  materia  medica,  so  far  as  it  may  apply  to  describing,  physic- 
ally and  chemically,  the  animal  and  vegetable  crude  drugs,  disclos- 
ing thus  by  comparison  the  many  distinguishing  characteristics. 
While  the  employment  of  these  three  terms  in  a  liberal  sense, 
