Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
November,  1907.  / 
Pharmaceutical  Meeting. 
547 
and  with  little  cost,  except  aconite:  Atropa  Belladonna,  Digitalis 
purpurea,  Hyoscyamus  niger,  Pulsatilla  (Anemone)  pratensis,  Comum 
maculatum,  Aconitum  Napellus  and  Bryonia  alba.  Some  of  the  diffi- 
culties met  in  the  cultivation  of  these  plants  were  mentioned  by  Dr. 
Borneman.  Efforts  to  grow  aconite  plants,  both  from  imported  seeds 
and  seedlings,  met  with  failure.  Belladonna,  while  usually  doing 
well,  is  sometimes  attacked  by  a  worm  which  bores  through  the 
root,  causing  the  plant  to  wither  and  die.  In  the  growing  of  bella- 
donna it  was  found  an  advantage  to  take  up  the  roots  in  the  fall, 
bury  them,  and  set  them  out  in  the  spring,  rather  than  to  propagate 
the  plants  from  seeds.  The  roots  produced  by  bryonia  plants  were 
small  as  compared  to  the  commercial  drug.  In  one  instance  the  first 
year's  growth  of  hyoscyamus  was  good,  but  the  crop  was  destroyed 
by  insects  the  second  year.  Digitalis  does  not  well  survive  the 
winter.  Tests  showed  that  digitalis  leaves,  contrary  to  statements 
sometimes  made,  are  more  potent  in  the  fall,  after  flowering,  as  are 
also  small  leaves  grown  in  the  shade. 
Dr.  Borneman  said  that  they  had  also  taken  up  the  cultivation  of 
a  number  of  medicinal  plants  indigenous  to  the  Southern  States. 
Of  those  which  can  be  grown  successfully  in  Pennsylvania,  he  men- 
tioned the  following :  Passiflora  incarnata,  Echinacea  angustifolia, 
and  Nicotiana  Tabacum. 
In  concluding  his  remarks,  the  speaker  stated  that  they  now  have 
fifty  or  eighty  species  of  plants  under  cultivation,  and  that  next  year 
they  would  probably  add  fifty  more. 
Mr.  M.  I.  Wilbert  said  that  it  was  interesting  to  note  that  a  cen- 
tury ago  the  Friends'  herb  gardens,  one  of  which  was  on  Walnut 
Street,  flourished  in  Philadelphia,  and  that  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  college  was  interested  in  the  sale  of  the  drugs  derived  there- 
from, and  then  mentioned  the  fact  that  Benjamin  Franklin  had  sent 
from  England  a  specimen  of  Rheum  rhaponticum  to  John  Bartram, 
who  cultivated  the  plant  for  a  number  of  years. 
Dr.  Mattison  conjectured  that  the  influence  of  the  Pure  Food  and 
Drug  Law  would  tend  to  promote  the  cultivation  of  medicinal 
plants. 
Prof.  Joseph  P.  Remington  said  that  the  claim  had  been  made  that 
some  cultivated  plants  are  not  as  rich  in  active  principles  as  those 
in  the  wild  state.  He  then  spoke  of  the  fugitive  qualities  of  digi- 
talis leaves,  and  said  that  no  satisfactory  method  having  been  devised 
for  their  assay,  a  tincture  of  fresh  leaves  could  be  introduced  into 
