ArocSer  Pi8™-}     The  Names  of  Medicinal  Plants,  etc.  489 
Altogether,  the  shipment  of  indigenous  drugs  runs  up  into  mil- 
lions of  pounds  annually. 
To  my  regret  I  have  been  unable  to  procure  accurate  information 
concerning  the  money  value  of  the  native  drugs  shipped  from  this 
State.  The  firms  to  which  I  applied  either  could  not  furnish  it,  or, 
for  reasons  best  known  to  themselves,  did  not  care  to  do  so.  I  have 
therefore  had  to  omit  a  reply  to  that  part  of  the  query,  also  to  that 
part  of  it  in  regard  to  exports. 
During  the  last  two  years  of  the  "  late  unpleasantness,"  when  the 
ports  of  the  Southern  States  were  blockaded,  and  medicines  of  all 
kinds  were  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  be  obtained,  resort  was  had 
to  our  native  materia  medica,  and  well  did  it  stand  us  in  stead. 
The  climate  of  North  Carolina  is  that  happy  mean  between  heat 
and  cold,  drought  and  moisture,  arctic  sterility  and  tropical  exuber- 
ance, in  which  energies  are  stimulated  by  the  bracing  breath  of  a 
tempered  atmosphere,  cool  enough  to  inspire  physical  activity,  and 
warm  enough  to  secure  abundant  returns  to  the  tiller  of  the  field 
whose  labor  is  carried  on  under  the  happy  conditions  of  a  genial  air, 
a  friendly  sun  and  a  responsive  soil. 
In  the  sanitary  department  of  the  Census  Reports  it  is  stated  that 
one  or  two  of  the  three  most  healthful  localities  in  the  United  States 
are  found  in  the  mountain  regions  of  western  North  Carolina.  There 
pulmonary  consumption  has  never  been  known  to  originate.  This 
feature  has  given  the  climate  a  celebrity  for  its  remedial  agency  in 
such  diseases,  and  has  caused  invalids  to  resort  to  the  State  from  all 
parts  of  the  Union,  finding  in  many  instances  decided  benefit  or  per- 
fect cure. 
It  may  be  of  interest  to  note  that  for  spring  the  average  tempera- 
ture of  the  State  is  570  F.,  for  summer  770  F.,  for  autumn  590  F., 
and  for  winter  41 0  F.  Taking  typical  localities  in  each  section  as 
points  of  comparison,  we  find  the  mean  annual  temperature  of 
Raleigh,  in  the  middle  section,  to  be  6o°  F.,  its  summer  temperature 
760  F.,  and  its  winter  temperature  440  F.,  while  Florence,  Italy,  has 
respectively  the  temperatures  :  590  F.,  75 0  F.  and  440  F.  In  the 
eastern  section,  Beaufort,  on  the  coast,  shows  as  the  mean  620  F., 
780  F.  and  460  F.,  while  Genoa,  Italy,  has  6i°  F.,  750  F.  and  470  F. 
In  the  mountain  section,  Asheville  shows  mean  temperatures  for  the 
year,  540  F.,  71 0  F.  and  380  F.,  which  may  be  compared  with  Ven- 
ice, Italy,  which  has  550  F.,  73 0  F.  and  380  F. 
