568 
Editorial, 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1     Dec.  1, 1872. 
(SMtovial  Department. 
Pharmaceutical  Utility  of  Botanical  Gardens. — Under  this  caption  we 
find  in  a  recent  number  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal  and  Transactions  an 
interesting  extract  from  a  lecture  delivered  by  Dr.  von  Mueller,  at  Melbourne, 
Australia,  and  we  regret  that  our  space  does  not  admit  to  extract  more  copiously 
from  the  address  which,  we  observe,  is  published  in  full  in  the  Journal  of  Ap- 
.plied  Science,  August  and  September,  under  the  title  of  "The  Objects  of  a  Bo- 
tanic Garden  in  Relation  to  Industries." 
There  are  but  few  botanical  gardens  in  this  country,  while  not  a  single  city, 
boasting  of  a  "  park,"  ought  to  be  without  one.  In  Philadelphia  and  Balti- 
more, and  probably  also  in  some  other  cities,  the  subject  was  brought  to  the 
notice  of  the  proper  authorities,  but  we  believe  without  any  other  result,  thus 
far,  except  promises  for  the  future,  which,  however,  we  hope  will  become  reali- 
ties before  long.    We  copy  as  follows  : 
"  Botanic  gardens  and  their  uses  is  a  subject  that  has  been  taken  up  and 
treated  of  very  fully  in  a  lecture  by  Dr.  Yon  Mueller,  of  Melbourne  The  great 
utility  of  a  well  managed  botanic  garden  in  its  various  phases  is  pointed  out, 
and  he  advocates  that,  in  a  pharmaceutical  point  of  view,  a  botanic  garden  is 
not  only  an  indispensable  element  in  the  education  of  the  student,  but  is  a  con- 
stant and  ready  help  through  life.  Dr.  Mueller  says  : — '  For  toxicological  ex- 
periments in  a  botanic  garden  the  various  poison  plants  become  of  import- 
ance, irrespective  of  the  guardianship,  which  the  display  of  these  plants  in  a 
•living  state  so  instructively  exercises.  Investigations  of  this  kind  require 
lengthened  attention,  the  separation,  analyses,  and  identification  of  organic 
poisons  being  surrounded  with  far  more  difficulty  than  the  examination  of  me- 
tallic or  other  inorganic  substances.  Besides,  the  development  or  intensity  of 
the  deleterious  principle  depends  often  on  local  causes,  which  are  not  always 
within  ready  range  of  observation,  or  perhaps  even  involved  in  mystery,  such  as 
physiology  and  chemistry  have  hitherto  striven  in  vain  to  clear  away.  The  so- 
called  Cape  weed  (C<yptostemma  calendulacea) t  for  the  presence  of  which  I  am 
not  responsible,  as  it  had  already  irrepressibly  invaded  some  parts  of  Australia 
as  early  as  1833,  was  recently  subjected  in  my  laboratory  to  examination,  with 
a  view  of  ascertaining  whether  any  chemically  separable  active  principle  might 
produce  the  violent  purging,  terminating  in  acute,  and  often  fatal  dysentery, 
to  which  flocks  occasionally  become  subject;  but  the  investigation  gave  nega- . 
tive  results.  The  deleterious  effect  arises,  therefore,  either  merely  from  a  me- 
chanical irritation  and  distension  when  sheep  have  gorged  themselves  with  this 
weed,  or  it  may  be  traceable  to  a  locally  developed  poison,  which  in  ordinary 
circumstances  does  not  exist.  The  latter  was  ascertained  to  be  the  case  by 
my  own  experiments  as  far  as  Swainsona  Greyana,  S.  lessertioefoHa,  Lotus 
australis,  Gastrolobium  bilobum,  arid,  perhaps,  Stypandra  glauca,  are  con- 
cerned. The  two  former  cause  in  some  localities  cerebral  affections  in  horses 
and  other  pastural  animals,  terminating  in  death  ;  but  the  cultivated  plants 
were  found  harmless.  Gastrolobium,  with  some  species  of  Oxylobium  and  Iso- 
tropis,  the  bane  of  the  heath  pastures  of  West  Australia  has  hitherto  baffled 
all  efforts  to  detect  an  antidote,  but  one  of  the  most  dreaded  species,  Gastrolo- 
bium bilobum,  proved  here  in  cultivation  inert.  Desert  specimens  of  Lotus 
australis  produced  in  my  local  trials  deadly  effects  on  sheep,  while  our  garden 
plant,  or  the  fresh  herb  from  the  sand  shores  of  Port  Phillip,  showed  themselves 
innocuous.  Stypandra  glauca  is  reported  to  produce  complete  blindness  of 
sheep  in  some  districts  of  West  Australia,  the  eyes,  it  is  said,  assuming  a  blue 
