BOTANY  IN  ITS  BEARINGS  ON  PHARMACY,  ETC.  231 
far  to  the  west  and  south,  and  but. for  the  Sabbath  which  these  lands  have 
had  through  the  direful  hands  of  war,  even  these  sources  may  have  been 
weakened.  To  what,  then,  are  we  to  look  for  the  future  supply?  How 
much  seed  of  these  plants,  for  instance,  could  be  found  in  our  seed  stores? 
We  venture  to  say,  not  an  ounce.  Yet  on  their  culture  must  depend  the 
supply  of  the  far  future,  and  it  is  time  that  our*  industrial  gardeners,  the 
Shakers,  should  study  practically  the  problem,  and  determine  how  far 
these  and  other  important  indigenous  drugs  may  submit  to  culture,  by 
studying  their  habits  in  the  garden.  Already  Valeriana  officinalis  is  be- 
coming a  staple  of  New  England.  Why  should  not  the  sunny  slopes  of 
Tennessee  and  upper  Georgia  respond  to  labor,  and  produce  spigelia  and 
the  snake  roots  ?  The  threatened  extirpation  of  the  cinchonas  by  the 
recklessness  of  the  cascarilleros  has  awakened  the  action  of  nations  to 
repair  the  danger.  Jalap  now  demands,  and  is  receiving,  similar  atten- 
tion;  and  Dr.  Hooker,  in  his  last  report  from  Kew,  speaks  of  efforts  be- 
ing made  to  render  the  supply  of  columbo  more  equable,  by  its  introduc- 
tion and  culture  in  the  British  colonies. 
During  the  spring  and  summer  of  1867,  an  opportunity  offered  to 
look  in  on  several  of  the  botanical  gardens  of  Europe;  beginning  with 
Paris,  these  were  at  Naples,  Zurich,  M unich,  Vienna,  Dresden,  Am- 
sterdam, Brussels,  London  and  Edinburgh.  Those  of  many  other  cities 
were  passed  by  for  want  of  time.  In  all  of  these  the  adaptation  to 
scientific  study  was  apparent  in  the  grouping,  and  whils-t  hardly  any  two 
of  them  were  alike  in  locality,  or  in  details,  they  all  in  greater  or  less  de- 
gree accomplished  the  object  of  their  creation, — viz.,  the  promotion  of 
science  by  exhibiting  living  individuals  of  widely  spread  genera  ;  and  as 
the  seed  are  carefully  saved  for  distribution,  correspondence  is  kept 
up  among  the  directors,  who  are  generally  professors  of  eminence  in  bo- 
tanical science.  The  Garden  of  Plants,  as  it  is  called,  at  Paris,  embraces 
living  zoological  and  botanical  collections,  as  well  as  museums  of  zo- 
ology and  comparative  anatomy,  and  herbariums,  and  is  one  vast  concen- 
tration of  scientific  material  and  talent,  where  every  known  form  of  or- 
ganic life  is  studied,  living  or  dead.  But  it  is  only  with  its  relations  as  a 
botanical  garden  that  it  is  here  called  in  for  notice.  The  "Jardin  des 
Plantes,"  situated  on  the  south  side  of  the  Seine,  in  the  south-east 
portion  of  Paris,  occupies  about  35  acres  in  all.  It  lies  contiguous  to 
the  Ecole  de  Medicine  and  the  Ecole  de  Pharmacie,  the  students  of 
which  may  have  daily  access  to  its  borders.  The  streets  which  surround 
it  are  named  from  naturalists:  Rue  Cuvier,  Rue  JefFroy  St.  Hillaire,  and 
Rue  de  Buffon.  The  portion  devoted  to  the  culture  of  annuals  and  herba- 
ceous perennials  is  laid  out  in  squares,  and  enclosed  with  low  fencing. 
The  beds  are  carefully  kept,  and  every  species  is  duly  labelled  in  a  way  to 
aid  the  visitor.  The  medicinal  plants  have  red  labels,  alimentary  plants 
green  labels,  blue  those  used  in  the  arts,  yellow  for  ornamental,  and  black 
for  poisonous  plants.  It  is  open  at  certain  hours  everyday,  and  all  classes 
of  people  visit  it;  some  to  sit  beneath  the  shady  trees  to  enjoy  a  passing 
