AlAu-uU8t;  ms™"}      Cultivation  of  Medicinal  Plants.  349 
industry  into  a  region  changes  and  stifles  even  these  meager  sources. 
At  the  present  time  our  whole  drug  supply  of  the  south  and  middle 
west  is  threatened  by  the  advent  of  the  settlement  worker,  who  pro- 
poses to  civilize  the  mountain  people — teach  them  to  give  up  digging 
and  dance  the  tango.  Thus  do  the  "  war  lords  "  and  the  missionary 
uproot  the  drug  supply. 
It  does  not  seem  right  that  we  should  rest  content  to  obtain  the 
basic  material  for  our  industries  from  such  haphazard  sources. 
Under  these  conditions  we  are  not  on  a  par  with  the  maker  of  steel 
or  the  hammerer  of  brass  and  copper.  They  can  separate  the  elemen- 
tary product  which  they  need — we  cannot  change  a  root  or  leaf.  We 
are  not  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  old-time  herbalist,  who  went  into 
the  field  and  selected  from  the  living  plants — we  take  it  as  it  is  sent 
to  us.  The  records  of  work  upon  the  properties  of  plants,  their  con- 
stituents, their  action  and  uses  fill  volumes,  but  of  the  growing  plant 
itself  we  know  less  than  did  the  ancient  herb  doctor. 
To  view  the  question  rightly  we  must  approach  it  from  a  different 
point  of  the  circle.  There  must  be  a  great  change.  If,  for  example, 
the  supplies  of  drug  plants  from  any  source  actually  and  permanently 
ceased,  manufacturers  would  then  begin  to  till  the  fields,  and  in  a 
decade  our  supply  in  quantity  and  quality  would  differ  radically  from 
that  which  obtains  at  present. 
No  catastrophe  is  great  enough  to  close  and  keep  the  American 
factories  closed  if  they  were  really  put  to  it.  The  factor  of  price 
would  not  govern,  and  here  is  the  crucial  test.  If  we  want  an  im- 
proved supply  of  medicinal  plants  we  can  get  them.  If  we  want  to 
control  the  quality  of  the  raw  material  that  enters  into  our  laboratory, 
we  can  do  it.  We  can  make  our  extractions  from  selected  leaves  and 
roots  and  flowers  if  we  will,  but  this  will  mean  no  little  outlay.  It 
will  require  a  change  greater  than  all  the  world's  wars,  greater  than 
an  earthquake,  pestilence  or  famine  can  bring  about.  It  means  a 
change  in  the  spirit  that  guides  and  rules  our  business  life.  Sufficient 
home-grown  medicinal  plants  to  supply  our  needs  will  come  only 
when  we  eliminate  the  factor  of  cost,  when  we  approach  the  problem 
in  the  spirit  of  service,  and  for  the  time  eliminate  the  spirit  of  gain. 
Belladonna  grown  by  Johnson  &  Johnson  cost  in  the  first  years  one 
hundred  dollars  per  pound ;  digitalis  grown  in  the  Lilly  gardens  cost 
probably  one  thousand  dollars  for  the  first  few  pounds,  but  it  has  been 
worth  the  effort  and  the  world  has  been  enriched  from  the  outlay. 
There  are  certain  possibilities,  as  well  as  probabilities,  connected 
