334 
ON  PHARMACEUTICAL  HERBARIA, 
sented  an  alkaline  reaction.  This  explains  why  the  preserva- 
tive action  of  the  formic  acid  lasted  a  much  shorter  time  than 
that  of  the  phenol,  since,  according  to  the  preceding  observa- 
tions, formic  acid  exercises  this  power  only  when  free,  while 
phenol,  on  the  contrary,  can  exercise  it  as  well  in  a  slightly 
alkaline  medium, 
From  the  rank  occupied  by  formic  acid  in  the  series  of 
organic  compounds,  these  facts  seem  to  me  to  bear  on  the  most 
important  problems  of  natural  philosophy.  By  many  this  acid 
is  regarded  as  the  first  of  a  long  series  of  products  engendered 
by  the  reduction  of  C02  in  the  vegetable  organism,  while  it  is 
really  the  key  to  the  artificial  synthesis  so  brilliantly  developed 
by  the  works  of  M.  Berthelot.  For  these  reasons  the  study  of 
its  chemical  and  physiological  functions  is  necessarily  of  great 
interest. — Lond.  Chem.  News,  April  13,  1866,  from  Comptes'' 
Hendus,  lxi.,  1179. 
ON  PHARMACEUTICAL  HERBARIA  * 
By  Daniel  Hanbury. 
That  the  well-educated  pharmaceutist  should  possess  a  certain 
familiarity  with  the  plants  employed  in  medicine  and  especially 
with  those  indigenous  to  his  own  country  is  a  proposition  upon 
which  there  can  scarcely  be  any  difference  of  opinion.  The 
effort  of  mind  and  habits  of  observation  brought  into  requisition 
in  order  to  obtain  such  knowledge,  are  in  no  small  degree  bene- 
ficial; while  the  agreeable  reminiscences  called  forth  by  an 
inspection  of  the  plants  gathered  in  years  long  passed,  are 
such  as  may  well  repay  the  trouble  of  forming  and  preserving 
an  herbarium. 
But  it  is  not  the  formation  of  a  general  herbarium  or  even  of 
an  herbarium  of  British  plants,  interesting  and  valuable  though 
*The  culture  of  Botany  by  Pharmaceutists  in  the  United  States 
is  sadly  neglected.  Even  most  of  the  Colleges  of  Pharmacy  do  not  insist 
on  Botany  as  one  of  the  sciences  indispensable  to  the  course  of  instruc- 
tion. The  ready  accessibility  of  wild  plants,  many  of  them  in  our  Materia 
Medica,  and  the  great  pleasure  accruing  to  the  student  from  their  col- 
lection and  study,  are  reasons  alone  sufficient  to  attract  their  attention  to 
practical  Botany ;  and  we  reprint  Mr.  Hanbury's  remarks,  intended  for 
the  English  student,  as  appropriate  here.        Ed.  Amer.  Jour.  Pharm. 
