132 
Pharmaceutical  Research. 
5  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I  February,  1921. 
this  territory.  The  collections  made  were  placed  on  exhibition  in 
New  Orleans  in  1884,  and  also  at  the  Louisville  Exposition,  and  a 
descriptive  catalogue  was  published,  under  the  title  of  "The  Natural 
Resources  of  Alabama." 
In  1892,  as  previously  mentioned,  he  turned  over  the  drug  busi- 
ness in  Mobile  to  his  son,  and  devoted  his  time  to  plant  life  of  Ala- 
bama and  in  the  investigation  of  the  flora  of  North  America  for 
the  Division  of  Forestry,  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture, 
and  in  arranging  his  herbarium  of  the  plants  of  Alabama  for  the 
State  University.  A  set  of  these  plants  is  displayed  in  150  glass 
front  cases,  showing  the  foliage,  flowers  and  fruit  of  the  forest 
trees,  and  the  herbarium  is  known  by  his  name. 
His  work  on  the  pines  was  published  in  1896,  and  then  followed 
his  monographs  on  the  cypress,  the  juniper  and  red  cedar.  Mono- 
graphs of  the  hard  woods  were  to  be  published  next,  but  he  had  just 
completed  that  on  the  oaks  when  he  died  in  1901. 
In  1900,  he  moved  to  Asheville,  N.  C,  where  he  spent  most  of 
his  time  in  the  preparation  of  the  monographs  mentioned.  He  com- 
pleted The  Plant  Life  of  Alabama,  but  did  not  live  to  see  the  finished 
book,  which  came  from  the  press  a  week  or  two  after  his  demise. 
He  was  also  preparing  The  Economic  Botany  of  Alabama,  in 
which  were  to  be  given  full  accounts  of  the  useful  and  noxious 
plants  of  the  State.  This  was  to  be  the  crowning  work  of  his  life. 
The  Biltmore  Herbarium  and  forests  afforded  him  the  opportunities 
for  his  studies.  Here  his  last  illness  overtook  him.  Though  suffering 
greatly  for  a  number  of  days  preceding  his  death,  the  last  words  he 
spoke,  to  be  understood,  were,  "How  beautiful  the  world  is!" 
PHARMACEUTICAL  RESEARCH  * 
By  George  M.  Beringer,  A.M.,  Ph.M. 
The  most  ancient  records  available  show  that  from  time  immem- 
orial the  progressive  peoples  of  each  period  recognized  that  the 
preparation  and  dispensing  of  medicines  was  an  important  vocation 
to  be  entrusted  only  to  those  specially  trained  and  educated  to  per- 
form such  duty  to  society.   In  ancient  Egypt  the  priests  of  Isis  alone 
*Address  delivered  before  the  New  York  Branch  of  the  American 
Pharmaceutical  Association,  January  10,  1921. 
