136 
Pharmaceutical  Research. 
\  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
(  February,  1921. 
ing  attention,  and  his  publications  were  then  considered  simply  from 
a  pharmaceutical  viewpoint.  We  are  now  proud  of  the  association 
and  the  distinction  awarded  these  by  Dr.  Wolfgang  Ostwald  as 
fundamental  and  important  early  studies  in  colloidal  chemistry  and 
to  claim  the  credit  for  priority  of  publication  in  the  proceedings  in 
the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association. 
Recently  we  had  the  pleasure  of  listening  to  a  lecture  by  Pro- 
fessor Edward  Kremers,  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  in  which 
he  detailed  the  investigation  carried  on  for  upwards  of  twenty-five 
years  on  certain  American  species  of  Monarda.  His  studies  of  the 
aromatic  principles  and  the  other  constituents  of  these  plants,  con- 
stitute an  elaborate  piece  of  pharmaceutical  research  that  is  destined 
to  become  a  classic  contribution  to  phyto-chemistry.  While  it  may 
now  be  viewed  as  a  pure  scientific  investigation,  whose  main  value 
will  be  as  a  pioneer  and  in  its  suggestion  for  similar  investigations 
directed  to  other  groups  of  plants,  it  has  cleared  up  a  number  of 
points  relating  to  the  source,  composition  and  production  of  some 
of  the  important  aromatic  plant  constituents,  and  I  predict  that  it 
will  prove  of  material  assistance  and  pecuniary  value  to  the  indus- 
tries engaged  in  preparing  these  on  a  commercial  scale. 
The  history  of  Cinchona  cultivation  is  an  interesting  narrative 
of  scientific  research  applied  to  every  phase  of  the  subject.  The  selec- 
tion of  the  species  and  varieties  of  Cinchona  yielding  alkaloids ;  the 
study  of  the  alkaloidal  content  of  the  different  barks ;  the  problems 
of  soil,  climate,  and  altitude  and  their  influence  upon  the  character 
and  percentage  of  alkaloidal  content  of  the  bark;  the  production  of 
varieties  yielding  the  largest  percentage  of  Quinine;  the  study  of 
the  localization  of  the  alkaloids  in  different  parts  of  the  plant,  the 
effect  of  climate,  season,  etc.,  upon  these  and  their  transformation 
from  amorphous  to  the  crystalline  state  during  the  development  of 
the  plant  organs ;  the  discovery  of  the  value  of  partial  stripping, 
the  best  time  for  this  operation,  and  the  renewal  of  the  bark  by 
mossing;  the  modern  methods  of  marketing  the  bark  and  alka- 
loids ;  the  improved  process  of  manufacturing  the  alkaloids  in  a  high 
degree  of  purity;  these  are  some  of  the  problems  that  had  to  be 
worked  out  scientifically,  and  the  value  of  the  results  from  either  a 
commercial  or  a  humanitarian  viewpoint  is  beyond  calculation.  It 
is  a  gigantic  example  of  practical  applied  scientific  researches.  Not- 
withstanding all  that  has  been  accomplished  by  the  study  and  scien- 
