Am.  Jour,  Phann. 
Dec,  1921. 
Plant  Constituents. 
861 
SEEKING  THE  TRUTH  FOR  ITS  OWN  SAKE. 
Whatever  the  method  of  training  that  prepares  us  to  follow 
our  calling  may  be,  we  must  not  conclude,  when  the  course  is 
over,  that  our  training  is  then  at  an  end.  There  is  a  sense  in  which 
it  may  be  said  that  only  then  does  real  training  begin.  The  facts 
of  life,  whether  these  be  as  pleasant  as  I  would  wish  you  to  find 
them,  or  as  stern  as  they  prove  at  times  to  most,  are  inexorable. 
Their  lessons  cannot  be  evaded;  we  must  all  educate  ourselves  to- 
accept  them.  But  we  can  carry  our  education  further  than  this. 
It  is  not  what  facts  bring  home  to  us,  but  what  we  can  extract  from 
facts  that  really  counts. 
It  is  this  that  Philosophy  has  in  mind  when  she  urges  us  "to 
seek  truth  for  her  own  sake."  It  is  this  that  History  has  in  view 
when  she  advises  us  to  "improve  natural  facts  for  use  or  dis- 
covery." It  is  this  that  Academic  Science  intends  when  she  urges 
the  prosecution  of  what  she  terms  "original  research." 
Sometimes  the  process  has  the  advantage  of  adding  to  our 
knowledge  of  natural  things.  But  this  is  of  small  moment  as  com- 
pared with  the  opportunity  it  provides  us  of  learning  our  limita- 
tions, and  of  attaining  what  the  Greeks  regarded  as  the  highest 
of  human  ambitions — that  of  "knowing  ourselves."  When  your 
professional  studies  are  over,  but  not  until  then,  try  the  expedient. 
It  will  bring  you  its  own  exceeding  great  reward. 
PLANT  CONSTITUENTS*  f 
By  John  Uri  Lloyd,  Phar.  M. 
CINCINNATI,  o. 
The  good  doctor  to  my  right  this  morning  asked  me  two  ques- 
tions; one  was,  "Why  do  we  stand  erect?"  I  told  him,  "I  don't 
know."  Some  one,  however,  has  answered  that  question  by  say- 
ing that  there  is  a  continuous  self-balancing  by  unconscious  move- 
*The  almost  revolutionary  studies  of  recent  years  made  of  plant  struc- 
tures as  related  to  medicinal  activity,  makes  this  paper  one  worthy  of  being 
kept  before  the  profession.  We  therefore  take  the  liberty  of  reprinting  from 
the  Eclectic  Medical  Journal,  December,  1920. — Editor. 
tReprinted  from  the  Eclectic  Medical  Journal,  November,  1921. 
