Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1892. 
Geography  and  Materia  Medica. 
247 
it  are  usually  stated.  When  a  drug  in  a  list  is  marked  "  per  land 
carriage,"  every  wholesale  buyer  knows  that  the  sample  needs  care- 
ful inspection,  and  that  it  may  or  may  not  be  correctly  named.  But 
if  a  parcel  of  Pareira  Brava,  instead  of  being  marked  "Rio  Janeiro" 
is  marked  "  Bahia,"  both  cities  being  in  Brazil,  or  if  a  parcel  of 
cubebs  instead  of  being  marked  Java  "  or  "  Batavia  "  is  marked 
"  Singapore,"  the  difference  of  two  or  three  hundred  miles  in  the 
geographical  source  of  the  drug  is  not  allowed  sufficient  considera- 
tion. It  does  not  seem  to  be  generally  understood  that  the  flora 
of  one  country,  or  even  of  one  district  within  a  distance  of  one  or 
two  hundred  miles  or  even  less.,  may  differ  very  considerably  from 
another.  The  result  is  that  drugs  constantly  find  their  way  into 
commerce  from  new  districts,  differing  considerably  in  properties 
and  value  from  the  official  article.  These  may  also  pass  into  use  and 
into  retail  trade,  and  it  is  only  when  the  patient  notices  a  difference 
in  the  color  and  taste,  or  the  physician  observes  an  unlooked-for  or 
defective  result,  or  the  chemist  finds  a  difference  in  the  working  of 
the  preparation,  that  the  fact  of  a  genuine  drug  not  being  used  is 
discovered.  This  very  unsatisfactory  state  of  things  requires  a 
remedy.  The  difficulties  which  beset  the  conscientious  pharmacist 
who  desires  to  supply  the  physician  with  reliable  preparations  of  a 
strength  as  uniform  as  possible  are  numerous  enough.  The  period 
at  which  a  drug  is  collected,  the  care  which  is  taken  in  drying  and 
packing  it,  the  age  of  the  plant  itself,  and  the  climate  and  soil  in 
which  it  is  grown,  are  all  factors  which  tend  to  cause  variation  in 
strength. 
The  difficulty  of  ascertaining  the  geographical  source  of  a  drug 
is,  however,  one  that  might  be  easily  met  by  the  framers  of  the 
Pharmacopoeia. 
In  that  work  the  geographical  source  of  the  drug  is  given  in  com- 
paratively few  cases.  With  "  Pharmacographia  "  to  fall  back  upon, 
there  is  no  reason  why  the  Pharmacopoeia  should  not  limit  the 
geographical  sources  of  drugs  intended  for  use  in  medicine  by  men- 
tioning the  countries  or  districts  from  which  they  may  be  obtained. 
It  would  then  be  possible  for  chemists  to  specify  by  name  the  drugf 
required,  just  as  it  is  customary  to  order  Jamaica  or  Cochin  ginger, 
Bengal  or  China  turmeric,  or  Natal  or  St.  Vincent  arrowroot.  The 
simple  use  of  the  letters  P.  B.  after  the  name  of  a  drug  would  then 
in  any  case  be  sufficient  basis  for  a  legal  action  if  the  definition  of 
