Scientific and applied pharmacognosy for students of pharmacy, and practicing pharmacists, food and drug analysts and pharmacologists / by Henry Kraemer. Illustrated with over 300 plates comprising about 1000 figures.

  • Henry Kraemer
Date:
[1915]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Scientific and applied pharmacognosy for students of pharmacy, and practicing pharmacists, food and drug analysts and pharmacologists / by Henry Kraemer. Illustrated with over 300 plates comprising about 1000 figures. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/880 page 5
    PREFACE. Owing to the role played by vegetable substances in the treatment of disease, pharmacognosy takes rank as one of the most important divisions of applied botany, as by far the great majority of substances used in medicine are derived from the plant kingdom. The training for this study is fundamentally botanical, and the technique employed is essentially that of the plant morphologist, physiologist and taxonomist. Moreover, the value of drugs depends upon their constituents, and so the pharmacog- nocist must possess a working knowledge of chemistry. He must not only be familiar with plant principles in their isolated and purest forms, but must apprehend their nature, combination and location in the plant. Pharmacognosy, therefore, is on the one hand an applied branch of botany, and on the other of chemistry. But even in this statement we have only a partial view of the nature of the problems that confront the pharma- cognocist, as he must be prepared to directly apply the results of science to practice and assist in the solution of a great variety of practical problems. The present work abounds in illustrations which show that practical pharmacognosy is dependent upon the progress of scientific pharmacognosy. Among the problems which require the attention of the pharmacognocist, is the relation of soil and climatic conditions to the variation in the constituents of drugs, and the nature of the chemical changes that ensue in their drying or curing. The problems of the pharmacognocist begin with the living plant and are not entirely completed, when the drug reaches the retail pharmacist, as there are pharmacological questions which frequently await his solution. At present it is becoming recognized that the pharmacognocist should work in the field with the drug collector, stand at the port of entry of commerce to determine what drugs are fit for use, and act as the analyst for the state and Pharmaceutical Examining Boards in determining to what an extent there is uniformity in the drugs and preparations that have been dispensed. The domain of pharmacognosy because of the diversity of interests is one of the most fascinating studies that can engage the attention of pharmacists. The first question that should be asked in any undertaking, viz., “is the work worth while?” must be answered in the affirmative owing to the fundamental importance of the subject. The work in pharmacognosy ought to be stimulating to the student, for in the meaning of the word is implied the thought that he desires to know drugs and to understand them from every angle. The modern study of pharmacognosy would be rather difficult if the student did not have some special work on botany as his guide in the study of fundamental facts and principles. The author has published a work on “Applied and Economic Botany” which supplies this deficiency. It should be used preparatory to taking up the pharmacognosy as con- sidered in the present work. There are many phases of botanical investi- gation which are not considered in the usual courses in botany, especially those relating to cell contents, cell walls and the variations in tissues. These must be dealt with at great length in the botanical courses of colleges of pharmacy and will be found to be adequately considered in the text book referred to. Furthermore, in this work will be found a large amount of practical information concerning medicinal and economic plants, with which the pharmacognocist should be acquainted, and which to a large extent supplements the text, of the present volume. In addition
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