The scope and work of the Botanical Raw Products Committee [microform]

97-84169-15

National Reseach Council
(U.S.)

The scope and work of the
Botanical Raw Products...

[Washington, D.C.]
[1917]

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Dates: 1917,

19970714

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SSional Research council (U.S.). Botanical Raw Products

, ... X. The scope and work of the Botanical Raw Products Committee ^h
^.icroform, / ^^^^l^^^^^ TT.^onll Academy of Sciences, .c 19173 ^

^ 10 III 2R2pri„;ed'fro"-the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, Vol. 3, pp. 731-733, December, 1917. -

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NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL

.J

THE SCOPE AND WORK OF THE BOTANICAL RAW PRODUCTS

COMMITTEE

Rq>rinied from the Proceedings of the National AcADSicy or Sobiigss

VdL 3, w>. 731*733, December, 1917

Bepiiiitecl from tbe Proceedings of the National Acadeht or ScuMcam,
Vol. 3, pp. 731-733, December, 1917

NATIONAL RESEARCH CXXJNCIL

THE SCX)P£ AND WORK OF THE BOTANICAL RAW PRODUCTS COMMITTEE

At the twenty-fourth meeting of the Executive Committee of the Council
held on July 12, 1917, the a{^intment of a Botanical Raw Products Com-
mittee was approved. This committee has since been oi^ganized with Edward
M. East, Chairman, and Oakes Ames, L. H. Dewey, H. M. Hall, Henry
Kzaemer, A. D. little, George T. Moore, W. W. Stockberg^and W.P. Wibon,
members. It is designed to serve as a clearing house where manufactures
needing raw products of a botanical nature may obtain information regarding
them. The scope of its work may be outlined somewhat as follows:

1. The collection of agricultural, botanical and commercial data on all
q>ecies an0 varieties of plants having an economic value (exclusive of &>od
staples).

2. Dissaninaticm of such informaticm among in^rters and manufac-
turers.

3. Investigation of requirements of the trade for known raw mate-
rials.

4. The discovery of new geographic sources of plants necessary to the
trade.

5. The development of plans for meeting the needs of industry by the
cultivation of economic plants in the United States.

6. The initiation of investigations calculated to discover the value of
conventional equivalents and substitutes for raw products of a botanical
nature.

7. The discovery and investigation of the value of new equivalents and

substitutes.

8. The investigation of the requirements of the trade for new raw mat6*
rials.

9. The suggestion of new species as possibly meeting trade requirements,
and the initiation of the proper investigations as to wliether or not they
meet these requirements.

10. The stqs^stion of new uses for botanical raw products.

Owing to the magnitude <d the work proposed, there bemg over 25,000
species and varieties of plants having an economic value (exclusive of agri-
cultural and horticultural novelties), it would be some time before active work
as a clearing house for manufacturers could begin were it not that at the com-
mencement of its labors th^re was already available to the committee a large
amount of data on special subjects gathered and catalogued at various re-
search institutions. It is ^erefore already <m a working basis^ both in its
advisoiy and its reaearc|i.caiMuat7.

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2 NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL

That there is great need for a work such as this hardly requires denum-

stration. Exclusive of foods, numerous botanical raw products are very
important to our industries. There are gums and resins, rubbers, vegetable
fats and oils, vegetable dyes and tannins, fibres, cellulose, drugs and hefbs,
gssfnti%l oils and perfuimes, and possibly most important of all, forest prod-
ucts. A great number of facts have been discovered about many of these
pcodncts, bat in too many cases even the name of the qiecies from which
the nw material comes is uncertain, obscure or unknown. Very €itea a
great industry buys, its raw material from a brcdcer or an in^rting hoiBe
without knowledge of either the geographic or the specific source. When this
source is cut off, as has frequently been the case during the past three years,
and as possibly will be more frequent during the next few years, the manu-
facturer has been placed in an uncomfortable position. Curiously enough,
such a predicament is many times brought about by the curtailment of a
products used in such rdatively small quantities that the fact that it is essen-
tial to tl» finished article is overiooked or forgotten duringtimes of pknty.

The Botanical Raw Products Committee, if it gives the service ^cpected of
ity must answer questions omcetning all such materials. To do this, data are
required along five different lines: botanical, agricultural, industrial, com-
mercial and bibliographical.

One should know the correct scientific name together with the scientific
synonomy, the pubUshed descriptions, original sources and plates. He should
have at hand the native names, for, though often confusing, they are fre-
<piently the sofe dues to the identity <d amunerdal spedmsns. No lesis
in^ortant is the history^ the moiphol^y the physidc^ mi the geogn^hi-
cal distributicm both <rf the plants themselves aiul of their near xdatives.

Pertinent agricultural facts are those regarding varieties, their types and
origin; cultural requirements, including data on soils and fertilizers, climate,
temperature, moisture, planting and cultivation; harvesting and storing;
diseases and their treatment; and pests and their control

Indust™! data are still more complicated. One must know all of the eco-
nomic uses of a plant, and oft-times these are varied as well as numerous*
Hie products go under many afiases, both trade names and native names.
Iheae moBt all be listed. VariM»a& me&ods ol pstpan^m must bee&tered.
Data on yidds, grades and values, must be assembled. The raw products
themselves must be identifiaWe, and methods <rf detecticm frequently must
be worked out. And even here the work does not end. Equivalents, sub-
stitutes and adulterants must be described and tabled, and the uses for which
they are fitted and for which they are unsatisfactory investigated. Many of
these facts are obtainable only if commercial firms offer their hearty coopera-
tiqn and mppott. They are not trade secrets but pertain to specialiaed m-
4atffifft and are W>t usttdly available in published form.

llieae agricoltiiral^ botaaicd and ia^^
systematic manner, wiB have a lasting vahie and wffl serve as m hum ior

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL

3

placing economic botany on the hi^ phne of mcfutoess that industrial chemr
istry has held for many years. But th^ will not meet the practical require-
ments of economic life unless considered from the commercial viewpoint.
They must be supplemented by all available statistics concerning the impor-
tation and asportation of each product, ^d the prices current through a term
of years.

Finally, there must be a reference library dq>artment. Ihformarion is of
little use unless it is systematized in such a manner that it is readily avail-
aUe. Adequate cross refeience catalogues containing dtatixms of the best
literature must therefore be kept up to date.

This, in a general way, is the work which the Botanical Raw Products
Committee must do to be in a position to act as an industrial service bureau.
This is the work which, though it must be continuous, though it never reaches '
completion, is really preHminary to the main activities Ksted above. True
service must come from actual contact with the technical problems of manu-
facturers and in^c^teis.

For the Omumttee, £dwakd M. East, Ckamium.