1865.] ]^31 nVood. 



Yet another service meriting special notice was his participation 

 in the business of newly arranging the library of the Society, and 

 preparing a catalogue; a duty which fell to the lot of our present 

 Librarian, and has been so well performed by him. Towards these 

 purposes, Dr. Bache made the liberal contribution of five hundred 

 dollars on two successive occasions, in the years 1853 and 1854, 

 which is to be valued the more, as it proceeded not from superfluity 

 of means, but from an income which, though considerable at the 

 time, was all needed, in order to make prudent provision for the 

 future of his family. 



I might extend these remarks concerning the relations of Dr. 

 Bache with this Society much further, but all the more prominent 

 facts, so far as they have come to my knowledge, have been detailed; 

 and I am warned by the time already .consumed that I must hasten 

 on, if this address is to be completed within the customary limits. 



It has been already stated that, in the year 1829, Dr. Bache be- 

 came engaged, with others, in the laborious duty of revising the 

 Pharmacopoeia of the United States. He entered upon that duty as 

 one of a committee of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia; 

 and afterwards served on another committee appointed by the Medi- 

 cal Convention which met at Washington in 1830, whose duty it was 

 to further revise and ultimately publish that important work. At 

 three decennial periods subsequently, 1840, 1850, and 1860, he was 

 engaged in the same manner, in the same work, and on the last of 

 these occasions, acted as chairman of the Committee of Revision 

 and Publication, and consequently had the chief laboring oar. Ex- 

 cept by the medical gentlemen present, the work here referred to 

 can scarcely be appreciated in regard either to its importance, or the 

 amount of labor involved; but some idea may be formed on both 

 these points, when it is understood that the Pharmacopoeia is a na- 

 tional code, essential to the maintenance throughout the country of a 

 certain uniformity in the nomenclature and preparation of medicines, 

 without which every member of the community would be liable ta 

 serious accidents to his health and life; and that in each revision .of 

 it, many months, and sometimes even years, are occupied with more 

 or less work every day, to fit it for the purposes it has to fulfil. In 

 Europe this duty is generally performed under legal sanction, and by 

 compensated labor. With us the Pharmacopoeia rests entirely upon 

 opinion, and all the labor bestowed and time consumed are wholly 

 gratuitous. 



Immediately after the publication of the first revised edition of the 



