406 BRITISH PHARMACEUTICAL CONFERENCE, NORWICH. 



1868. of providing an opportunity for discussing in various parts of 

 the country subjects of common interest, and generally of pro- 

 moting by personal communication that good understanding 

 and mutual appreciation which so greatly contribute to render 

 our course in life happy, useful, and harmonious. 



American The advantages of such associations have long been recognised 

 Association on ^ e ^ on ^ nen ^ ^ n Germany, France, acd Switzerland, we 

 find that the pharmacists of some large district meet annually 

 by mutual accord to discuss subjects bearing on the well-being 

 of their profession. In the United States, where the conditions 

 under which pharmacy is practised resemble more closely those 

 which prevail in our own country, there exists, as most of us 

 well know, a flourishing association for the promotion of science 

 in connection with pharmacy, as well as for the discussion of 

 subjects bearing on pharmacy as a trade. This is the American 

 Pharmaceutical Association, the fifteenth annual meeting of 

 which was held in New York in the autumn of last year. Let 

 us take a glimpse of the proceedings of our brethren on the 

 other side of the Atlantic when congregated in the University 

 Building, New York, on the 10th, llth, 12th, and 13th of 

 September, 1867. At the opening session, delegates appointed 

 by the Colleges of Pharmacy of Massachusetts, New York, 

 Philadelphia, Maryland, Cincinnati, and Chicago, by the Phar- 

 maceutical Associations of Maine and of the district of 

 Columbia, and by the Alumni Association of the Philadelphia 

 College of Pharmacy, presented their credentials, which after 

 due examination were reported satisfactory. Then we find a 

 resolution passed to this effect that " the Professors of the 

 College of Pharmacy, and of the medical colleges of this city, 

 also the medical profession in general, be invited to seats in the 

 present meeting." This has struck me as a particularly wise 

 and liberal proceeding, showing that it is not narrow trade 

 interests that the Association has met to discuss, but subjects 

 which, though of special interest to a small section of the 

 community, really bear on the welfare of all, and which claim 

 moreover the serious notice of those who are custodians of the 

 public health. 



