INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 133 
held now for live years, have by no means retrograded in interest and impor¬ 
tance. 
While I thus congratulate you on the successful progress and present well¬ 
being of our Society as evidenced by our list of members now numbering over 
550, as well as by the variety of interesting communications presented at our 
meetings, let me remark that we must not relax our efforts in promoting that 
spirit of study and research which so highly contribute to advance the dignity 
of the profession of pharmacy. The meetings of the British Pharmaceutical 
Conference are not indeed to be precisely measured by the importance of the 
papers brought before them :—they have another object besides the discussion 
of scientific subjects, namely that of binding together with a cord of union the 
pharmaceutists of this land, of providing an opportunity for discussing in va¬ 
rious parts of the country subjects of common interest, and generally of pro¬ 
moting by personal communication that good understanding and mutual ap¬ 
preciation which so greatly contribute to render our course in life happy, 
harmonious and useful. 
The advantages of associations such as ours have long been recognized on 
the Continent. In Germany, in France and in Switzerland, we find that year 
by year the pharmaceutists of some large district assemble by mutual accord for 
the purpose of discussing 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 assembled in the University Building, New 
York, on the 10, 11, 12 and 13 September, 1867. At the opening session, 
delegates appointed by the Colleges of Pharmacy of Massachusetts, of the 
City of New York, of Philadelphia, of Maryland, of Cincinnati, of Chicago, 
by the Pharmaceutical 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 satis¬ 
factory. Then we find a resolution passed to this effect,—that “ the Profes¬ 
sors 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 assembled 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. 
A list of new members is next presented, and then follow reports of the 
Executive Committee, of the Committee on the Progress of Pharmacy, of that 
on the Drug Market, of those on Scientific Queries and on Internal Kevenue 
Law, concluding with a report of the delegates to the International Pharma¬ 
ceutical Congress, held in Paris in August last. 
Various books and pamphlets were also laid before the meeting, the first 
mentioned being the Proceedings of the British Pharmaceutical Conference 
held at Nottingham. An inaugural address from the President, Air. Stearns, 
was in his absence through ill-health, read by Professor Parrish. The lie- 
ports presented at a previous sitting were next taken up, and necessarily oc¬ 
cupied a considerable time. That on Scientific Queries brought forward the 
various papers on scientific subjects which had been presented to the Asso¬ 
ciation, among which I may mention the following :— 
