August 17, 1872.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
135 
T>ecn in the possession of the members ; it has been freely 
criticized by the scientific press, both at home and abroad, 
ag'O, and will be in the recollection of many of you. An 
eminent pharmacist prepared and advertised largely 
The 
.an 1 so far as I have been able to gather has been received an article which he termed “Sweet Quinine.” 
with unanimous favour. How much of its excellence is 1 character of the man was sufficient to disarm suspicion, 
due to the gentlemen who constitute the Committee of and an enormous sale for his nostrum was a practical 
Publication, how much to the able Editor, it is needless certainty. Circumstances led to an examination of the 
.to enquire—my office is rather to congratulate the Con- medicine, and it was found to be a compound containing 
ference on being enabled by their exertions to perform cinchonine only as an active ingredient. Neither the 
so great and so permanent a service to pharmacy, and to standing of the pharmaceutist, his activity as a member, 
•express a sense of obligation in which every member of his scientific attainments, nor his personal popularity 
the body will join, to Editor and Committee alike, for amongst his associates could save him from expulsion, 
the spirit with which they have entered into and carried He was one whose co-operation the body could ill afford 
through a laborious undertaking. ! to lose, but duty to themselves and the public was para- 
We have again to acknowledge the thoughtful libe-■ mount, 
arality of one of our members who is ever ready to render The report of the meeting at St. Louis has already 
material aid when the interests of pharmacy may be been published, and those who have seen it will hold me 
furthered thereby. Mr. Hills’s last gift puts the Con- excused from making any detailed review of the proceed- 
ierence in possession of funded property, yielding a j ings, and will jbe content with the record of general 
permanent income similar in amount to the annual in- impressions. 
stalments of his previous benefaction. To what youi' Notwithstanding the enormous distances from each 
Executive Committee has already said in this matter I other of the chief American cities, the gatherings of the 
need add little. The gift has been accepted on behalf 
■of the Conference, and with it the responsibility of its 
right application, conscious the while, that result rather 
■than words would form the expression of thanks most 
■congenial to the donor. 
You will expect a few words from me on another 
topic of more personal nature. In fulfilment of a long- 
projected plan, I last year took a somewhat extended 
•holiday in North America. The meeting of the Ameri 
Association are very largely attended, and the number of 
members who participate actively in the business of the 
meetings is much greater than I anticipated, judging 
from our own experience ; indeed the amount of scientific 
matter usually brought forward is such as we could not 
attempt to grapple with at these brief Conferences. This 
scientific work consists in great measure of reports on 
subjects selected from the annually-published list of 
quei'ies, and is, therefore, directed to points concerning 
can Pharmaceutical Association was the focus of my which information is really wanted. The papers were 
travels; and, as I held your commission to represent the i much more satisfactory to my mind than the discussions 
Conference as far as circumstances might admit at the 
St. Louis Convention, I am in some sort bound to report 
the reception accorded to me on that occasion. In doing 
•so. I need not occupy you at any great length ; indeed, I 
can scarcely add to the little I have already said in public 
without going into details of greater extent than seems 
•desirable. The hospitality of the American people 
•towards strangers—especially towards travelling English¬ 
men— is universally recognized, and their desire to stand 
well in the hearts and esteem of our countrymen exists 
everywhere, so far as I could find, except in their news¬ 
papers. But it needs more than this general acknow¬ 
ledgment of kindly feeling to explain the sort of welcome 
I received amongst their pharmacists and the attention 
they so liberally bestowed. That I was with them as 
your representative may be held to account for the rest. 
The most hearty reciprocation of your message of good 
will and friendship ha 5 dwelt in my mind whilst the 
Iiorizon has been clouded by the political strife engendered 
by clumsy diplomacy—strife which I am pursuaded has 
no existence, save perhaps in moments of passing ir- 
.ritation, in the hearts of either people. 
The American Pharmaceutical Association was ac¬ 
cepted as a model when our Conference was founded, 
•and its proceedings, therefore, cannot be uninteresting 
to us. 
_ Without legal status or recognized powers, the Associa¬ 
tion exercises a sort of moral influence throughout the 
■country, which is of great importance where there is no 
control emanating from a central authority—an influence 
'which in ethical questions can scarcely be overvalued. 
An illustrative case occurred last year at St. Louis. 
AVhcn the credentials of the various delegates to the Con¬ 
vention were, considered, the question was raised 
whether the kind of pharmaceutical instruction afforded 
by one of the bodies claiming to send a representative, 
.and the .nature of their examinations, were such as the 
.Association could approve and recognize, and it was 
■eventually decided that the delegate from the body in 
-question (the University of Michigan) could not be ad- 
.mitted in an official capacity, and he was was, therefore, 
debarred from exercising any representative functions. 
Another.case showing similar care for the true interests 
-and standing of the profession occurred a year or two 
they evoked, though the latter often made up in spirit 
what they lacked in order. The custom of reporting in 
full, and not always very correctly, mere conversational 
remarks, can hardly be regarded as a happy one. 
Altogether, the meeting of the Association is a larger 
affair than anything we attempt. The sessions extend 
over about four days, which are very fully occupied, the 
evenings being generally devoted to social gatherings in 
one form or other. The frequent presence of ladies at 
the sittings was a feature that struck me forcibly and 
favourably. Often when subjects of general rather 
than purely technical interest were under consideration, 
the aspect of the assembly was brightened by this 
absence of exclusive rule. I am sure I need not add 
that no interruption to the course of business was 
thereby caused, or that the fairer were models of atten¬ 
tion to the sterner portion of the assembly. 
The fearful disaster at Chicago, which occurred just 
as I was leaving America, brought to the surface the 
deeper seated feelings of our countrymen. The oppor¬ 
tunity afforded to pharmaceutists in this country to express 
in substantial form their sympathy with those of like 
profession in the far "West was not disregarded. Distance 
is no barrier when common interests are concerned— 
interests are never more rightly felt to be in common 
than when one portion of the body is under the cloud of 
misfortune and suffering. 
And now, gentlemen, it is time I released you to at¬ 
tend to the real business of the meeting.- In the remarks 
which it has seemed to me a duty to make, I have spoken 
with equal freedom of our own body and of the Society 
from which we sprung. There is no difference in the 
objects of the two institutions; they are and must be 
perfectly harmonious and complementary to each other. 
The particular methods open to them to attain the same 
end —the advancement of pharmacy differ considerably 
but only as different roads to one goal. Without the 
Pharmaceutical Society the Conference could never have 
been; with the establishment of the Conference, the best 
day of the Society dawned. The success of each must 
be the chief delight of the other. This is my defence 
if it be needed for the order in which I have placed 
my thoughts before you. 
One word more. 1 have spoken of the Conference and 
